ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE CLASSES

Learning is often considered to be a normal part of working and personal life. Both learning for achieving a job as well as for achieving knowledge should not be neglected. Online environment is changing continuously and it represents a great opportunity for learning. It is very important to discover how to learn using all available communication channels and choosing the ones that best suit a person’s style of filtering the information

       What are the advantages of online learning?

1. Efficiency

Online learning offers teachers an efficient way to deliver lessons to the students. Online learning has a number of tools such as videos, pdfs, podcasts and teachers can use all these tools as part of their lesson plans. By extending the lesson plan beyond traditional textbooks to include online resources, the teachers are able to become more efficient educators.

2. Accessibility of time and place

Another advantage of online education is that it allows students to attend the classes from any location of their choice. It also allows the schools to reach out to a more extensive network of students, instead of staying restricted by the geographical boundaries. Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived and shared for future reference. This allows the students to access the learning material at a time of their comfort.

Thus, online learning offers the students accessibility of time and place in education.

3. Affordability 

Another advantage of online learning is reduced financial costs. Online eductation is far more affordable as compared to physical learning. This is because online learning eliminates the cost points of student transportation, student meals, and most importantly, real estate. Additionally, all the course or study material is all available online, thus creating a paperless learning environment which is more affordable, while also being beneficial to the environment.

What are the disadvantages of online learning?

1. Inability to focus on screens

For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning, there is also a greater chance for the students to get distracted easily with social media or other sites. Therefore it is  imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.    

2. Technology issues 

Another key challenge of online classes is internet connectivity. While internet penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, however in smaller cities and town, a consistent connection with a decent speed is a problem. Without a consistent internet connection for students or teachers there can be a lack of continuity in the learning for the child. This is detrimental to the education process. 

3. Sense of isolation 

Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an online class, there is minimal physical interactions that students and teachers. This often results in a sense of isolation for the students. 

In this situation, it is imperative that the school allow for other forms of communication between the students, peers and teachers. This can include online messages, emails and video conferencing that will allow for face-to-face interaction and reduce the sense of isolation. 

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