With the changing concept of traditional education radically, the rise of the internet and new technologies are taking place, and quality education is becoming a concern for all.
As the year is about to end, and most of the schools are still not opened, we asked several students to share their experience of online learning.
Most of the students said that they are missing their school and classmates, teachers, sports, and extracurricular activities. On the other hand, others are enjoying studying at their own place and pace. They have set their own schedule and get free once it’s done.
Where, undoubtedly, e-learning can save time and money – for both students and educational organizations, most of the students don’t think that e-learning is a much effective way of learning. However, easier access to information means the academic requirements facing students can also be more demanding.
Another problem students are facing that for online learning; they need to be tech-savvy and are facing problems installing the software that’s needed for the class.
However, in a survey, most of the students said that educational sectors should implement permanently online classes for a more relaxing learning experience.
Here we are listing down five primary impacts that now seem going to stay permanently in learning and being adopted successfully by students.
- Flexibility – Online learning allows both teachers and students to set their learning pace and flexibility to set a schedule. It enables them to utilize the educational platform to balance their study and personal life. They have a shared agenda between the student and teacher that prompts both to adopt the new responsibilities effectively, which doesn’t seem to end in the coming future too. Additionally, virtual classes allow students to attend other classes if they miss any. Additionally, it facilitates those students who have part-time jobs, families to look after or to pursue any other course or other activities.
- Anytime Anywhere – A tremendous benefit of learning online which is attracting everyone, is that ‘when it’s done right’. For sheer convenience, online learning allows students to learn at their place. They can access study material anytime, anywhere, which helps them to balance their work and study commitments. It may seem, someone, like they can demonstrate competency upfront and get credit for this, on the other hand, for others it may seem like moving at a slower pace and receiving additional support if needed.
- Offers a wide selection of programs – With endless materials available on the internet, there are infinite skills and subjects to teach and learn. With the growing number of internet users, universities and other educational institutes are offering online versions of their several programs for various levels and disciplines. Also, maybe it is hard to believe for many, but online learning programs allow students to interact more with their teachers. As instead of competing with other students in getting the teacher’s attention in class, now they can just send them a message, also not every student doesn’t want the entire class to hear what they are about to talk with professors. Enrolling in an online program allows them to ask anything without being noticed. As an example, people who are doing higher studies and have assigned any paper they often hesitate in asking so many questions. Online teaching programs are enabling them to put their thoughts and questionnaires without being embarrassed, and actually, it is working as their thesis help. Additionally, there are so many online thesis help programs running, which work as their real friend on completing assessments.
- Don’t need to share thoughts and ideas to compete – As per a survey, 73% of students say that they are enjoying the equity in the ability to share their thoughts and ideas. Also, they do not need to fear being laughed at by others. When learning online, the playing field has been leveled, and several personality improvement opportunities are in places, such as elucidating on posts, and student work or participating freely on open discussion forums. These open forums are a great way and provide varied opportunities for sharing and discussing various topics and thoughts. It also helps students in pursuing studies in areas of interest without any dependency on the staffing restrictions of their particular school or community.
- Allows students to be aware of health-related issues that might get in the way of a traditional class setting – Those students who are not able to compile with traditional school settings because of their health-related concerns, are finding online teaching programs a great alternative for continuing their studies. This might also include a student who is hospitalized or has certain disabilities, and often have excessive absences or tardiness are availing benefits of this system. These are just a few examples, in which the traditional school setting results ending up as their leaving due to excessive absence and missing the material covered.
- Not required to move – Almost 47% of the students often drop their planning of enrolment for higher studies due to moving. Not each city has good educational institutes and students who don’t feel comfortable with moving, choose to enroll with the available options. With online learning programs, they can easily enroll themself with their desired institutes without the trouble of moving residence to get the degree they always wanted.
However, this new learning model is profiting most of the students and going to stay longer even after this pandemic, some ways of teaching no longer make sense. With access to limited information, the focus on memorizing things may lead to losing its meaning. Without researching a lot, it is being replaced by how to select and use the available information appropriately in each context. However, it is necessitated to have transitioned from exam-based systems to encourage knowledge retention to others based on developing projects and tasks.
Additionally, group discussion and participation are becoming fundamental for online learning, as it is a great way to transfer and acknowledge what they have acquired to go out in the world.
It is becoming vital now to evaluate what students are learning and using it to convince others, are they able to argue upon their point within the group, to help the class progress, or to lead the discussion. Peer-to-peer evaluations are now a new norm in education, and students are welcoming it as well.
The technology used in education has become the center of many pieces of research and studies. Numbers of good software have been developed that can be used as a supplement for the class curriculum. These programs are helping students in learning when they are out of the school, by providing quizzes, tests, and study materials.
It has also been noticed in our survey, that most of the students don’t even know this option exists, and schools are also used in doing things the way they’ve always done.
Doing the things as it was always done, it’s not something that is always going to be beneficial, and hasn’t proven effective for most sectors. And now students are also ready to accept the new pattern and find it more practical than the traditional way of learning.
