Within the last three years, traditional education has shifted the very essence of learning. Online education had to be forced onto many institutions, and to a large degree, the world changed forever. Online education is not new, however; it hasn’t been popularized until now.
When a student chooses to earn a degree, there are many options available. Many have automatically chosen an online learning pathway because of the many advantages over traditional education. Still, some people may choose classroom-based learning out of preference. For this reason, this article will discuss the benefits of online education above traditional learning.
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Autonomy of Learning Experience
Have you ever been in a classroom where you felt like you weren’t getting anything out of the experience? Perhaps you knew the subject well enough, or it just didn’t interest you. For decades, there has been a standardized curriculum in place for the foundational years of schooling. This is necessary to form a base understanding, but it should only go so far.
Once you reach university and higher education, you will want to start specializing as soon as possible. This is going to take time and dedication, so you want to be in full control of the subjects you take. You will also want to work through the curriculum at a pace that is right for you. Online learning opens a wide array of subjects to choose from because there is no limited resource. A wider choice of professors is also available because there is no geographic boundary.
Cheaper and Saves Times
Traditional education is extremely expensive. You have to buy textbooks, stationery, and you travel back and forth each day. Imagine never having to leave your apartment to earn your degree. You will have more time to study, sleep, and even clean the house. It’s not by any means the lazy way to learn though. Online learning enables you to be more time-effective and productive overall. You have to be more disciplined with self-studies because the entire process relies on you being able to study at home when you are around many distractions. If getting dressed each day motivates you to work on your degree, then do it. If you can stay in your PJs all day and still be productive, that’s great as well.
With online learning, you can take small bite-sized courses at any time of the day. Many are pre-recorded videos that you can watch multiple times. You can choose when not to take a subject if you know that you can pass the examination because of prior knowledge. Some universities supply you with textbooks and you must submit all of your assignments electronically through their learner management system. Your final exams are even taken online, with helpful videos rather than watching a professor talk. All of these features save you money in the long run as well as time, which can be your biggest commodity. A lot of the time you can source your textbooks for very good prices. eBooks are far cheaper than physical ones that need to be printed and delivered.
Accessibility to any Subject Globally
There are a few degrees that have to be learned from specific universities, such as veterinary studies, however, most careers are very easily attainable through online education. Over the last decades, professors have been recording their lectures and offering them to students online. This allows the educators to better prepare for the classroom lectures without any distractions throughout. They can fit in a lot more content than if they were conducting class in front of students physically seated. With recorded videos, professors can tailor their lessons better and even become more interactive.
Teachers from one end of the world can share their videos with anyone willing to pay. Some universities may even offer courses as additional content because there is no real overhead on their side to provide it. Depending on the degree, you will have access to a wide variety of subjects and courses to personalize your learning experience.
Greater Teacher to Student Ratio
Apart from pure self-study where you rely on just textbooks, online education allows for more educators to manage more students. Since there are more opportunities for international teachers to educate globally, there are more teachers available to every student. Online universities like SBU Online have a 10:1 ratio. One teacher for every 10 students is a much better ratio than the traditional education of 35:1. Teachers can place more focus on individual students, plus they don’t have to manage a horde of students in a physical classroom.
There can be a lot of interruptions even in adult education, especially when a lot of questions are asked. With online education, teachers can respond to digital messages sent during class. They will have time to respond properly, and they can focus their attention on one student at a time. This form of feedback has become more constructive because it’s faster and more specific to each student.
You Can Work While You Study
The general theme is that if someone opts for online learning, that they are a working professional as well. For those that aren’t, studying online will still allow you to take on part-time employment to help pay for student loan debt. Online education is for the most part, cheaper than traditional classroom-based environments for many reasons already discussed. Apart from saving on textbooks and travel costs, all of the overhead costs for a university are cut substantially.
The cost for universities to run an online degree is still quite a bit, however, it won’t be nearly as much as traditional education. Not only will you have a smaller student loan to pay back, but you can also pay for the installments by working in your spare time. If you are focused and disciplined enough you can cut your study time just enough to work a full-time job. It may be the hardest few years of your life, but it will be worth it in the end.
Become More Tech Savvy
Technical know-how is something every young person has. It’s part of our generation because we grew up with it all around us. Online education takes some degree of tech-savvy and you aren’t likely to have anyone holding your hand. You will need to know how to access the lectures online, as well as submit your assignments electronically. If your internet goes down, you need to know how to fix it so that you can continue your studies. All of these things help you practice your technical skills and allows a person to become a problem-solver. Your end-of-year exams will also be online so you have to know how to navigate the system effectively. Many tests are time-limited, and if you don’t know how to work the system you may lose valuable time to answer questions.
Learning technology will benefit a person in more ways than one. Specifically, for the future workforce, online platforms will soon be mainstream, with many employees operating remotely from home. Every daily function of our lives will soon become automated and cloud-based, so learning the proper technical knowledge early in your educational career is important.
Less Competitive
In traditional schools, you have annual prizes for academic ability and valedictorians for the higher achieving students. Although a little bit of competition can motivate someone to perform better, too much of it can be harmful. There are always hundreds of high school students under immense pressure to be the best and get accepted to elite universities. The risk of students developing depression and anxiety in their teenage years becomes dangerous to their adult health. They are taught to be too competitive and to take criticism too seriously that they become dysfunctional adults who just learn that stress is a way of life.
Online learning takes all of this away. There are no scoreboards for competing academically. Each student only sees their achievements and test results. There are no school cliques and groups separating people at lunchtime. It’s the ultimate platform for any introvert to learn. You can set up your learning space in any way that helps you study better. There is no need to worry about being liked and respected at school because you don’t get to know your classmates.
The choice to go with online learning can be made easier with all of these advantages. You may be reluctant to study online because you are worried about maintaining the same level of education that you did in your high school years. The key is to know that with all the resources available to you, the only real thing you have to worry about is motivation. If you want something bad enough you will work hard to achieve it. Online education is far superior to traditional learning in many ways, and it will soon be the future of all education. From time and cost-saving features to the availability of thousands of specialized educators, online learning is beneficial to anyone up to the task.