There is much debate about how effective online education is in comparison to in-person education. Moreover, few people also believe that in-person education is the only way to go about and do not give online education its due credit. There are no two doubts that online education has become a reality worldwide and has gotten fast-paced due to the pandemic. It came as a ray of hope in the dark as a solution to mitigate the problems that rose abruptly due to the pandemic. Irrespective of how the wave of online education started, it is here to stay, and day by day, it is only going to grow multifariously.
No matter how you see it, learning has been a consequential effect of online education. Given all the debate, there is no light shed on how online education and learning are contingent processes. The cumulative result of online education in terms of learning is like a domino effect. The criteria that we need to address now are the implications of online education on the actual learning process of students. Moreover, how can online education be leveraged to aid learning? The following pointers will give you insights onto exactly this beyond just the pro-cons discussion:
- Flexibility is one pertinently major aspect of e-learning. It provides much freedom to the students to plan their actual learning time according to the schedule they want or purely even when they want. This flexibility immediately puts students in their comfort zone and opens them up to learn more efficiently.
- Accessibility is particularly enhanced due to the rise of online education. E-learning gives access to students regardless of where they are and what time they want to learn. This opportunity becomes a great boon for students who are hampered by the rigidity of the traditional education system. Technology has made this convenience of accessibility possible and bought it at the tips of students’ fingers.
- The less financial liability of educational costs compared to traditional education costs is also one of the reasons why e-learning has become a more accessible and considerable option of education as opposed to traditional classroom learning.
- Online education puts students in a mode of self-responsibility towards learning. It demands self-motivation and self-discipline on the students’ end. As opposed to classroom learning, the student themselves are accountable for their learning, course work, assignments, meeting deadlines, tracking goals, making them independent learners while developing their analytical skills. Students understand the importance of time management and self-directed work. Online education transforms classroom mares into independent learners.
- A tool for adopting immediate changes in educational trends. One of the challenges of the 21st century is its very evolving nature, which directly affects what skill is looked up for and which ones are outdated. Skills revered a few years ago are no more relevant, and new skillsets are emerging every day. Our generation needs to be prepared to be able to access, learn and grasp these skills faster. This is where e-learning comes in handy as it works as a synergist to execute and make these new skills available to the learners as soon as possible. Online education is the key to keeping oneself up to date with the latest developments because it is faster than the traditional educational system!
- Effective learning due to technological aids like videos, animations, visual clues, sensory material is a major positive of online education. They pave the way for effective learning of the student. It makes it easier for students to grasp difficult or complex topics that require detailed study or a different approach to learning. Instead of depending on one mode or delivery of information to the learner, delivery through multiple sensory materials undoubtedly helps students understand and learn better.
- The adaptability of online education course material with the help of artificial AI is extremely beneficial for students as it takes into account the pace students require and optimally adjusts it to personalize the content if needed to fit students’ needs. These AI and algorithm systems diagnose the student’s difficulty and try to understand and moderate the problem, which mitigates the classroom issue of pace adjusting for a larger student audience. It improves the quality of learning effectively.
Even top-tier universities like Harvard, MIT and Stanford are taking the route of online courses to make learning accessible to students, so they must be seeing the long-term reach of online education in future. Along with this, multiple Schools, international and local, have taken up online education as a support system for traditional education, and this shift is not unforeseen. People in the education industry see e-learning not just as a pandemic trend but as here to stay and grow!
