9 Reasons Why Online Learning can be the Best Learning

Online learning has many advantages over classroom based education:

1. Communication between the student is more personal and tailored to individual needs. When a student connects with their teacher through remote learning, it is often a one to one communication. There is less chance of the student being lost in the crowd

2. No Time Limit on a Class.  Study for as long or short as you want, delay or postpone sessions as you need. In a classroom situation, you must study for the designated period of time, starting and finishing at the designated point in time.

3. More time has often gone into lesson preparation. Preparation for a classroom lecture is limited by the amount of time that the lecturer can spend on preparing their lecture. At worst that is very little, and at best it is still not as much as what a team of course developers can do preparing study guides, notes, visual and other communications for an online session covering the same material. This is because the online session can be used to teach any quantity of students at any point in time once developed. A lecture on the other hand is limited – it can only teach the number of people who fit into a classroom at a particular point in time

4. Bias is more of a risk in classroom education. When one teacher prepares and delivers a classroom session, there is only one person involved in deciding what information is to be presented and what is to be emphasised or de-emphasised. When a team is involved in developing an online course delivery, the opportunity for bias is greatly reduced.

5. Rate of learning can change according to individual students. Every student is different - some learn faster than others, some may have longer attention spans, some learn better in different ways. Circumstances impact this too. Sometimes a student is ill or being confronted by personal problems which can take their focus off their study. In a classroom, the slower learner or distracted student may simply fail to absorb, understand, and retain something because it is being taught on a particular day for a particular duration. The online learner can   delay their study session or reduce the duration of the study session. They can revisit things they did not understand.

6. More opportunities to apply technology – computers can provide arguably a wider and more adaptable variety of communication channels for students to use, and in that way provide for a diverse variety of students better than one teacher in a classroom – even if that teacher was utilising technology too.  If an individual student cannot view their course easily on a screen they can use a magnifier or a larger screen . If they need help they can enlist a family member or friend. If their hearing or sight is impaired, they can increase magnification, raise volume or use software to change sound to written text or vice versa.

7. Online is more cost effective, for students and society at large. There is less need for costly education infrastructure (physical schools & classrooms). Car parking and transport costs are less.

8. Online learning saves time for the student. They don’t need to travel to and from a campus. They can choose to study when their mind is sharper, and avoid study sessions at times when they are tired and the study takes longer to get through. 

9. Online is Green – Studying online reduces the need for resources. It doesn’t require as much printed material because information is delivered electronically. It doesn’t require as many buildings, as much energy, or any of those other costs to create and maintain places for students to congregate in. 

If you haven't studied online - start with something small - You might be surprised how much you learn.

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