The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on education systems worldwide. It has also forced schools at different levels, including universities, to close their doors to students and shift their activities to online teaching and learning, enabling students to lean without having to come down to the traditional classroom.
This unavoidable situation has resulted in a considerable rise in the popularity of online education all over the world. Online education is deduced to offer a safe and accessible way to help students continue learning during these uncertain times forced on the world by the COVID 19 pandemic.
In this write-up, we will enlighten you more about how online education became even more popular during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Online education before the pandemic
Before the pandemic took over the world, online education was already on the rise with many people preferring it to the traditional kind of education. An increasing number of students now turn to online education because they are highly flexible and doo not cost a lot of money like what the conventional classroom-based programs offer.
However, the pandemic helped to accelerate this trend of online learning. Advent of the pandemic caused online education to become the primary mode of used by teachers to pass across instruction to millions of students all over the world.
How beneficial is online learning?
One of the key benefits of online education is incomparable flexibility, enabling students to learn from virtually anywhere without going through any rule, only to make themselves available for online classes.
With online courses, students can now access their lectures, submit their assignments, and sit for exams from anywhere at any time they deem fit. This eases things a lot for the students and enable them to work out uniformity between their online educational activities and any other essential engagements they may be participating in. This situation became very important during the COVID-19 pandemic, since many students had to deal with endless list of added pressures and responsibilities at home, like caring for family members who got sick from COVID, working part-time jobs from home, or dealing with series of mental health issues.
One other advantage traceable to online education is its affordability. Online education in any field of study usually coots less than what you get in conventional classroom-based education. This is the case because educational institutions do not need much money to set up online education programs as against the huge resources needed to establish the traditional school.
The affordability became especially important during the COVID 19 pandemic, which is a time when many people have lost their jobs or are struggling seriously to make ends meet due to the movement restriction caused by the pandemic.
Challenges to online education
The transition to online education due to the prevalence of the pandemic has not been without its challenges. For example, some students and teachers reported several challenges they had with technical issues. Some other notable challenges are:
· Lack of easy access to reliable and fast internet connectivity
· Limited interaction with their peers and the instructors.
· Improper monitoring of tests and exams by teachers and the authorities of the online schools
Note, however, that online courses may not be the right kind of educating for every category of students. Before you can succeed as an online education student, you must have self-discipline also possess time management skills. In addition, you must have the ability to learn independently.
A major issue affecting online schooling is that there is no in-person discussion with other participants. While online courses often include discussion forums and other ways for students to interact with each other, many students miss the personal connections they had in traditional classroom-based programs. This brings difficulties the way of students preventing them to feel adequately engaged and encouraged to face their studies.
It is unfortunate that many of those involved in online education do not have adequate self-discipline and time management skills to scale through. Many students, therefore, fail to perform well in their online studies. Some may not even show up for their online classes due to laziness. With no set schedule or class meetings to attend, students must have what it takes to manage their time effectively.
They must also device a way to stay motivated so that they can complete their coursework without failing. This can be especially difficult for students who struggle are in the habit of procrastinating or are committed to some other activities that take their time outside studying.
Furthermore, some of the students are faced with series of technical issues in their bid to access online education. Browsing the online school website or finding solution to technical issues may be difficult for them. This can be especially problematic for learners having no access to stable internet connectivity or not conversant with tech innovations.
Online studying still beneficial
Despite these challenges, online education has proven to be a valuable alternative to traditional classroom-based programs during the pandemic. In fact, many students have found that online courses offer certain advantages over traditional classroom-based programs, such as the ability to learn at their own pace and the flexibility to access course materials from anywhere.
Moreover, the rise of online education during the pandemic has highlighted the importance of incorporating technology into education systems to enhance flexibility, accessibility, and affordability. While traditional classroom-based learning may still be the preferred option for some, online education has proven to be a valuable alternative that can complement and enhance traditional methods of teaching and learning.
Future of online education
We can only expect online education to continue playing a cogent role in learning education systems all over the world after the pandemic has been resolved. With the increase in tech advancement and its adoption into human daily lives, we can only expect more accessibility, flexibility, and affordability from it. This will undoubtedly make higher education a possibility for even more people around the world.
Conclusion
The rise of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a significant trend that has impacted education systems worldwide. While the transition to online education has not been without challenges, online courses have provided a flexible and affordable way for students to continue their studies during these uncertain times.
