Online Education
Introduction
The human race has achieved everything that was once an impossible thought with the power of imagination and curiosity. Technology has become an evident and crucial part of our life which is slowly and gradually taking over our activities in every walk of life to our daily practices and duties. A research conducted by Deloitte found that Americans check their phone 8 billion times a day (“Global Mobile Consumer Survey”). Furthermore, the research revealed that smartphone ownership has increased to 82 percent, while 93 percent of the younger generation owns a smartphone. People use it to text, browse, read and a thousand other functions that are easily carried out on a small device. The human race is dependent on the things it has created.
Middle school, high school, college, post-graduate or take a student from any level of education, they use the internet for their daily queries, homework, understanding a topic, searching a lecture they missed or carrying out a research study. The internet is the primary source for the students and the general public to solve their confusions and answer their questions.
Technology and the need for accessible education have made online education a possibility and the reality of the modern world. Students from around the globe can access any university in the world and professor to attendant their classes, achieve quality education and receive a degree at the comfort of their homes and avoid the expenses of living near their college and paying thousands of dollars on overrated physical classrooms. Millions of students are registered to online classes, who receive their degrees from well-known universities that suit their learning styles and timings.
Discussion
Online courses and programs have reshaped the way people received education and introduced an innovative way teaching that is more interacting, unique and exciting for students. The option of online education is much more affordable and accessible which has eliminated the barriers of distance, language, culture and learning pace. Salman Khan, who is the founder of one of the biggest online education provider i.e. Khan Academy, explained in his ‘Ted Talk’ the importance and noticeable quality of online tutorials than actual classroom teaching. He said that when he first begins to teach his cousins through YouTube videos due to the distance barrier, his cousins gave his the feedback that they preferred his teaching in the form of a video than in person. He realized that a student can now control the teaching process and the pace of learning because he can repeat an instruction they didn’t understand, pause for taking notes and making sense out what they just learned, and rewind something they didn’t understand (Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education | Salman Khan – YouTube).
Transforming Online Education
Learning is a crucial part of a human life and education is the key to one’s personal development and one the indicators of leading a successful life. However, quality education is not accessible to everyone due to geographical and demographical differences around the world and specifically in America where parents always worry about a good school in their area. Since, the introduction of online classes and academic tutorials, these barriers have been removed and quality education has become a reality for every student in America and every part of the world, where there is access to a personal computer or smartphone and the internet.
Online education has made customized learning a possibility. This is a more effective approach towards educating people which is more interactive and unique for students with different issues and a different pace of learning. Education has become more specific, effective and focused on the areas that require being catered first. The learning process is more prioritized and customized for every student according to their preferences.
Millions of students learn every day through online courses and tutorials. Moreover, online programs offered by universities have enrolled thousands of students. Online education is now not restricted to tutorials and a basic understanding of a subject or topic. Students can achieve official certificates and degrees from their dream colleges in a variety of courses at affordable charges and sometimes they can participate in online classes for free. It caters students from various backgrounds and all age groups. Students are able to learn a lecture through videos and notes that they can access it anytime and anywhere. Tests are also performed online, results and certificates are provided online on their portals.
Online education challenges the concept of a school building, typical classrooms and traditional ways of learning where the teacher delivers his lecture without individual attention which can is almost impossible in classes that have more than fifty students. The teacher works at their own pace and the level of class they are addressing without considering individual learning styles and capabilities.
Positive Impact of Online Education
Unlike, the traditional classrooms, online education has provided equal opportunities for all students around the globe and in America regardless of their geographical location and cultural background. Online education has helped students identify their strength and weaknesses through various tests. This provides them with a customized learning where students focus on their weak areas and learn a topic at their own pace.
The Khan Academy makes their users perform a diagnostic test first in order to identify the key areas where the student requires improvement. Additionally, it helps the student with tutorials of questions where every question is explained and further questions are assigned in order to make the student practice on their own and get a better understanding of a topic. Moreover, it provides them with badges, titles and certificates to motivate the student to study further and give them the confidence that they lack and remind them of their potential.
Customized learning is the new way of education adopted by online education providers. The method is unique and exciting for students as they are able to learn difficult topics at their own pace and comfort zone which makes them confident about their capabilities and built up their personality to lead a successful professional life in the real world. Moreover, students are able to choose a teacher that they believe will meet their requirements and provide them individual attention. Students feel important and motivated to learn and take their classes (Dan n.p).
Online education provides for all kinds of students with different problems and weaknesses. Various learning techniques are used such as visual, verbal, logical, social etc. to cater the needs of every individual that aims to achieve a quality education. Furthermore, participation in physical classrooms can be frightening for students with confidence issues. They fear to raise a question that will embarrass them or ask the teacher if they didn’t understand a certain topic (Dan n.p). The classroom environment can be discouraging for some students. Therefore, online and personal learning experience helps a student to solve their confusions without embarrassing themselves or being afraid of the teacher.
There are universities that offer free online services and help students excel in different subjects. Khan Academy is one of the biggest non-profit online education organizations that provide over 220,000 videos for various subjects and different levels. Their SAT courses are one of the most successful courses that help thousands of students to perform well on standardized tests and get to their desired colleges.
Negative Impact of Online Education
Even though online education provides feasibility and convenience to students from all parts of the world, the services are not entirely affordable and accessible to every student. According to a study conducted by Deming and various other authors from Harvard using the data from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, online education is led by for-profit organizations that exploit students with upfront payments and then provide with a learning experience which is not guaranteed to be of quality and helpful for students.
Students are unable to engage with the professors and teachers in order to get a better understanding. Physical classrooms and colleges where the institute provides various platforms to explore additional talents of students such as drama, acting, sports, singing, dancing etc. The social environment and opportunities for interactions help students develop their personalities and built their communication skills. Students are able to develop an emotional connection with the colleagues and teachers which help them become better humans. Colleges and classrooms teach students more than just basic academics, which include morals, ethics and values of life.
Moreover, students who receive their education in their comfort zone are not ready to lead a life in the real world where they are always challenged with new discomforts and costs. They built up to be introverted and have social anxiety which can be threatening for their careers. Additionally, these online classes do not give them the exposure they require to build their confidence and a strong personality that shape their thinking. They become too dependent on the internet and the sources that are available online. They lack their own imagination and an effort to go through a library rich of knowledge. The process can be unhealthy physically and mentally to restrict the boundaries of your imagination and thinking process.
The tests and assignment conducted online can be rigid due to frauds committed by students and teachers. Students have the power over the education they receive, which may result in students exploiting the authority and not giving time to their studies and performing their tests. They can fall lazy and lack behind due to procrastination
Conclusion
Similar to all kinds of technology, online education has both its positive and negative impacts on the society, our thinking process and the quality of education. It is difficult to determine how beneficial online classes are to students due to the undecided factors that determine the quality of education. Even though online sources of receiving a quality education is accessible to students from every corner of the world and different learning capabilities, the affordability of these courses is yet a problem to be addressed. However, the future of online education can introduce new techniques that are more interactive for students to build their communication skills and their personalities to become a leader in the real world.
Works Cited
“Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition.” Deloitte United States, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/global-mobile-consumer-survey-us-edition.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education | Salman Khan – YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Deming, David J., Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Noam Yuchtman. 2015. Can Online Learning Bend the Higher Education Cost Curve?. American Economic Review 105, no. 5: 496–501. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151024.
Lips, Dan. “How Online Learning Is Revolutionizing K-12 Education And Benefiting Students.” The Heritage Foundation. N. p
Hoxby, Caroline M. “The economics of online postsecondary education: MOOCs, nonselective education, and highly selective education.” American Economic Review 104.5 (2014): 528-33.
Lewin, Tamar. “Universities reshaping education on the web.” (2014).
Szpunar, Karl K., Helen G. Jing, and Daniel L. Schacter. “Overcoming overconfidence in learning from video-recorded lectures: Implications of interpolated testing for online education.” Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 3.3 (2014): 161-164.
Annotated Bibliography
Deming, David J., Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Noam Yuchtman. 2015. Can Online Learning Bend the Higher Education Cost Curve?. American Economic Review 105, no. 5: 496–501. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151024.
The study focuses on the comparative prices of online courses to physical classrooms. It has use data from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The research shows that online courses are comparatively lower than college tuitions and living costs but the for-profit companies exploit students to pay upfront and do not guarantee quality education. The authors further focus on the factors that determine the quality of education provided by online education providers and actual institutes. It also discusses the background of online education and how it has grown over the period of time.
Lips, Dan. “How Online Learning Is Revolutionizing K-12 Education And Benefiting Students.” The Heritage Foundation. N. p
In his research study, Lips has analyzed the benefits of online education and how it has shaped the current education system. He outlines the difference between a typical classroom education which may or may not provide quality education and the feasibility of online education that is available to every student in America. Lips talk about the effect of virtual learning on the educational experience of students and the improvement in instructions. He concludes his paper by suggesting that online learning should be the new age of education and should be provided to a mass public in order to improve the quality of education.
Szpunar, Karl K., Helen G. Jing, and Daniel L. Schacter. “Overcoming overconfidence in learning from video-recorded lectures: Implications of interpolated testing for online education.” Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 3.3 (2014): 161-164.
The authors in their research study highlight the benefits of classroom studies and repeated tests. It shows that video tutorials through online education can boost up overconfidence but not help the students on actual tests. The research shows that students who attempted repeated tests were able to perform better than the ones with an unclear understanding of the topic.
Hoxby, Caroline M. “The economics of online postsecondary education: MOOCs, nonselective education, and highly selective education.” American Economic Review 104.5 (2014): 528-33.
Hoxby, in his paper, identifies the features of online education that are economically sustainable and help the student perform better in their lives. He shows that these services are financially sustainable substitutes to physical classrooms that cost thousands of dollars to maintain. Students without paying for extra expenses, only pay the required amount of the tuition. The author further discusses the multiple benefits of advanced education with the use of better technology that provides students with a unique experience.
Lewin, Tamar. “Universities reshaping education on the web.” (2014).
The paper focuses on online education and its influence on the quality of education and the techniques of learning. Tamar talks about how universities have reshaped their approach towards education and introduced a unique learning experience for students. Tamar further discusses the investments universities has made in online education and the development of learning experience.
