The Benefits and Challenges of Online Education

Online Education is the most recent form of education, which allows access to anyone from anywhere. Earlier, there was a problem of accessibility when it came to education. Not all courses were available in all parts of the country, so students had to relocate to parts of the country where their desired courses were taught, which brought several other problems along with relocating, but with the Online mode of education, many of the educational problems are gone forever.

So in this article, we are going to discuss how online education became mainstream, the benefits and the challenges of Online Education. We’ve tried to cover most of the benefits and challenges one faces in the Online mode of education. Benefits include the convenience of online education, how it is more accessible to people, the wide range of courses one could get access to, how it saves money from getting out of your purse unnecessarily, and how it is not a race where all the students have to learn the concepts at a particular pace.

But, along with the benefits, the challenges tag along and online education has its own fair share of challenges- how it lacks face-to-face interactions, how internet issues can forbid students from learning, how online mode cannot cover the practical subjects that require offline demonstration, how it can distract students from learning, and how both students and teachers will get exhausted from constant screen time. But with these challenges, some ways are provided that can help tackle these challenges (We are not claiming that these solutions will work). So without further ado, let’s jump into the discussion.

How Online Education Became Mainstream?

Education, this is the most important part of a county/state’s development. Without education, no country can ever grow, but with time, the mode of education has changed. Earlier during the gurukul days, kids used to go to forest-type settings to gain education, but back in those days, most kids were not allowed to get the luxury of education. But times changed; empires fell and rose. And with that came new systems.

Education was no longer a luxury but an essential part of a country’s growth; schools started increasing: government schools, public schools, private colleges, and government colleges. There were many ways to gain knowledge. And then, teachers started giving personal tuition to students; sometimes students went to the teacher’s house, and sometimes it was the teacher who came to the students’ house to teach them.

Then, One of the worst eras of modern society came (if not the worst): the COVID era (2020-2023). With it came the quarantine, a sudden lockdown that lasted months, then years, and several protocols that restricted the public to maintain distance from each other. Back then, the kids who were giving their examinations faced something that they had never faced before. The examinations that were going on from the 1st day of the week to the last day of the same week, those papers were “postponed” and eventually cancelled. That’s when a new type of phenomenon took the central stage- online education.

Now, online education was something that was a thing even before COVID, but it was during that period that Online education became mainstream. Online classes and examinations became a regular thing long after the lockdown was lifted and are still a normal mode of education. But everything has some kinds of benefits and challenges. So without wasting any more of your time, let’s jump into the benefits of Online education.

What Are the Benefits of Online Education?

Flexibility and Convenience:

Compared to an offline mode of education, students and teachers do not need to worry about transportation or reaching the school or college on time. And in the case of students, if by any means they get late, they are not allowed into the class, and if they are school students, they are not allowed into the building either.

So, online education eliminated this problem. Now, both students and their teachers can attend/take the class from anywhere they want. If the student had to leave for their village for an emergency, they can attend the class while going to their village by car.

Another convenience of Online classes is that sometimes these classes are recorded, so if for any reason the student failed to attend a particular class, then they can easily go through that recorded class at their own convenience.

Greater Accessibility:

What used to happen before was that if a student was from a small town but was interested in higher studies, and those higher studies were only accessible in the bigger cities, then they had to relocate to the bigger cities to gain access to that knowledge, for which they had to work part-time and adjust to their surroundings. But with online education.

If someone from a smaller town wants to access education in bigger towns, they don’t have to relocate to the bigger towns. Now, they can gain access through online coaching and tests. The geographical barriers that these educational institutes had earlier are now gone forever with just the internet and a phone.

Wide Range of Courses:

Another benefit of Online Education is that it offers a wide range of courses. So the students have different choices to choose from; if they are students of Commerce but they want to explore subjects in Arts like Literature, then they can take up that course separately.

Online education provides a variety of courses, different types of subjects, and skills. Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Literature, Psychology, History, Economics. You name it, all these subjects are now just a few fingers away from you.

Cost Savings:

A problem that we have already discussed above was the problem of relocation, how students relocated for education. After relocating, they face several other problems that go hand in glove with relocating to a new place. Relocating includes transportation, tickets, stay, food, buying books and textbooks, and any other expenses that students have to endure just because they relocated to that place.

But with Online Education, they don’t have to take on the burden of spending cash. Because with Online Education, they don’t have to relocate to a new place anymore, which will automatically save money on transportation, stay, food, and any other expenses that would have made their way into their lives if they had relocated. So, Online Education is the protector of your money.

Self-Paced Learning:

An advantage that has already been mentioned in the article is the recorded courses. Some students can’t learn at the same pace as other students. Each student is unique in their own way, so naturally each of them has their own way of learning. Recorded online courses don’t put these students on a timer and allow them to learn at their own pace, the pace they are most comfortable with.

So these are the benefits of Online education. But even the most beneficial thing in the world has some kind of limitations and challenges.

What Are the Challenges of Online Education?

Lack of Face-to-Face Interaction:

One of the major benefits of Offline classes is that if the student has any doubts, then they can ask the teachers right then and there. Face-to-Face interactions help the students to learn and, most importantly, understand what is being taught.

But, online classes don’t have this. Many times, a student doesn’t take live classes but recorded classes (Like we have already discussed). So if they have any doubts, who can they ask in those recorded classes?. Even in the live classes, it's not that accurate; a student can ask a question and the teacher can clear it, but if it is too complicated for the student to grasp the concept, then the teacher will find it difficult to demonstrate it in the Online mode.

Plus, in the offline mode, student can ask the teacher about doubts by meeting them in private before or after class, and the teacher clears those doubts more efficiently than can be done in the online mode.

Technology and Internet issues:

The thing Online Classes depend on is a stable Internet connection. If you don’t have the notebook, it’s fine. If you don’t have a pen, it’s fine. But if you don’t have internet, then it’s anything but fine at all. Then it will not be difficult, but it will be impossible for you to attend the classes.

So, let’s say while attending the online classes, suddenly your internet connection goes out (It could be for any reason); you won’t be able to continue that class. And if you are in an Online examination, then it’s safe to say that things would turn tragic.

Distraction and Time Management:

One of the major limitations of Online Classes is that students can get distracted from studies more frequently compared to offline classes. At least in offline classes, the teacher catches them doing something else and punishes them, which disciplines the student not to get distracted in class, but in online classes, teachers have no idea what the student is doing.

Maybe, as the class is commencing, the student watches TV, or is watching YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels, or maybe even playing games on his/her phone. When classes go online, it will automatically create such situations. And even if the students want to, they fail to fight that urge (They are kids, after all).

Limited Hands-On Learning:

Online classes can cover almost all the subjects there are. But there are many subjects that require specific equipment and need practical classes in laboratory subjects like Chemistry, Physics, and Biology.

But in Online Classes, it’s impossible to have practical experience; it’s entirely theoretical. Now you’ll say, “But the teacher can show the students how it works.” True! But you see, practical doesn’t mean they see how a specific theory works when done in a lab; they need to experience it, they need to give it a try themselves, not just understand the phenomenon through the teacher.

Screen Fatigue:

This limitation stands true for some of the students, if not all. Some students find it difficult to sit in front of a screen for too long. But online classes require long hours of screen time. This can make a student feel uncomfortable, and not just the students; teachers, for whom this is fairly a new concept, find it difficult to sit through multiple classes a day and for god knows how many hours.

So, How You Should Deal With It?

Now that we know the challenges one faces when using this convenient mode of interaction, we need to understand how to deal with these limitations. Each of the above points tells us about different types of problems one needs to overcome. So here are some of the solutions to the challenges mentioned above

Before starting, let us clear it up: The solutions which are going to be mentioned here are not the only solutions, nor is it claimed that they will provide you with 100% of the result. No, it might not work for you (Notice the pressure on the word " might ") or it might do wonders for you (Again stressing the word " might ").

Anyway, as we have discussed, there are several challenges of Online Education. So let us discuss some of the ways you could tackle these challenges.

Challenges of Online Education

So, if you want to understand each of the subjects taught properly, try to attend as many live classes as possible. There are several discussion classes where the doubts of the students are cleared by the teacher; you can join these classes and ask your doubts. You can also do group projects with fellow students. Whenever possible, try to meet the teacher to ask your doubts if that’s not possible, email that teacher, if you the phone number call them or text them.

Another issue is a bad internet connection, and as we have already discussed, internet is the oxygen of Online education. So, it is advised that you download lessons and any type of study material so that even when you are offline, you can learn from the downloaded materials.

Create a fixed schedule if you face difficulty getting distracted during classes. These social media platforms, like Instagram or YouTube, have a setting that restricts you from spending too much of your time on those platforms. So, choose a fixed time when you can enjoy browsing and doomscrooling but that should only be limited to the fixed time set by you and in no form should hamper your studies.

The next challenge is really a challenge that cannot be tackled that easily, which is hands-on learning, which demands that you attend offline classes because of practicals like using labs. Here, the teacher can use online mode to demonstrate the practical classes; it’s not that useful, but for easier practical classes that can be understood through demonstration, it can be applied. For much more complicated practical classes, it requires the students to attend the offline classes because practical classes are for the offline mode.

One is a serious issue, Spending too much time in front of the screen is bound to make you irritated and exhausted. So, it's advisable that you take breaks between the lessons; studying is very important, but for that both your mind and your eyes need some well-deserved rest, so treat them with the rest they crave.

So, Now that we have covered a few important points one needs to know about online education, decide whether it is a mode of education which is easier for you or is it a mode that’s a little complicated for you to grasp.

No matter what you choose, understand that education is education; let it be either mode (Online/Offline). Each of these modes has its own benefits, and each of these modes has its own challenges. Now that you know a few benefits and challenges of the Online Mode, and ways through which you can tackle some of the challenges, you are ready to choose (or not choose this mode of education.