“Online learning is rapidly becoming one of the most cost-effective ways to educate the world’s rapidly expanding workforce.”
Jack Messman, former CEO at Novell
In this article, we are going to talk with you about the advantages and disadvantages of online or e-learning education.
You are reading this article that is also a kind of online education. Everything that provides information through the internet falls in the category of online education. It is expanding exponentially day by day. As a result, the online education industry has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.
Today, almost everyone is familiar with online education. From lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the online education industry is touching the peak of its growth rapidly. Many people have started to give importance to online learning today.
It is well said that nothing is perfect. Everything has both a good side and a dark side. We often call anything good or bad on the basis of their ratio of advantages and disadvantages. Now, come online education, has definitely good and dark sides. But what are those sides?
So, the time has come now to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of online education.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Education
Here we shall discuss it from both perspectives that are on the learners’ side and the educators’ side. Are you ready?
Okay, let’s dive into it.
Advantages of Online Education
Convenient
Online education is convenient for both learners’ and teacher’s sides. The educators have to on the camera, record the quality content and provide their students, that’s enough. Sometimes they have to virtually interact with their students too. On the other hand, the students only have to attend the class. Both can perform their work in their own comfort. They don’t need to go anywhere. They can join the class from their own houses.
The students don’t need to wear any uniform, they can attend their classes putting any dresses. No one is going to see them. Thus, it is very convenient to attend any class from your home in any dress. Although it is not a very high advantage it provides the easiest way for learning and educating for both students and educators respectively.
Studying from Best Teachers
Either you belong to any villages or any cities or very far from the teacher you like and want to study, you can become their students sitting in your own houses. In this way, online education provides the best service to the learners that they can study from the best teachers of all over the world. And they don’t need to migrate anywhere.
Reduced Costs
You will see your seniors who live in other cities. There expanses of living and other things that are necessary for studying are very high. On the other hand, in online education, if you enroll in any course, you will have to pay very little as compared to the same offline course.
Offline education needs more money. For learners, they have to pay not only their course fees but also have to pay their living fees, study material fees, and so on. For educators, they have to manage their infrastructure, staff, and other necessary things so they need a lot of capital. Thus, we can call that offline education needs much capital.
Unlimited Educational Content
Today, we have enough educational content. Nowadays, at Telegram and other educational apps, there are thousands of educational pdf files available in different groups. You will get tired of scrolling down the feed but the content will not end.
Today, You have the opportunity to access those contents. You can enroll them very easily. The educational content will always be expanding on the internet. The growth rate of content will be regularly enhancing.
Wide Competition Range
In offline institutes, we only compete with a little number of students. When we get good marks in comparison to other friends, we become very happy. But this happiness disappears when we think about competing with students of wide ranges.
Online education provides us the opportunity to compete with thousands of students on state levels, national levels, or international levels. We can judge our level from the students of all corners of the country. The more the competition levels are tough, the more possibilities arise for our growth.
Taking Your Dream Course
A few years ago, it is very difficult to find out our dream course very easily. We couldn’t find the best course that was 100% genuine. But today online education has made it very easy for us. Anyone can join their dream course with no difficulties.
Many online education platforms like Unacademy, Coursera, etc. provide the best educational contents that are designed by the best educators and universities of the world.
Increased Revenue
This is the advantage from the educators’ side. In offline institutes, the strength of students is limited. The educator can only teach a definite number of students. If they want to increase the number of their students, they will have to work on the infrastructure of their institutions very first.
But in online education, the educator can teach the students as much as he wants. Thus, his revenue automatically increases and he gets a large number of amounts on the same efforts.
No Friends Distraction
Usually, it is seen in offline classes that many students make noises during classes. This creates a disturbance for other students and they don’t do properly concentrate on their topics. But in the online education method, the students don’t interact with their students which reduces noise a lot. Thus, the students give proper attention to their topics.
Time-Saving
In offline learning, the students have to go to their educational institutes by which their major time waste. They have less time to study and they can’t study properly. Whereas in online learning, the students can take their classes from their own houses and can save their time. In this way, they can get enough time to study.
Environment Friendly
Today pollution is increasing day by day. The number of vehicles running on the road increasing very fast. In offline education, the students usually go to their school, college, or universities with taxies, buses, or their own vehicles that enhance the level of pollution in our environment. But in online education, they don’t need to go anywhere. So, we can call online education that it is an environment-friendly education system.
Disadvantages of Online Education
Requires self-discipline and time management skills
As you all know that there is no physical mentor in online education who will push you for studying. You can’t interact with your mentor easily. Thus, your mentor will only be nominal for you. You have to do everything yourself.
In online classes, it is very seen that students miss their classes without any reason. Many times they miss because of their laziness. Therefore, the students will have to develop self-discipline and time management skills for attending regular class, completing the tasks, solving problems, and blah blah blah.
Lack of Social Interaction
For the growth of human beings, social interaction plays a very important role. Social interaction helps to grow people both mentally and physically. But today, in the technology age, social interaction is diminishing day by day. It results in human beings the lack of morals. Today’s generation is forgetting their morals and ethics.
Online education also contributes to social interaction lacking. The students are busy all day long due to attending their classes. When they are free, they do their other works and also spend their time on social media platforms. That cuts them from social life.
Lack of Practical-based topic
Online education is better for theory-based topics but for a practical-based topic, it is a little bit uncomfortable. For practical knowledge, fieldwork is very important that is not possible in online education.
Thus, all topics that require fieldwork are not suitable for online education. The best way to learn these topics is only by the traditional method. For example, online education can only teach you what is swimming but it does teach you how to swim.
Not suitable for every topic
Through online education, you can get information from the best teachers all over the world. You can learn topics by infographics, images, animations, etc. very easily but not all topic is suitable for e-learning education.
For example, vocational education requires practical knowledge that is very difficult to learn by online methods. So, for vocational courses, the online medium is not effective. Thus, we can say that online education is not suitable for every topic.
Not all Institutes offer Quality Education
Nowadays, the online education industry is growing very rapidly. After the Covid-19 pandemic, almost every institute have switched to online form offline. As a result, the e-learning education marketplace has become very saturated.
Even without having experience, many of them start to provide educational content. But very few of them only provide the best subject knowledge while the majority of them only focus on the number of students and on the revenue, they are earning. Therefore, they start to compromise with quality and don’t offer quality education to their students.
Health-Related Issues
The studies say that the average screen time on mobile phones is nearly 4 hours and after the Covid-19 pandemic, it has increased up to 25%. Since the screen time is increasing continuously, it causes many diseases like tech neck that is headaches and neck pain, Obesity, sleep disorders. It can also damage our eyesight and change the structure of our brain and increase the possibility of cancers.
Since online education requires focusing on the screen that increases the screen time of that individual. This may take them in danger and causes many diseases.
Knowledge of Technology
Taking online classes by teachers and attending classes by students requires some technical knowledge. As we all know that online classes are possible only through the medium of the internet and if we don’t a little bit about their process, we can’t attend and the teacher can’t take online classes. So, for online education, you should have some technical knowledge.
Network Issues
We know, online education totally depends upon the internet. If the internet speed is good then we have no problem taking classes but if the internet speed is not good, we can’t attend classes properly. So, for attending classes properly, internet speed should be good and there should not be network issues at that time.
Lack of Instant Feedback
Feedback is very important to improve better. But in online education, neither the students nor the teachers get instant feedback. They both think that they are giving their 100%, therefore, they don’t improve themselves. Thus, both teachers and students face loss after few times.
No Attention
In online classes, we have no pressure to look at the screen. There is no one who is seeing us. So, the major students do not pay proper attention to the screen and don’t listen to their teacher properly. As a result, the students’ many topics and concepts can’t be cleared and the students face many problems later.
So, I have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of online or e-learning education. These points will help you in understanding the difference between online and offline education.
Conclusion
Online education has brought a new revolution in the educational industry. In the future, the only online industry will grow who adopt the technology and maintain their online presence. Online presence is not an option, it is the demand of the current time.
By the Forbes report, the online education market will touch $350 Billion by 2025 globally. Covid-19 pandemic teaches all businesses that how important for any business to go online. Either you are a learner or you are an educator, understand the importance of the internet and utilize internet resources in your life both personally and professionally.
In my perspective, you should not rely on one medium. You should only take online courses which are theoretical. For, practical-based courses, you should always go for offline classes. The combination of both online and offline will grow you very fast.
Now, I hope you will get some points on the advantages and disadvantages of Online education or e-learning education. If this article has added any value to your life, share it with your friends and also share it on your social media platforms.
Thank you!
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