Question 2: Online Courses: New Norm of Studying

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 Online Courses: New Norm of Studying

After the emergence of covid-19 pandemic, humans’ life has changed from every

aspect. Humans must make changes in their life in to adapt to this unprecedented situation.

As we know, Covid-19 is not a short-term problem, therefore protocols and measures are

implemented to overcome this pandemic. This not only affects the office workers but also

affect the students. Instead of having physical classes in school, students have to take online

courses. However, there are a lot of voices doubting the effectiveness of online courses as it

is a new norm for parents and students. Hence, let’s have a look at the upsides and downsides

of studying an online course.

The online course truly is an invention that benefits students. First and foremost,

online courses can help to improve the academic performance of a student. This is due to the

flexibility of online courses from the aspect of timing and geography. It can be accessed

anytime and anywhere with Internet access. Consequently, students can have more flexibility

in planning their schedules. A statistic from the Brandon-Hall Group showed that online

courses take 40% to 60% less time compared to traditional classroom settings (Schoox,

2018). In traditional classroom setting, students cannot learn at their own pace and must

move on as a class. Fast learners finish their work before their peers and must wait for the

others. This surely is a time-consuming act. However, in online courses, this situation won’t

exist. Students can learn based on their own pace by focusing on their weak parts. This may

help to reduce their anxiety and frustration that they struggle in traditional classroom setting.

With the extra time saved by taking online courses, students can do extra exercises to

improve their academic performance. Clearly, online courses would save the time of students

and let them have better time management.

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 Other than that, online courses can fit a variety of learning styles. Based on VARK

Model, there is 4 types of learning style include visual, auditory, reading and writing and

kinesthetics (Sphero Team, 2020). Every student has their very own study style. Studying

with the correct style enables them to perform better in the exam. In a traditional classroom,

students are unable to learn based on their learning style. For example, the characteristic of a

kinesthetics learner is to have hands-on activities but traditional classes focus more on

speech. Kinesthetic learners would not be able to study at their predominant learning style.

According to a study by American Psychological Association (2019), more than 90% of

people believed that it is more effective to study in their predominant learning style. This

problem can be solved perfectly through online courses. In online courses, students can learn

based on their learning style. Online courses have variables of learning materials that suit

different learning styles. For instance, visual learners are able to learn through more visual

aids such as graphs, diagrams and even videos. Students can learn in their own learning style

and paced without interrupting the others (ICON, 2021). In short, the productivity of students

able to increase through online courses.

However, online courses could also lead to some worrying issues. One of the

downsides of online courses is the temptation of external distraction. A study showed that

64% of students get distracted from online courses (Solhi, 2021). There are various types of

external distractions when taking online courses. Top distraction for students includes online

video games, social media and family. For online students, home is mainly the place where

online courses take place. It is nearly impossible to avoid all these external distractions. As a

result, online students will get distracted from class and miss the lecture class. To overcome

this problem, students need to have high self-discipline to resist temptations of external

distractions. A distraction as small as a text ping will also tempt students to lose focus in

online courses. Without self-discipline, students won’t be able to focus during online classes

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which will lead to a fall in academic performance. As a prove, research showed that the

academic result of students drop by 0.215 standard deviations after attending online courses

(Kofoed, 2021). In conclusion, conquering the temptation of external distractions is an

important factor to success in online courses.

Ultimately, the sense of isolation is another prominent drawback of Internet courses.

Most of the students, they will do online courses at home alone without having peers and

lecturers in surroundings. This is a huge change compared to a traditional classroom setting.

Students surely need some time to adapt to it. A survey done by Challenge Success,

associated with Stanford College showed that 47% of the students surveyed say that they are

less connected to their classmates after taking online courses (Burch, 2021). During online

classes, most of the students are not willing to turn off their camera even requested by the

lecturer is another factor to cause a sense of isolation. As a result, the engagement in online

courses is lesser compared to physical classes (De La Rosa, 2020). Students also cannot get

academic help at the first time (Solhi, 2021), they have to make an appointment with the

lecture to get help in academic matters. Other than that, the sense of isolation can lead to

many problems such as depression and anxiety. Consequence, they might lose interest in the

study. Hence, students must step out of their comfort zone and make new friends through

online courses from time to time to overcome the sense of isolation.

In conclusion, online courses their pros and cons. It is a new norm of studying after

the breakout of covid-19 pandemic, every student needs to adapt to it to continue their study.

As stated previously, online courses can be accessed worldwide and fit all types of students.

Hence, students need to find out the best way that suits them in doing online courses. This is

important for the students so that they can pass their exams with flying colours and graduate

well as they are the future of mankind.

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(1000 words)

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Burch, K. (2021) ‘Fully-remote students are less engaged with learning and classmates.

Parents see the effects firsthand.’, INSIDER, 12 March. Available at:

https://www.insider.com/fully-remote-students-are-less-engaged-with-learning-classmates-

2021-3 (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

De La Rosa, S. (2020) ‘Student engagement remains a challenge in distance learning’, K-12

DIVE, 9 September. Available at: https://www.k12dive.com/news/student-engagement-

remains-a-challenge-in-distance-learning/584793/ (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

ICON School, (2021) ‘How learning styles impact online learning’, ICON, 7 September.

Available at: https://www.iconschool.org/blog/how-learning-styles-impact-online-

learning#:~:text=Visual%20learners%20may%20take%20to,that%20allows%20them%20to

%20focus (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

Kofoed, M. S. (2021) ‘Zooming to Class?: Experimental Evidence on College Students’

Online Learning during COVID-19’. Institute of Labor Economics. Available at:

https://ftp.iza.org/dp14356.pdf (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

Nancekivell, S., Shah, P. and Susan A. Gelman. (2019) ‘Belief in Learning Styles Myth May

Be Detrimental. American Psychological Association.’ Available at:

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-styles-myth (Accessed: 23

January 2022)

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Schoox. (2018) ‘Stunning Statistics That Prove The Power Of eLearning’, Schoox, 15

February. Available at: http://blog.schoox.com/stunning-statistics-that-pr0ove-the-power-of-

elearning/ (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

Solhi, F. (2021) ‘Distractions at home, weak relationships – challenge for educators and

students’, New Straits Times, 23 September. Available at:

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/09/730089/distractions-home-weak-relationships-

challenge-educators-students (Accessed: 23 January 2022)

Sphero Team. (2020) ‘4 Types of Learning Styles: Explaining the VARK Model’, Sphero, 08

December. Available at: https://sphero.com/blogs/news/learning-styles-for-kids# (Accessed:

23 January 2022)