The internet has fundamentally changed how we communicate, buy products, engage with the world, and educate ourselves.
It’s not surprising that online learning has become popular as Internet access has become easier to obtain at ever-decreasing costs.
This is especially true for students interested in pursuing higher education but who can’t afford to leave their jobs or move out independently.
Online courses allow them to maintain their lives while providing them with new educational opportunities.
The first online course was offered by Stanford University back in 1991 on the Internet itself.
While only about 30 people ended up completing it because of its limited use of technology at the time, within just six years, 5 million people had registered for an online course offered by a major university.
You can also learn from Pluralsight, which is an online learning and workforce development platform that helps businesses and individuals adjust to changing technology.
What Are The Effects Of Online Learning?
1. Increased Learning Retention Rate
People who take advantage of online learning have a better chance of retaining the information they learn because they can review it as many times as needed until they understand it.
In addition, the opportunity to interact with other students increases their participation in discussions and heightens overall knowledge.
For those struggling with social anxiety or lack of confidence, this allows them to present themselves as equal learners without fear of being judged.
An example of this would be Professor Andrew Ng’s Machine Learning class hosted on Coursera – one of the largest platforms for hosting MOOCs – which concluded its first offering last year.
The class had over 100,000 students enrolled.
2. Avoiding the Problem of Overcrowded Classrooms
Ticketing through online courses reveals how many students are interested in a class before anyone is forced to register.
This allows people to take classes without worrying about whether or not they’ll get stuck with a terrible professor because there are no required prerequisites for the course besides Internet access and an email address.
Students can enrol in as many courses as they’d like rather than being limited to one at a time.
Also, since most courses offer recordings of lectures that can be played back, allowing the student to watch them over again if he or she didn’t understand something the first time around, classes can often be taken much faster than traditional learning experiences would allow.
This means students can complete a semester’s material in as little as two weeks.
3. Decreased Tuition Prices and Increased Productivity
Courses hosted on online learning platforms are incredibly cheap compared to traditional universities.
The State University of New York offers free courses, whereas its campus-based peers charge about $6500 for a 3-credit course – the same online class is only $390.
In addition, because there is less overhead for universities since they don’t have to spend money on maintaining a physical presence for their programs, they can pass those savings onto students by offering more competitive pricing options at lower costs.
Many schools offer condensed versions of their courses, which cover the same material as their full-length courses but can be completed in a fraction of the time.
This saves time, speeds up the learning process, and increases course availability. These condensed courses may be known as “mini-terms” or “summer sessions.”
For instance, the state university mentioned earlier offers a 5-week session that includes all its core courses for free.
This allows students to experience the teaching style and course content before committing to longer courses and incurring tuition debt.
4. Reduced Barriers to Education
The benefits of online learning are numerous.
Not only can you learn anything for free as long as you have an internet connection and a computer, but online learning also provides accessibility for people who are not in close proximity to their college or even in the same country.
Virtual classrooms can accommodate hundreds of students from all over the world, including those who may not have been able to afford traditional education due to financial or familial constraints.
Additionally, busy professionals who travel frequently can take advantage of the flexibility of online learning by accessing courses at their convenience without having to worry about setting up equipment.
5. Accessibility of Higher Education
More than half the world’s population lives on less than $2.50 per day, making payment for tuition and fees nearly impossible.
This lack of access to education is most prevalent among women, who comprise two-thirds of people living in poverty worldwide.
With online learning, anyone with an Internet connection can receive a formal education.
Courses are taught entirely online by instructors willing to work with students at drastically reduced costs.
Currently, over 100 universities offer college credit for MOOCs taken through edX, Coursera, Udacity, and UCAN, often resulting in significant cost savings compared to taking classes on campus.
Even better is that most courses allow students to pay nothing if they cannot afford the cost.
6. Lack of face-to-face Interactions
The internet offers a limitless opportunity for learning in a way that traditional education never could, but no two people learn the same way.
Because everyone has a unique learning style, this poses problems when grading assignments and testing students’ knowledge.
Despite their hard work, you cannot guarantee they understand what is being taught.
In addition, allowing students to submit their homework whenever they feel like it can make grading difficult because oftentimes, there won’t be enough time left over after completing all the other coursework from other students before an assignment is due.
7. Opportunity to Branch Out
Since courses can be taken from anywhere worldwide, people can expand their horizons and take classes that ultimately lead them down an entirely new career path.
For example, someone who works as a photographer could enrol in an art class they’ve always been interested in or perhaps learn how to code for the first time.
The possibilities are endless because students aren’t confined by physical limitations like if traditional learning was used.
This is all possible because of technological advancements over the past few years, specifically things like faster internet speeds, more efficient smartphones, and cheaper devices (tablets).
As this technology continues at exponential rates, it’s safe to say that the popularity of online learning is here to stay.
8. Traditional Learning vs Online Learning
Online learning is more flexible than traditional learning experiences.
It allows an individual to proceed through a course at his or her own pace while maintaining any other responsibilities he or she may have.
It allows students to broaden their horizons and explore new subjects they once could not learn due to time constraints, social anxieties, location, etc.
There’s more than one way to learn effectively, and online courses provide students with different options for reaching this end.
For these reasons, more people are choosing to take advantage of them each year as they become available on more platforms across the Internet.
9. Challenges to Overcome In Online Learning
While innovative and convenient, this new style of education has some drawbacks.
First, online learning makes cheating on assignments and tests easier than ever since students can open another browser window and copy/paste their homework without anyone knowing—cheating services abound on the Internet.
This could lead to blatant plagiarism and even falsification of records and degrees within schools and universities that don’t provide sufficient proof that a candidate has completed their studies honestly.
Secondly, because courses load automatically rather than having set times where everyone is expected to show up like traditional classrooms do (unless they’re synchronous), students may show up late or not, impacting their test scores and grades.
Quick Links
- The Rise Of Online Learning
- Screen Time Myths Affecting Online Education
- How To Engage Students In Online Learning: Top Effective Ways
- Top Online Learning Strategies For Students
Conclusion: What Are The Effects Of Online Learning?
The effects of online learning vary from person to person, depending on age, gender, education level, and experience with online courses.
For most people, though, this type of learning experience improves the quality of their lives by allowing them to obtain a higher level of education while staying in control of their schedules and responsibilities.
As technology advances and changes the face of education, online learning is becoming more common.
While it may take some time for students (and family members, such as parents and spouses) to adapt to these teaching style changes, we’ll eventually get used to them and hopefully see an increase in educational quality and availability worldwide.
