Is online school better? It depends mainly on your (or your child’s) type of personality. Some prefer learning from the comfort of their home while others love to go to a physical school location to socialize with others while learning. Thus developing emotionally and socially, and creating lifetime memories.
Currently, many don’t have that choice and they are going to school online. Here are some of the benefits of online schooling and how can we find something positive about the environment we find ourselves in.
Benefits of Online School
You are Not Bound by Geography
One of the many benefits of online school is you are not bound by geography. You don’t need to wake up as early as you would need to and leave the house to go to school. Plus, prestigious schools and their courses are only a click away. Even without a pandemic, these schools offer courses that only a few decades ago were not available to everyone.
Is Online School Better Than Real School? Stay Engaged
Stay Engaged
Another benefit is that online schools can be more engaging than classrooms. A recent study showed that students were less intimidated about participating and there is a higher level of interaction between students and professors in online schools. On top of that, feedback is faster and more frequent. Although it seems counter-intuitive, online learning gives you more contact with your educators than classroom learning.
Online students are more often asked to complete assessments so that teachers can monitor their competence. Due to this, learning gaps can be identified faster and addressed appropriately. It’s important to remember when you are paying thousands of dollars for an education, you don’t want to end up hiding in a corner. You want to fully understand the course and be able to apply it.
Money
While we are on the topic of money, online college is usually a cheaper option to earn your bachelor’s or even master’s degree. There is one obvious difference between online and real school when it comes to college and that one thing is a campus. If you attend college, you are probably going to spend several thousands of dollars a year on a room, board, and transportation. Online college removes all of those extra expenses that you can’t avoid with real college.
Also, most online college programs are structured around the idea that students are employed or that they have children. With online classes people are able to continue working, taking care of family members, while going to college. If you are able to continue working while you are studying, you are going to probably have less student loan debt on your hands once you get your degree. This means you will be paying less student loan interest. When you consider that most people take approximately 20 years to pay off their student loan debt, you realize that your future self will thank you for opting for online college classes.
Moreover, with online classes, you will have more control over your schedule leaving you with more time to study and do other things that you should do.
Pros and Cons of Online School
These are all benefits of online schools. What are the cons of online school? The first one is the lack of social interaction. Peer to peer interaction is an important part of learning. Although many online courses have a discussion area where students can interact with each other, this is mostly written. This makes it difficult to form lasting, strong bonds and friendships.
Furthermore, although campus can be expensive there is something about the campus environment that gives you experience that you can’t get that easily online. Such as extracurricular clubs and activities that can be enriching and educational. This can be particularly important for undergraduate students as they might find they are missing out on opportunities for personal enhancement.
Online learning is getting a good reputation. A study from 2012 showed that 77% of academic leaders believe that online education offerings are good, if not even better than classroom-based education. Furthermore, employers are also getting that message as well.
Online options are going to continue to increase and the quality of instructions is going to evolve and improve even more with time. For the next generation, online learning will become a norm and less of a novelty.
