Why Online Learning is the Future of Education
With the growth in the use of electronic media and the internet, the lifestyles of people are changing day by day. They are becoming more reluctant toward computers, mobiles, laptops, and tablets. Online education is one of the changes in people’s lifestyles. They feel comfortable studying online on their electronic devices to gain skills and knowledge. Students who cannot attend traditional classes may acquire any knowledge and learn anything over the internet.
Online education flourish in the period of COVID-19 all over the world, as many colleges, institutes, and universities shifted their education system to online classes and came forward to offer many online courses for students. It consists of recorded lectures with audio, video, text animations, and relevant pictures.
TOP SOURCES OF ONLINE EDUCATION:
There are many sources of online learning, some of them include the following:
• Coursera provides 1000 courses from the World’s best universities with a certificate and each course is for a limited period.
• edX provides many courses and translation features for students all over the world with ease of access to the learning material for exam preparation.
• YouTube provides many free courses on any subject in any language.
• Lynda is the oldest and most popular online learning resource for business, technology, design, etc.
• Udemy offers 60,000 courses to enhance skills with great language support.
• Alison offers diplomas to become an expert in a specific domain.
• Khan academy helps young students in different subjects like physics, chemistry, computing, mathematics, etc.
• Open Yale Courses offers free courses to gain knowledge and skills and availability of all the course material.
REASONS TO CHOOSE ONLINE EDUCATION:
Online learning helps the students to gain knowledge and skills from home with the availability of the internet and electronic device. It is an exciting learning method for a student who cannot attend physical classes because of certain reasons and is desperate to learn new things. Some of the benefits of online education are:
1. FLEXIBLE:
Online learning is flexible concerning time and place, which makes it exciting and helpful for students and teachers. They can take online classes anytime from anywhere and schedule their lives accordingly and can consume extra time on more productive tasks and activities of their interests.
2. NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY:
Students and teachers can enhance their network via online classes as many different students from different countries and states can enroll in the same course. They can interact with one another to share their ideas and discuss a particular project and they can join hands to stand their business over the World.
3. ACCESSIBLE:
Online learning platforms are easily accessible by students all over the World. Virtual classrooms are available anytime with the availability of an electronic device and the internet. One can enroll in any desired course from anywhere without traveling to a certain location.
4. COST-EFFECTIVE:
It is cost-effective for students to enroll in online courses rather than learn them physically. It will minimize the extra cost of traveling, hostel fees, extra fees, lodging costs, shifting costs, fuel expenditures, etc.
5. LEARNING AT OWN PACE:
It is hard to get all the points from the teacher in a physical class because every student has a different learning pace. To gain all points, knowledge, and skills; online learning is the best platform as it offers the students learn at their own pace and ability.
6. QUICK SKILL DEVELOPMENT:
Online learning offers short courses and diploma courses that can help to gain knowledge and skills in less time. It is suitable to enhance skills shortly and develop skills quickly. Students of a particular field can enroll in short courses to develop skills in less time.
7. GLOBAL INTERACTION:
There is a possibility of global interaction among students of different states and countries that will help them to understand the culture of one another and build confidence.
DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION:
With many benefits of online learning you may face some difficulties during online learning, some of them include:
1. LACK OF PHYSICAL INTERACTION:
In an online class, there is no physical interaction between students and teachers. There is a virtual connection in the online classroom so you do not meet physically with colleagues and classmates.
2. MANAGING SCREEN TIME:
Spending too much time on screen may cause many health problems i.e. eyesight and brain problems. Therefore, it is important to manage screen time during taking online classes.
3. DISTRACTIONS:
While taking online lectures there are many distractions on the internet and mobile phones, like videos, pictures, and social media.
ONLINE EDUCATION RESOURCES:
There are different ways to gain knowledge via the internet. It is an effective way to get an education online and learn new skills in your free time. To supply online education there are certain resources:
1. LIVE LECTURES:
Students can attend live lectures from professionals and experts to understand and learn new things. They can teach their subject of expertise and can advise students for building their careers.
2. RECORDED LECTURES:
Students can listen to recorded lectures by professionals at any time to understand things more clearly. They can listen to recorded lectures repeatedly to clear all their ambiguities.
3. DIGITAL LEARNING MATERIAL:
Students can have access to digital material like e-books; they can read them and save them, for their lifetime, and can read them again when the need arises.
4. ONE-TO-ONE FACULTY INTERACTION:
Students can attend one-to-one faculty lectures if they face some problems in learning. The faculty member will clear all the doubts of a student and help him to understand more clearly.
CONCLUSION:
Today, online Learning is very common all over the World, it is better than traditional learning in many aspects. One can decide to choose online or traditional learning according to ease and comfortability. With advantages, it has some disadvantages as well. Students are free to enroll in online lectures and build their successful careers with flexibility, accessibility, and quick skills development. In addition, it is the responsibility of students to manage screen timings and avoid distractions during online lectures.
