Nobody Said It Would Be Like This

in Education by Salie — May 23, 2011 at 9:38 am | 0 comments

Current Problems with Online Learning

In today’s technological society, there has been a large push toward online education programs. They are advertised as being convenient for people who are on tight schedules or as a general alternative to the traditional classroom setting. While convenience and flexibility may be advantages to online learning, there are multiple drawbacks to this type of education.

Lack of Social Interaction

• “Lack of face-to-face, personal or social contact with instructor or students” has been listed as the main drawback to an online education according to a study conducted at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.
• There usually aren’t study groups as students don’t know each other personally.
• The ability to network with others who have similar interests is practically non-existent.

Self-Motivation and Organization

According to Dr. Randall S. Hansen, “If you are a procrastinator or one of those people who always needs an extra push to complete work, you may have a hard time making time for your online classes.”
There are often more written assignments since the instructor cannot evaluate someone’s learning in person. A student needs to be organized and self-motivated to keep up with the larger work load.

Technical Issues

• The internet connection could go down, which could be detrimental if a student is trying to complete an assignment by a specific deadline or if they are in the middle of an online quiz or test.

• The server for the online school could fail and would cause the students to be cut off from access to their work or future assignments.

Hands-On Experience

• Certain classes cannot give a student the same experience online that they would receive in a traditional classroom setting. This is extremely important in specific fields that involve working directly with people such as healthcare and education.

• The lack of hands-on experience may cause someone to be less marketable in the workforce. Often, an employer will prefer an applicant with some experience instead of one who has only received their schooling online.

Curriculum Development

A writer from The University of Illinois stated, “The curriculum of any online program must be carefully considered and developed in order to be successful.”
Online schooling is still a relatively new format. This means that the curriculum is more recently developed and has not had a long period of time to be reviewed for effectiveness.
Online curriculum requires activities that cannot involve group projects, presentations, or any other type of activity that needs more than one person.

Without doubt, technology has given students the ability to learn in a variety of ways, but is usually more beneficial when it’s used as a tool instead of being the only source of someone’s education. Online education has some advantages for some, but oftentimes, the disadvantages are overlooked.  If you’re planning to take courses online, seek advice from professionals and learn to weigh pros and cons.  Try to consider your objectives to receive quality education.  Sometimes, it also takes effort to go beyond the online setting that makes you successful in whatever field of study you choose.

Think you’re the right type for online classes? Sign up today for the distance learning classes that suit you!

 

Tags: curriculum online learning problems self-motivation technology