Summary: 

As with most teaching methods, online learning also has its own set of
positives and negatives. Decoding and understanding these positives and negatives
will help institutes in creating strategies for more efficient delivery of the lessons,
ensuring an uninterrupted learning journey for the students.

Discover Everything You Need To Know (Good And Bad) About  Online
Education

One of the most oft-used terms after the pandemic is the term “new normal.” The
new normal in education is the increased use of online learning tools. The COVID-19
pandemic has triggered new ways of learning. All around the world, educational
institutions are looking toward online learning platforms to continue with the process of
educating students. The new normal now is a transformed concept of education with
online learning at the core of this transformation. Today, digital learning has emerged as
a necessary resource for students and schools all over the world. For many educational
institutes, this is an entirely new way of education that they have had to adopt. Online
learning is now applicable not just to learn academics but it also extends to learning
extracurricular activities for students as well. In recent months, the demand for online
learning has risen significantly, and it will continue doing so in the future.

As with most teaching methods, online learning also has its own set of positives and
negatives. Decoding and understanding these positives and negatives will help institutes
in creating strategies for more efficiently delivering the lessons, ensuring an
uninterrupted learning journey for students.

What Are The Advantages Of Online Learning?

1. Efficiency

Online learning offers teachers an efficient way to deliver lessons to students. Online
learning has a number of tools such as videos, PDFs, podcasts, and teachers can use all
these tools as part of their lesson plans. By extending the lesson plan beyond traditional
textbooks to include online resources, teachers are able to become more efficient
educators.

2. Accessibility Of Time And Place

Another advantage of online education is that it allows students to attend classes from
any location of their choice. It also allows schools to reach out to a more extensive
network of students, instead of being restricted by geographical boundaries.
Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived, and shared for future reference.
This allows students to access the learning material at a time of their comfort.

Thus, online learning offers students the accessibility of time and place in education.

3. Affordability 

Another advantage of online learning is reduced financial costs. Online education is far
more affordable as compared to physical learning. This is because online learning
eliminates the cost points of student transportation, student meals, and most
importantly, real estate. Additionally, all the course or study materials are available
online, thus creating a paperless learning environment which is more affordable, while
also being beneficial to the environment.

4. Improved Student Attendance  

Since online classes can be taken from home or location of choice, there are fewer
chances of students missing out on lessons.

5. Suits A Variety Of Learning Styles 

Every student has a different learning journey and a different learning style. Some
students are visual learners, while some students prefer to learn through audio.
Similarly, some students thrive in the classroom, and other students are solo learners
who get distracted by large groups.

The online learning system, with its range of options and resources, can be personalized
in many ways. It is the best way to create a perfect learning environment suited to the
needs of each student.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Online Learning?

1. Inability To Focus On Screens

For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with
focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning, there is also a
greater chance for students to be easily distracted by social media or other sites.
Therefore, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging,
and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.

2. Technology Issues 

Another key challenge of online classes is internet connectivity. While internet

penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, in smaller cities and
towns, a consistent connection with decent speed is a problem. Without a consistent
internet connection for students or teachers, there can be a lack of continuity in learning
for the child. This is detrimental to the education process.

3. Sense Of Isolation 

Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an online
class, there are minimal physical interactions between students and teachers. This often
results in a sense of isolation for the students. In this situation, it is imperative that the
school allow for other forms of communication between the students, peers, and
teachers. This can include online messages, emails and video conferencing that will
allow for face-to-face interaction and reduce the sense of isolation.

4. Teacher Training 

Online learning requires teachers to have a basic understanding of using digital forms of
learning. However, this is not the case always. Very often, teachers have a very basic
understanding of technology. Sometimes, they don’t even have the necessary resources
and tools to conducts online classes.

To combat this, it is important for schools to invest in training teachers with the latest
technology updates so that they can conduct their online classes seamlessly.

5. Manage Screen Time

Many parents are concerned about the health hazards of having their children spend so
many hours staring at a screen. This increase in screen time is one of the biggest
concerns and disadvantages of online learning. Sometimes students also develop bad
posture and other physical problems due to staying hunched in front of a screen.
A good solution to this would be to give the students plenty of breaks from the screen
to refresh their mind and their body.

Summary: The article talks about the differences between classroom/traditional learning

vs. online learning. Even today there is a vast number of people who are hesitant to try
out unconventional learning methods. In this article, we try to investigate the differences
between the two.

Traditional Learning Vs. Online Learning: Differences, Advantages, And

Disadvantages

These days online courses/training have become extremely popular, as more and more
institutes and companies are offering courses online. However, despite the popularity of
online education, vast groups of people consciously stay away from such methods,
mostly due to misconception. At the same time, despite the rising popularity of online
courses, traditional (classroom) training is fighting back and trying to adopt newer
means of retaining learners' interest. There are always two sides of a coin. For some
individuals, online training is more appropriate, while for others classroom training is the
preferred delivery method.

Let us compare the two methods.

Online Learning

People take professional level courses usually to increase their qualifications and
enhance their career opportunities in their jobs. For example, to get promotion in higher
level and higher paid jobs; in management related professional degrees, diplomas are
helpful. However many employees may be exhausted after their work and don’t want to
attend regular classes. So, naturally, an online class is more convenient for them, as it
saves valuable time, money, and energy.

The best thing about online learning is that individuals can take a course from the
comfort of their office or home. Even with a busy schedule, one can find some spare
time to take a course or study for it.

In online classes, the learner is not directly interacting with the faculty. So in case of
having any questions, they may find it difficult to ask their online instructor, as
communication is often very impersonal. However, these courses often offer alternatives
to live query resolution like online forums, emails, and chatrooms. Using these
alternatives can be helpful for individuals to get their queries answered.

People often think that interacting with a trainer live is the best way to learn, as it is
interactive and allows for two-way communication. For such types of people,
synchronous online courses will be more appropriate.

Another way to acquire knowledge through an online medium is by searching on

different search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Although this helps by reducing the
amount of books one has to read, there may be too many sources of information one
has to read, and choose the relevant ones, which can result in information overload.

Thus online learning may be more suitable for grownups who are continuing their
education while they're working in their regular jobs.

Traditional Learning

Traditional classes are more suitable for young children, teenagers, and young
adolescents who are yet to join the workforce. Regular attendance in classes helps them
interact with other individuals of their own age, be better disciplined, follow a regular
schedule, and improve their physical fitness and mental alertness.

Classroom learning helps students and teachers know each other in a better manner.
This allows teachers to know the students and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses
better, act as mentors, and guide students in their career possibilities.

In a traditional classroom, students can directly share their views and clarify their own
queries with the teacher, thus getting their questions answered right away.

Most of the time books and classroom notes are very useful for studying and passing
exams. Understanding the Question & Answer pattern, and with suggestions provided
by experienced teachers, students can find it more helpful to learn than when using
generalized online notes and suggestions available on the internet.

Also, classroom learning is more helpful due to a continuous interaction between

students and teachers, as it helps students to get rid of their fears regarding exams,
which can rarely happen with online guidance.
Lastly, interactions with good teachers help motivate students to achieve higher marks.