Gone are the days were an American child would find it fun to play with crayons to now being glued to the screen. Advancement in technology has given the rice of online courses which are growing at a ridiculous amount giving quality education at a click of a button. A shift from classroom to has been evidently noted in high education than other levels, with channels like massive open online courses (MOOC) taking center stage. MOOC offers a variety of platforms which in the past years have been making tremendous advancements, and on their turn making good retunes. Some of this companies may include ORA Prep and 2U, who have been partnering with colleges and universities (1) . However, with this advancement and introduction into our education begs the question, will online courses ever replace the traditional classroom?
In connection, to significantly understand why this is happening we should look at the advantages this platform is bringing to the table. However, let’s not also forget the cons too which may significantly affect its adoption for the coming years. Convenience, affordability, customization, and preparation are some of the advantages with decreased human interaction being the greatest disadvantage (2).
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Convenience, traditional classrooms have a fixed schedule where you will have to attend a class at the specified time. Web courses make this easy with no fixed time for study. Lectures can be conducted at any time of the day due to their 24-hours assess. People who are working but have small or not at all time to spare during regular class hours can assess their lectures at their free time. Enhancing once education has never been easier and closer than this, giving online learning a significant upper hand over the traditional classrooms.
Affordability, traveling expenses, accommodation expenses are some of the money that will be saved when opting for a course online. To allow the society at large to access education at the very best one will have to look at affordability. Making education affordable gives everyone an equal chance to maximize all the opportunity of a good education quality education has to offer. Targeting this market, the online platform has expounded on this ensuring anyone from anywhere in the world has front row seats to the best education can offer. Partnerships with colleges and well-renowned universities as part of their development for the courses they offer (2).
Customization, different people have different requirements when it comes to education. Some people are slow learners others are fast learners, traditional classrooms make it difficult for this two groups co coherently survive. Some of the online causes give room for the two groups with the slow learners taking their time before moving to another module. Taking sufficient time to understand the module before advancing ensures that one has a greater understanding and can easily relate and apply what they have been leaning (1) . On the other hand, fast learners do not require all this time they can easily advance into different modules without the lag of the slow learners. Giving the leaner the upper hand in the determination of the speed to learn but also ensuring that the education offered is of high quality.
It should also be noted that there some individuals use the online course as a form of preparation. Online learning is being used as increasingly by the corporation as a training tool for its staff, making it essential to the market for prospective workforce have a dynamic learning framework. Employees with an online degree from a credible source with the traditional classroom degree have an added advantage for the market increases in dynamic leaners is also increasing. This courses can also be used to upgrade once CV to add the extra qualification, with its flexibility in location. Anyone anywhere in the world vying access to quality education in the advancement of their carrier is an added boost in any interview application (3).
The greatest disadvantage to online learning over traditional classrooms will be the decreases human interaction. Online learning makes it difficult to connect with your peers and in other incidences even the teachers. Traditional classrooms give a face to face interaction between the teacher and the students, motivation, and consultation at a more intimate level but well within the professional boundaries. Interaction with peers enables expiation of ideas and discussion on clarification on points not understood from the lectures. However, most of the online courses are trying as much as possible to convert this disadvantage by the introduction of forums and chatrooms to give their students as much interaction that they can offer at the current situation (3) .
It’s evident that the online learning market is grown and at a remarkably high rate, all over the world. People are going for it because of the many advantages it may offer over traditional classrooms and equivalent quality. Online courses are overpowering the traditional classes and in a few years after complete advancement, it will level the plane field.
References
Husak, D. (2017). Courses of Conduct. Oxford Scholarship Online . doi:10.1093/oso/9780190683450.003.0009.
Rao, K. (2012). Universal design for online courses: Addressing the needs of non-traditional learners. 2012 IEEE International Conference on Technology Enhanced Education (ICTEE) . doi:10.1109/ictee.2012.6208664.
Yashchin, A. (2014). Will Online Learning Replace the Classroom? Retrieved on 19 March 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/avi-yashchin/will-online-learning-repl_b_4935348.html.
