Online Education Essay Examples

Online Education

Online Education is class is fast becoming popular in many cultures across the world. With virtual classes replacing the traditional physical classroom, there is a clear possibility that in the next few decades, the virtual class is going to pose a real threat to the conventional school system. Today, many universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and other developed countries offer online classes. Amy Hassenburg writes that a report by Sloan Consortium indicated that about 96% of the world’s leading universities offer online classes that are remotely conducted and can accommodate students learning from different parts of the world without having to be physically present in class (Amy 2014). This paper is going to assess the role of position of online education in the society today, its advantages and disadvantages.
One of the greatest advantages of distance education is that it eliminates the physical classroom situation. With virtual cases, students can attend lectures, complete assignments and do their examinations right from the comfort of their room. This makes education more accessible and allows those who are in employment to attend classes. But experience has indicated that this is not entirely true. Online classes can be very tedious as they have to sit before their computers for long hours.
It has also been said that distance learning allows students the freedom to plan with their time. There is a perception that students in virtual learning can attend to their classes at the time of their convenience and this eliminates the problem of rigid class timetables. This is not entirely true. Online classes put a lot of pressure on students. Assignments given to online classes usually have very strict deadlines which the students must meet. This is quite challenging as most students in online classes are already engaged in employment which consumes most of their time. Lower achievement has also been recorded among students in distance education.
While distance learning has made education more accessible, it does not solve the problems associated with physical classes. Students still have to beat deadlines. They also have to stick to strict calendars. Students in virtual classes operate under lot of pressure because they have very little time to study as most of them are very busy people. Distance, therefore, cannot replace physical classroom learning.

References

Amy Hassenburg, (2014), “Distance Education Versus Traditional Classroom: Comparing the Traditional Cassroom to the Virtual one. Does Being Physically Present in School Make a Difference?” Retrieved from http://www.escholarship.org/help_html on 4th March 2015.