The education industry has changed to a great extent in the last few years and the major significant advancement is the transition of learning from offline to online. Online learning is an educational system where educators and learners interact together exactly like in a real classroom but online.
Online learning gives both teachers and students a choice to choose and adapt to the learning style that complements their busy schedule. Moreover, online education is becoming more significant in these current times of COVID-19 pandemic where schools and universities all across the world are shut and over 1.2 billion children are out of the classrooms.
Even before the Coronavirus, online growth was already witnessing high growth and adoption in education technology with the overall market projected to reach $350 billion by 2025.
Online learning can also benefit independent educators who are running online classes as a side gig to make extra money or offering it in addition to traditional learning for additional advantages like more reach and branding.
Read on for more major benefits of online learning.
Better accessibility
Online classes are easily accessible by students who own a laptop, mobile device, and a reliable internet connection. The location of the students doesn’t matter, anyone from any part of the world can join an online class. Learners can log into the online classes whenever they want if the teaching pattern allows it.
Moreover, if you are not able to attend a class in a real classroom, you might not have another chance to immerse yourself in the class that is already finished. Whereas in an online classroom, educators can record and save the classes so that students can view it later whenever it is convenient for them.
Offers convenience and removes limitations
An online learning classroom eliminates the limitations of geographical location and time which is a common problem faced by the traditional classroom. Students have the ability to access educational resources and engage with educators and fellow students at any time favorable to them.
Online classes help students to comprehend classes on their time and on the devices of their choice. Learners can learn and attend classes according to convenience. Once your students log in to the online learning platform, they are at the school where they can conveniently access classes, join discussions, access assignments, and communicate with teachers, and access the test grades.
Better flexibility and time management
Online education offers a welcoming space for students with a busy schedule who have to align their family and work together with learning some new skills. With online learning, students can save their valuable time by not requiring to attend traditional classes.
Online classrooms allow educators to take classes according to their schedule and for students to pursue education from the comfort of their home, which will save time so you can manage your valuable time effectively. As the schedule of online classes is not similar to traditional classes, you can enjoy free time to invest in other things you care about.
Promote collaboration of learners
Online learning facilitates learner engagement as they can take part in the discussions and presentations where creative learning happens. As online learning is self-paced, there is no need to interrupt the discussion when the allotted time for class ends.
Online classes also help with community building which allows learners to be a part of the community with similar results. This engaging environment will train learners to work as a united team, work on assignments together, and mingle with other students they have not met earlier.
Cost advantages
Pursuing higher education or skill is quite expensive, but online learning provides several ways for learners to save money when pursuing their higher studies. Reducing travel-related costs and the need to pay additional donations and miscellaneous fees is not just cost-effective but also helps in saving your time.
Most learners have to splurge more money on books and course materials. However, online classes eliminate these factors as course materials are mostly offered in digital forms. Educators also have cost benefits as they don’t need to pay for classroom rentals or travel to schools or colleges to pursue their careers.
Easy Sharing educational materials
When it comes to the sharing of learning resources, it is easy for educators to create and share learning materials in real-time with their students. Digital tools in online learning platforms facilitate resource sharing that supports various forms of content format like PDF, MS Word, MS excel, flash videos, animations, PPT, etc.
When teaching online, educators can share their screen or certain apps with learners for an easier demonstration. The online classroom comes with many useful features that make it easy to share relevant study materials like notes, graphics, diagrams, explanatory videos, infographics, etc. With informative education material, online learning becomes an interesting learning experience.
More engaging learning experience
Online classes provide an efficient learning backdrop due to their capability to integrate short and engaging lessons that can be replicated when required. These short classes are also referred to as micro learning which helps students to find what they require easily. Learners can also interact with professionals and colleagues regardless of the geographical restrictions.
Quick evaluation on test grades
One of the benefits of online learning includes receiving immediate feedback on test grades. Unlike in a traditional classroom where you have to get manual feedback on test grades from teachers, online learning set up allows you to get an instant evaluation for the tests that are conducted online.
Moreover, you can also understand the areas where you performed great and where you need improvement. The moment you complete your tests, your educators will access your assignment and give you significant feedback.
Develop better self-discipline
Without the commitment of attending traditional classes at a particular location, students will be forced to master self-discipline by managing their tasks and time efficiently.
Educators can also adapt to better time management and discipline by leveraging online calendars and other management tools, which is a lifelong skill that will benefit you in several different ways.
Increased student participation and engagement
Unlike real classrooms, online classes create chances for engaged learning and participation of students in interactive activities.
This is because online classrooms offer several different ways to engage through features like social learning and private chat. The engaging features of the online learning website allow learners to efficiently interact with each other.
Certain features like commenting and rating allow teachers to gauge the performance of their classes so that they can implement techniques to deliver the best learning experience to their learner base.
Variety of courses
Online learning allows learners to attain higher education and skills gained from a traditional style class. Additionally, it also offers a variety of courses that is not easily available elsewhere. Learners who find accessing normal education challenging can greatly reap the benefits of online learning.
Integrate interactive learning sessions
In a traditional educational set up, educators generally follow a routine teaching program. Whereas in online educational platforms, teachers have the flexibility to offer engaging classes that include online learning activities, videos, assignments, etc.
Interactive online learning is way more than simply delivering lessons to students and helps in increasing student participation and engagement.
Students learn at their own pace
In an online learning environment, the pressure to compete with fellow students is removed. Students have the flexibility to learn at their own pace as they excel at a certain type, of course, if the concept is familiar or they might need extra time to grasp some other concept. This simply means, with online learning students are in control of the progress of your learning.
Possibilities for advancing in the career
Online learning allows learners to learn significant skills and advance in their career too. Students who opt for online learning will have better opportunities to engage with fellow students from different parts of the world which facilitates great networking. Learners also get personal time with teachers which improves the learning experience.
Conclusion
Online learning is a modern version of traditional learning that is as engaging and interactive and real-time teacher-student interaction. Studying online helps students to learn essential skills like self-motivation, better communication, self-discipline.
Now due to COVID19, many individuals have started their own online tutoring business because of the benefit it provides. There are eLearning solution providers such as Pinlearn who will help you in setting up your eLearning platform with their powerful online tutoring software.
Online learning automatically helps students to quickly hone significant skills that could benefit in their future. Not just that learning online helps students to have a flexible schedule to continue their career along with continuing your learning. While there are several other benefits of online learning these are some of the major ones for determining whether online education suits you or not.
Author Bio
Kathy Alameda
I’m working as leading experts on building and implementing the learning strategies. I have led learning & performance improvement projects form last few years.
Currently marketing consultant at https://www.pinlearn.com/