The Advantages of Distance Learning

In order to unravel college students’ desperation of choosing whether they should enroll in an online course, Content Marketing Specialist of Collegis Education, Kristina Ericksen, has devoted experience from taking online courses to produce and provide a solution for any student. Her written article for Rasmussen College, “What I Wish Someone Told Me BEFORE Taking Online Classes,” exploits the hidden challenges and the usual shortcomings that bears in the name of online learning, such as there are certain learning styles that are not meant for staring at a computer screen, so according to Ericksen, “an advantage to one student may be a disadvantage to another.” While learning styles is only one of her subtopics in the article,

According to current estimates approximately 75 percent of college students are now nontraditional students – older than 25, attending school part time, and having delayed entry or reentry into college for a variety of personal reasons. Post secondary education is needed by such students to develop their careers and to acquire knowledge and skills required by a constantly changing global society. This trend is not restricted to North America; it is a worldwide phenomenon.

As technology has advanced, it has been able to bring change and benefits to different areas of society. It has also created more ways to benefit the higher education system. One important change in the higher education system is the creation of more online classes. An example is in the form of livestreaming an actual lecture to students either on a computer or a television. These courses are called MOOC’s, or massive open online courses.

The online educational environment is increasingly being used by students and should be designed based on the needs of online learners. According to Felder (1996),”learning styles are characteristic strengths and preferences in the way [learners] take in and process information.” We are the next generation of student online learners so we should put everything we learn online into our daily agendas in everyday life.

Alisa Stern’s article discusses the boom of online learning in higher education institutions and the major challenges an instructor faces with these online courses. According to Stern, the most challenging thing about an online course is replicating the same learning environment a student would get attending a regular face to face class. She discusses how technology has pushed online learning to become more collaborative and less isolated. Furthermore, Stern has experienced teaching an online courses and discusses the different tools that helped her recreate a conventional learning environment in an online course. Stern mentions that communication played an important role in the way she taught her courses and students felt as if she was interested

“Technology has revolutionized the way we communicate, the way we live, and the way we learn.” (Maddix; 2010). During these recent years web- based learning has gained so much popularity that, online courses enrolments continue to climb, but retention and completion rates in such courses and programs are lower than traditional classroom schooling. Because of these problems educators have looked into the problems to see what can be done to reverse the trend. As more formal education courses become available online, quality and non-completion remain a problem. This brings me to ask the question, that how much relationship should I build into

One of the biggest concerns about online education today is something that Thomas Friedman calls the “ambition gap” (354). The new American generations are becoming less motivated and less ambitious than the rest of the world. Not only is sending american jobs to other countries cheaper but the individuals are much more productive and willing to do the work. Education Online would be enabling these next generation of students laziness. In a Ted Talks seminar, Anant Agarwal, the head of edX, tells his audience why Massive Open Online Courses still matter. Agarwal talks about the changing generations and how we ought to keep up with technology and embrace it in the way we educate. Agrawal insists,” so rather than driving our kids into a classroom, herding them out there at 8 o’clock in the morning-- I hated going to class at 8 o’clock in the morning, so why are we forcing our kids to do that? So instead what you do is have them watch

In particular, it is failing to “promote and provide distance and time free learning.” Although FGCU offers a wealth of online courses for students to take from the comfort of their own home, or anywhere they choose really, the quality of such courses are not up to par with the education gained in the classroom. According to Douglas Rushkoff, “Online learning needs to cater to human users. A real instructor should not simply dump data on a person, as in a scripted video, but engage with students, consider their responses and offer individualized challenges” (3). Unfortunately, the state of online courses at FGCU falls under this criteria of simply dumping information on students, and online courses offer very little in the way of individualized challenges. While the quality of education in an FGCU classroom is unprecedented, the quality of education in an FGCU online classroom leaves much to be desired. Instead of a virtual classroom environment, an online FCGU course simply puts students through rigid, non-streamlined hoops that do little to insight creativity or academic advancement. And for this reason, FGCU is falling short of its information technology guiding

Computer based learning, as it stands, has plenty of disadvantages, but many in business and educational arenas remain optimistic about its future. There are two indisputable truths about computer-based learning, or e-learning. First, it will revolutionize education and second, such a future is just around the block. Educational experts agree that most types of study are not yet effective when delivered purely online, mainly because of bandwidth limitations, expensive set-up costs, continued resistance to the medium and a shortage of quality course content.

Technology is changing every aspect in our lives, even the way we learn. Online classes are a rapidly growing trend it today’s society. Online classes are a cost-effective substitute for traditional courses and more convenient for many, so more schools and universities are offering this option. Due to the increase in online course enrollment, people are questioning if students truly learn something from online classes because it’s not a traditional learning environment. Online classes are just, if not more, effective as traditional classes because grades have increased and online discussions provide students with the chance to interact through networking while earning a degree for less than what it would cost to enroll at the same university.

Crimson Scholar once stated, “You will fail to grasp the importance of knowledge without education.” Indeed, with the lack of education, an individual will remain ignorant in the matters of the world, common sense, and proper etiquette. Regarded as the process of learning and acquisition of skills, educational methods include lecturing, training, and discussion. Education can take place in informal settings, and any event can be considered educational as long as it has an impressionable effect on the way an individual feels, thinks, or acts. Education does not simply refer to on-campus learning and meeting face-to-face in a classroom that many students are familiar with today. Although distance education serves as a compelling method to those who have families or careers to manage, this method can be regarded as a premier invitation for leading society into dystopia.

Delhi has 153 Private as well as Government colleges but the enrolment for the year 2011-12 was 191021 which suggests that number of colleges are just insufficient to meet the educational needs of burgeoning number of students. Number of students (Male and Female) who preferred distance education at graduate and undergraduate level courses was whopping 3559559 which alludes to the fact that distance mode of education is catching on among students. North Delhi center aims to engage students online and provide them quality education.

Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria:

Approximately 7 billion people live in the world and the number is getting higher every day. How many people have internet access? Roughly 3 billion people have access to the internet. No wonder online education is on the rise. But why? What is so wrong with a traditional education. Why are more colleges offering online courses? Why are more kids being homeschooled? Even though you won't meet a lot of new people, experience a lot of different cultures, or even become that social butterfly, for people who do not function well in a traditional classroom, I think you should choose distance education over traditional education. For stay at home parents or even single parents, it might be hard to get an education on your schedule. For military families, you may move all over, going from school to school, never really continuing what your learning from school to school. Distance education can keep you connected to your school anywhere you are.

Andrew Simoncelli once said, “Students who take online classes must be motivated, independent learners.” This is relevant because independence and motivation is what it takes to succeed in an online course. Online learning will not only expand what students learn, but will also bring a number of positive changes in the way students are taught. Courses online have changed everyone’s look at learning all over the world. It allows more opportunities for observers to learn online rather than learning in class. Another affirmative of taking an online course is flexibility and convenience. Students who would like to experience some of these ideas should look into an online class!