Preface
It's Rasheed here again bringing you more wonderful articles from my favorite platform Blurt. Here we will be looking at the pros and cons of E-learning.
NB: Pros and Cons was derived from the word Pro Et Contra which is used to imply advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons). Now before giving this a read, let us all consider the fact that E-learning is a development which mankind won't be letting go of any time soon so if the disadvantages appear to be more than the advantages to us all we can do is get used to it.
What is Online Education?
This is the acquisition of knowledge over the internet rather than in a physical classroom. It is often defined as distance education via the internet. Nowadays due to the large technological advancements being invented in the world today, one can comfortably sit at home, in the workplace, even outside, on the streets with the help of devices like desktops, laptops, Ipads, phones etc and obtain almost any information he/she needs.
Now I will be talking on the advantages of E-learning in the world today.
Some advantages of E-learning in comparison to the traditional learning methods include,
It saves time- in a traditional setting one has to get up early in the morning, prepare, pay for transportation/ drive to school not withstanding the possiblity of traffic but with E-learning you are saved from all these troubles.
It leads to better memory retention- Soo many E-learning platforms have education more interactive and fun. One can easily watch an educative video online and remember it more than what he was thought in class.
Lowers total costs- in some situations it's believed that online education is more expensive but if we look at it extensively one can see that in online education we avoid tuition costs, cost of textbooks, transportation costs, commuting costs unlike in a traditional setting.
Accommodation of everyone's needs- it makes catering for individuals needs easier as it provides every kind of information with a wide variety of everyone to choose but in a traditional setting there are limited choices.
Consistent and Standardized Learning- in a traditional setting, every teacher has their seperate method of teaching, Some are carefree and just teach anyhow they like but with E-learning the same standard way is used to make the learning process easier.
Some disadvantages of E-learning in comparison to the traditional learning method include
It is inaccessible to the computer illiterates- in the society today there are alot of people who can't really use most of the technology we have today due to either being old or poverty or not having the opportunity to get hold of one, these class of people would be at a disadvantage when using E-learning platforms.
Provides Theoretical education but not practical- In as much E-learning is favourable to humanitarian and business courses who need little practical education we can't say same for science courses who need both theoretical and alot of practical education.
Difficulty in preventing examination malpractice- In a traditional setting we are checking properly and supervised during exams and tests but all that won't be possible in the case of online exams where students can freely cheat and knowing students who can be lazy attimes, they would obviously use this chance to the fullest.
It puts less pressure on the students thereby making them lack motivation- in a traditional setting, there is alot of pressure, competition and motivation from other serious students to do better or to excel in their studies but in E-learning there is no such thing because you won't even make contact with your fellow students.
Lack of socialization and communication skills- people who are used to distance based learning would have little or no socialization skills because he/she is not used to be around others unlike in a traditional setting where we experience different people from different aspects of life and learn alot from interacting with people.
Lack of Teacher supervision- attimes one would not understand what he or she learnt online but due to there being an absence of a teacher figure, one can't ask questions and would have to miss out on such knowledge which would have been easily clarified in a traditional setting.
Conclusion
Personally I believe in both teaching methods and would say the best way to curb the problems faced by both methods of learning would be combined them in a very creative way. Whatever the traditional method lacks the Online method would cover up for and vice versa. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.