Advantages And Disadvantages Of Online Education

Online education is the new normal in traditional learning and is being adopted by many educational institutions globally, especially during and after COVID-19. 

But what is the reason for institutions to adopt remote learning apart from the pandemic? Well, one of the main reasons these institutions are eager to move towards digital learning platforms is to ensure education is guaranteed to every child in the world and not obstructed by boundaries. 

However, just like every coin has two sides, so is Online education. On the one hand, online education gives everyone equal access to education; on the other hand, it increases children’s screen time and can lead to isolation. 

So, the question of the hour is: Is online education a good option for students in the long run? To answer this, we have created this blog, where we will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of online education to make the decision easier. Let’s start!

Advantages of Online Education

Here are some of the advantages, you can have if you want to start online learning, have a look:  

• More Flexibility & Accessibility

Remote learning is a great option for people who want to actively participate in other co-curricular activities or work from a young age. With the option of virtual classrooms open to them, they can learn while following their own personal schedules. 

Through this, they can also receive the best education themselves, even if they live in remote areas of the world. They get the flexibility and the right to education just like any student sitting in a traditional classroom. 

• Affordable For All

In most countries, education is still expensive, but digital learning platforms help students save more. From transportation to buying textbooks, school uniforms, and hostel essentials, a student can save a lot more money and actually spend it on their education. 

Apart from this, you will also find that the online classroom costs for many schools and universities are much cheaper than regular tuition.   

• Improved Student Attendance

Many schools and colleges often see students either arriving late or not attending early morning or late evening classes. Due to this, their attendance is really low and can lead to them not having the eligibility to appear in the final exams. 

However, remote learning benefits students as the classes can be taken from home or from their chosen location at any time of the day. This reduces the chances of students missing out on lessons. 

• Personalized Learning 

Students who can’t focus in traditional classrooms might benefit from virtual learning. They get the choice to work from their own choice of environment and self-paced learning. 

It’s beneficial for students to choose their time to complete readings and assignments. Also, since the course is available online, it can be completed anywhere there is an internet connection. 

• Increased Collaboration

Online students have better opportunities to collaborate with classmates through group activities. They can collaborate through message boards and grouping tools that allow students to post feedback on readings and assignments to respond to the customers. 

Also, students get to have more one-on-one time with the teachers through virtual learning. It allows students to openly communicate with the teachers and upload assignments for review. 

• Quick Feedbacks

By integrating education and technology, you don’t really need to wait for feedback from your teacher on exams and assignments in no time. 

Apart from this, students can also ask questions to their teachers and receive answers. This accelerates the speed of learning for students. 

• Repeated Access To Education Material 

In a traditional classroom, if a student misses out a day or any important lecture it becomes impossible to get your basics cleared. However, with the courtesy of virtual learning, you can go back to recorded education material prepared by your teachers. 

The students no longer need to wait for their teachers to revise a particular topic or complete an assignment, they can just go back to the recorded lectures and complete their projects or prepare for their exams on time. 

• Enhances Time Management Skills

Since students have the flexibility to complete their school projects and daily assignments as per their schedule, they learn time management skills from a very early stage. 

How? Because these students need to manage their time and interact with the educational material rather than just attending school to complete the attendance. 

Disadvantages of Online Education

You must be wondering that, if there are so many advantages of online education, then why do parents and guardians still send their children to traditional schools? Thus, here we are reflecting on the challenges of online learning due to which parents still hesitate:

• Inability to Focus On Screens

Many students are unable to concentrate on screens for an extended period of time, which can easily distract them and lead them to other social media platforms. 

Thus, in this case, teachers need to make special efforts and keep their online classes interactive and engaging. This helps the students to participate in the class actively. 

• Technology Issues

At times, you might be taking classes from remote areas where your internet connection is not working properly or your network is down. In these cases, it becomes difficult to attend special live sessions or exams.  

Thus, before starting your online classes, check if your device is fully charged, your wifi is working properly, and sit at a place that has a good internet connection so that there is no buffering in between and you can concentrate on your education. 

• Sense of Isolation

In an offline class, a student gets more chances to collaborate, interact, and learn the art of sharing things with their peers. However, with minimal interactions between students and teachers, a child can feel isolated and may lack communication skills. 

Alas, it’s important for teachers to have more face-to-face interactions with their students through video conferencing, live classes, and online messages.  

• Manage Screen Time

Long online classes lead to increased screen time and many health hazards for the students. It leads to a bad impact on a child’s eyesight, sitting posture, lack of physical activities, and other health problems due to sitting in front of screens for a long time. 

Therefore, online schools should schedule classes with enough break time so that the child can relax. They can also include a few co-curricular activities in their online learning so that they can have some fresh breathers in between. 

Conclusion

Finally, to decide whether online learning is right for you, check all the pros and cons of online learning and how a student can benefit from it. You should also search for the best online schools for yourself to get the best online learning experience. 

At Sunbeam World School, we provide online education to every student who wants to learn and grow in life. From our curriculum to the faculty, we have provided our best to every student. 

So, if you want to get the top education from the remotest areas of the world, then reach out to us today!