Online Education

ONLINE EDUCATION

The growing popularity of online education has been an increasing trend in our contemporary world, especially with the rapid advancement in technology that the world witnesses. This has made learning much easier and has enhanced our learning skills at schools and universities.  According to Orgill, Jason, and Hervey, “Approximately 5.6 million students took at least one web-based class during the fall 2009 semester, which marked a 21% growth from the previous year” (2013, para.3). These statistics show that the number of online courses taken by students are dramatically increasing year by year, and there are far more statistics that prove that online learning has been significantly increasing in the past decade and that has a positive effect on the student’s progress, as well as analytical and technical learning. One of the main reasons is because of its low tuition costs (or it is sometimes free); this gives the opportunity for poor students to have equal access to education (like normal students). This ultimately results in fair comparison of grades. Online education also allows students to work at their own stride, around their particular schedule and with no need to physically travel to a school. This in general, has increased the level of convenience and made online education accessible to major development in education history. This issue is significant because online learning has made education more accessible to students willing to learn when it was previously hard and may have been out of reach. Many People think online education does not benefit students in any way (1), however, I believe it has made learning easier and much more accessible for students.  (2). In addition, Online education improves learning among students by allowing them to choose from a wide variety of courses. (3).

People have been constantly criticizing online education on how it does not benefit students. An example of these criticisms could be the lack of motivation of students with no teachers that results in them finding a hard time to concentrate and focus on their work. According to Elizabeth Murphy, a doctoral candidate in faculty of education, “The teachers reported that motivating students in online classrooms is more difficult than motivating students in a face-to-face (F2F) setting” (2015, para.2). However, I believe the author is exaggerating, as motivation is not one of the essentials of students obtaining the required grade or score. One of the main essentials is the communication in general. Interaction/communication is one of the important mediums, where there should be a connection between the teachers, students and the resources being instructed. In online learning, there is a lot of communications occurring, as students discuss their doubts to each other, students can get their feedbacks from teachers through email. Also, the availability of discussion that proved success in students, is a communication skill; which concludes motivation is not the key. Also, According to according to Morrison, a digital education consultant, “If [students] go in with a mindset of taking charge of their learning that really will help them be successful” (2016, para.3). This shows that students who are willing to succeed, whatever the environment, regardless of the kind of motivation, or how hard the conditions are, would not be prevent them from being constructive and creative in their studies. Also, people often claim that the presence of the teachers face-to-face is compulsory and it is the only way for students to succeed, as they can get immediate feedbacks and teachers are aware of what the students are working on. However, there are studies that have proven that face-to-face interactions are not essential, and in fact online education provides better academic performance. According to Orgill, Jason, and Dougla, “students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction” (2016, para.3). This is evident, as the students have better interaction with each other, and have better connections with their online instructors, due to the better communication that connects students from all over the world. This means that they could find what other students do, communicate with them (like in discussion boards, creating groups in social media like Facebook and WhatsApp), engage with each other and get their perspectives on what they are doing. Ultimately, it is the students’ decision to motivate themselves and it is their choice to succeed.

Online education has made learning easier and much more accessible for students. One of the main aspects that it has made our lives comfortable is the fact that students do not have the headache of waking up early in the morning, wasting time dressing, and reaching the school or university. In addition, if there is heavy traffic, it will end up making the students miss their early important classes. In online class activities, students do not get distracted by their friends and have the complete freedom to do what they want and concentrate properly. Moreover, as the classes are online, it can increase the interaction with other students in the world that results in developing the students’ ability to communicate and increase their communication skills of the “English” language as it is the international language. Even though the students are physically inactive as they are always at homes, it give them the opportunity for  working part time jobs while they are studying; this  can help them and gives them experience with better interaction and may serve them in the future career . However, one of the main difficulties is carrying books to university or having a lot of books at homes. So now e-books are being invented that makes the students’ work much more organized due to the compatibility and portability of e-books that can be used on wide range of devices. According to Winkler, a consultant who focuses on online education, “The Khan Academy provides a free world-class education to anyone anywhere… Khan Academy has over three-and-a-half million unique visitors to its site every month” (2013, para2). This proves the growing reputation of online education. Students would prefer studying a free well known institution that provides them with easy accessibility to courses they are studying. This is evident, as instead of spending huge amounts of money in private tuitions, students would relax at their homes and with comfort. Also, what makes learning easier, is the fact that students can rewind the videos if in case they didn’t understand something that will make them understand the material better. In addition, many online learning websites provide unlimited number of “question banks” that made learning much easier, as the student keeps on practicing, and while solving the exams, it would be very easy to score high grades.