Pros and Cons of Online Learning

Online learning has a ton of benefits. It's convenient, you can learn from the comfort of your own home, and it's really cheap. On the other hand, if you're not self motivated and disciplined, it won't work out well for you.

Before, many colleges offer their courses for free online or through an app. MIT offers nearly all of its courses for free on edX with another 200 schools available through Coursera. But with the years of pandemic, all that is usually done physically, are replace by Online Learning. So all of us are getting used to this kind of learning nowadays. But the benefits or the disadvantages are not clear for everyone.

So this article is to decide whether Online learning is good or bad.

The biggest advantages and disadvantages of online learning which others tends to think about these are here. Let's first analyze them. And I'll follow it up with my own thoughts and review it later on.

Pros:

1) Convenience: The convenience is a huge advantage for Online Learning as we can always access the courses anytime anywhere from our mobile phones, laptops, tablets, etc., all you need is Internet connection. At first, for a student having a busy schedule it can be convenient. It means you wont have to waste all your time going to college classes and you can save your time for other works.

2) Cost: Online courses are free. Studies show that online learning is more than 40% cheaper than attending on-campus classes at a university in the US. It saves cost on transportation, and printing of class materials.

But there is also cost depending on the tools you will need to have in order to do this course.. internet, laptop, printer, scanner, etc.,.. but can be bought on a tight budget.

3) Self-pace: The self-pace is the main advantages of online learning. Students have control over their pace. They can move at the speed that suits their life style and schedule. They can even pause the course at any time without any penalty, though this is an unlimited access course so they will be able to resume it whenever they want after suspending it for a while. This flexibility is one of the main reasons that students prefer this method of learning.

4) Accessibility: Since almost all universities offer their courses online in one way or another, it doesn't matter if you're studying in a third world country, then you can access any course you need. You don't need to depend on physical space to attend the lectures. With online learning, one can attend the course anytime anywhere from home or work just as long as you have an Internet connection. You can be able to take your time watching and listening lecture again whenever you want to at no cost.

5) Personalization: Online learning is very personalized as it allows students to tailor his/her own experience according to his/her preferences and abilities. It also means that he/she can study the topics in a way they are most interested in, in a way he/she is suited to.

6) Accessibility: It's an easy way to learn. Online learning is accessible to everyone, which means it's easier for some people than others unless the courses are very specific and hard to access.

The disadvantages of online learning is as follows:

1) Privacy: Privacy concerns are one of the most important issues with online learning. Some colleges have a policy whereby instructors do not record students' responses to questions and assessments during lectures or peer feedback (except for behavior-based elements). In other cases, some online classes are recorded, but the data is inaccessible to students except under special circumstances (such as a student's graduation requirements).

2) Cost: It's not cheap. On-campus classes at private colleges are often very expensive. Online courses have overhead costs like servers and maintenance fees that are not an issue with on-campus programs.

3) Accessibility: The cost of online courses can make them less accessible to those with economic disadvantages than traditional education. The price difference can be upwards of five times the cost of on-campus courses at public institutions and one or two times more than private universities. In addition, some universities are charging $70 to enroll in a course considered to be free from the rest of the community.

4) Control: In online courses, there is no personal touch. The instructor can only respond to student questions by email or phone. There is no physical contact with them and that's what makes online learning so impersonal. The most important relationships are often in person and online programs miss out on some of this essential aspect of education.

5) Real life skills: Students who take online courses may not get the same level of interaction they would have got in a face-to-face classroom setting, thereby making it difficult for them to develop their real life skills and attitude towards studying.

6) Interaction: It's hard to interact with the other students and that's one of the negative factors of online learning.

7) Learning: While there are some good advantages of online learning, there are some disadvantages too. For instance, most people still think that they have to learn in a traditional classroom format where they can have access to a teacher or lecturer who can teach them or people whom they can ask questions from. It is however important for the students to understand the kind of learning environment online learning provides and hence should carefully choose what type of course suits you best where you get all the benefits without having any negative impact on your life style and schedule.

8) Problems: Online learning is not free from problems. There are occasions when students can not access the course for various reasons, such as losing their connection, technical difficulties and many others. The courses are also susceptible to hackers who may try to disrupt the class in various ways but this is usually only a problem for Internet users rather than a hindrance to those who don't have an Internet connection.

9) Preparation: Students probably won't get the same preparation that they would get in face-to-face classes because they can't interact with their classmates and instructors. This can be a significant problem for students who are not self-motivated. However, there are some ways to prepare such as reading up information on the online course and watching pre-recorded videos.

Overall, both forms of learning have their own advantages and disadvantages to them so a student has to choose which is best for them according to what they want in terms of training, experience and living.

1) It's an easy way to learn: One of the big advantages of online learning is that it's an easy way to learn. Students can learn anything from anywhere at any place so long as they have access to Internet or Wi-Fi network or even make use of their mobile data services where available depending on the phone carrier.

2) Access: It's easy to access anything online so long as you have access to the Internet. There are a number of websites that would allow you to learn anything from anywhere in the world and students can access these sites through their mobile phones, tablets, computers, laptops, etc.

3) Flexible: The courses are also very flexible since they can be taken by day or night and at any time of the day. The course modules can easily be done on their site or on their mobile devices. Students can also pause, rewind or even fast forward at any given stage of the course if they feel that it would help them better understand what they have been learning so far.

4) Effective: Compared to the traditional classrooms, online courses are effective because students can learn from anywhere. For example, they can even learn while they are sleeping since there are plenty of websites that are available online. Moreover, since they don't need to go to classes or seminars or other lectures, it makes it easier for them to prepare for their exams.

5) Free: Another advantage of online learning is that there's no need to waste money for the course because it's free. They just need to pay for their data services and internet access so that they can access resources in the online course.

6) Less Hassle: Online learning is easier for students because they don't have to deal with any schedule changes. They can also interact with their instructors and other students in the course if they want to have some help with their studies.

7) No Distractions: There are no distractions in online courses because there aren't any people around them making noise, inviting guests that can distract them from studying or any other noises that can affect their concentration.

8) Portability: Students are free to study wherever and whenever they want in online courses since it's portable unlike traditional ones where there are strict rules about which place and time they should study in.

9) Adjustable difficulty levels: It's possible for students to adjust the difficulty level of online courses according to their preferences without having to worry about lacking behind their peers.

10) On-demand: The on-demand nature of online courses is one of their biggest advantages in terms of flexibility. Students can study whenever they want as long as they have access to the Internet and their home computer or laptop or even use their mobile devices.

11) More efficient: Since students can study when they want and from wherever they want, it's also more efficient than attending lectures. It allows them to do other things aside from classes and it's also possible for them to prepare for their exams if they want too.

12) Less competition: There are less competitions in online classes since students have more chances to learn compared with traditional ones where there are always a lot of students around and they have nothing else to do but compete against each other. This is different in online classes where there aren't so many people around.

In conclusion, online learning is not all bad. It has its advantages and disadvantages just like any other type of learning.