Online Education

Online Education

The modern age is the age of information technology and eLearning. The world has literally been placed on one’s finger tips. A click of a mouse can take you across the globe in a jiffy. The steep learning curve of knowledge never seemed so easy to scale in the past. Cyber technology and cyber learning are now the new mantras to success. Thanks to the internet traditional class rooms are rapidly giving way to ultra-modern online classes. Computer technology has opened up a new world of eLearning opportunities for everyone to benefit from. Technology is the backbone of online education and has opened innumerable new vistas of learning opportunities. One hardly has a reason or an excuse today to stay away from the limitless world of knowledge that has literally walked to one’s doorstep. Be it the field of science or literature, online classes can be a real answer to one’s learning needs. There is hardly any reason to be skeptical about online learning as the concept has now fully come of age and has long passed the trial period. Online education has asserted its relevance and success in unequivocal terms. Today, one can confidently make an informed decision to join online classes over the traditional ones for certain distinct advantages.

While the traditional classes place innumerable constraints on the learner, the concept of online education comes as a breath of fresh air. There are no roll calls to miss and no fines or embarrassment for coming late to the class in online education. Flexibility, malleability and adaptability are some of the chief features of an online course. In a regular class room, a student must learn what the teacher has planned for the day while in online learning, one decides what one would like to study on a particular day or time. Suppose one is quite comfortable with the learning of Robert Frost but happens to be a bit shaky about Wallace Stevens; one can easily spend more time on Wallace Stevens in an online course and keep Robert Frost for another day. Of course, such a luxury is unheard of in a regular class room scenario.

Online education is far less expensive than regular campus coaching. Online education provides an opportunity to earn the same degrees/diplomas for much less. Moreover, the students also save time, money and energy on transportation, as the classes take place nowhere else but at home itself. “Most online courses are asynchronous, which means you don’t have to attend a lecture at a particular place and time” (Helm & Helm, 2000). Online literature classes offer copious study material and access to unlimited online journals and libraries. This further saves money on purchasing expensive text books etc. No wonder, the popularity of online education in academia is rapidly rising across the world.

As such, online literature classes can be real fun. The availability of various online audio-video clips as a course material makes learning thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. The students can have an instant access to online televised dramas, movies and other study material which may be a part of the curriculum. In online education, the students don’t have to wait for their teacher to show all that stuff to them. With all those eLearning tools at their disposal, the students can work freely and feel pretty self-reliant. The virtual class room has no physical or geographical constraints; it can be country wide or world wide. The online classes can also provide a truly broad cross-cultural experience. The students get an opportunity to share and discuss various educational topics through online message boards and blogs.

Unlike traditional education, most online courses require the students to submit their assignments at the end of the semester and not by the end of the week or so. This considerably reduces stress and gives the students much needed peace of mind. Online education students know that he don’t have to finish their assignments in a huff because of paucity of time. With plenty of time at their disposal, their performance tends to go up and improve. It has been observed that students attending online classes normally show a significant improvement in their grades.

Another big advantage of online education is the possibility of learning and earning simultaneously. In the absence of a rigid study-schedule and time-table, online students can easily afford to work and study together. This practically means, no more drop outs from the schools and colleges due to lack of funds or time. One can comfortably manage one’s time in such a manner that there is little risk of a clash between one’s work and online studies. This balance is very hard to achieve in regular education or classes.

In this era of globalization, online education provides new forms of access to learning, knowledge and training.