Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Classes

The system of education has been common since time immemorial. The arrangement has always been of sending and receiving. The teacher or the guiding figure gives the wisdom and the students receive that knowledge. It has always been a system of physical interaction. The classroom is commonplace and a boiling point for all academics to happen and ideas to be discussed between the student and the teacher.

The advancement in technology has enabled a lot of things to happen and possible which were never even thought of by the people. Online learning has always been an available mode of gaining knowledge. Access to various online learning apps and websites has increased the footfall of people over time on these mediums of academics. Even though it has been a growing accessibility of learning, still it was not obligatory for everyone to avail of it.

In 2020, everything changed upside down including the academics industry when the world was hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The world was forced to be inside their homes and no one was advised or allowed to go out. Everything came to a halt but in today's world, we are at a juncture where everything cannot be stopped and with the help of technology a lot of things were possible to sustain. Amongst all those things there was also Online Learning prevailed.

Because of Pandemic restrictions, students and teachers were unable to move and meet in the classrooms and the schools were not in the state of reopening. A lot of school campuses were turned into relief centers by the government. So, there was only one option left with the academic community in India and all over the world which was to switch over to Online Platforms for schooling and hosting classrooms.

In the Initial stages of Online Classes, everything was blurry and everyone was confused about this concept. Colleges and Lecturers were trying to devise different ways to create a platform or a medium through which the students and the teachers can meet and interact. At first, the faculties thought of uploading recorded lectures but it failed because there was no track of attendance this way. After a lot of trial and error, there were few video-interaction software like Google Meet, Zoom, Webex Meet, etc. All this software made it possible and gave a platform to students and teachers to get a classroom-type experience. It was not easy at first like a lot of new concepts but soon everyone adapted to this new change.

In India, the concept of online classes got introduced and it spread like a wildfire, India has a lot of youngster population and most of them are well-versed in technology and the Internet. India has about 13.6 million people that are gaining from the benefits of Online Learning and our country is ranked second after the United States in the most number of e-learners.

A lot of people were startled by this sudden change and a lot of people were relieved. Education is mandatory for everyone so no one had any choice but to settle down and accept this change in receiving education.

Advantages of Online Classes

The fruits that are obtained by Online Classes are substantial. According to a lot of surveys conducted by a lot of colleges and educational institutes, there was a lot of positive feedback from the students and also by the faculties about the idea of Online Classes. It has turned out to be a "Blessing in Despair" and continued the flow of education during hard times. The regime of Online Classes has facilitated and made learning more comfortable and easy. It has also turned out to be very time-saving and the essential time that was often wasted on the commute is saved. There are a lot of advantages to this Online Learning Facility, some of them are:

Convenience

Online Learning has turned out to be very convenient during the dark times of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the whole world was forced to be inside their houses and students were very confused about their academic future and the teachers were troubled about their fellow students, online learning turned out to be a big boon. Online Classes are convenient because it allows easy access for the students to interact with their respective teachers and their peers. It is also very convenient because it brings classrooms to the home and everything comes to the fingertips of the students. Online classes are also very convenient because it provides an exceeding amount of facetime for each student with the teacher as compared to that in the actual classroom.

Increased Participation/ Attendance

In the actual classroom, there are a lot of factors that play an important role in attendance of the classroom. We hardly see full classrooms in offline classrooms but in online classrooms, there are no such factors that prevented students from attending classes, and the students accepted online classes as a fresh change and appreciated it. There were a lot of packed online classes which could be seen during the pandemic and it was very rewarding for both the students and the faculties. The various features of online classes also enabled students to interact more effectively in the online classes which was also a great factor in the increased attendance.

Easy Accessibility

Accessibility is the most important feature that has played the most important role in the success of online classes. In the actual classroom environment, the packed and rigid schedule makes it very difficult for the students to express themselves and show their complete capabilities. It also makes it difficult for them to interact with the teachers. The actual classrooms also make it difficult for introverted and shy students to get familiar with the learning environment. All these drawbacks are eliminated by the mode of an online class. In the online medium, students have everything at their fingertips and easily accessible. Students can reach the teachers and ask them doubts in real-time through the facility of direct messaging. There are a lot of designated online interaction platforms that have facilitated easy ways to access online learning and these platforms have become very popular during the pandemic times. The online class has also made working with friends a lot easier, the various accessible features have paved a way for making group projects easier.

Flexibility

One of the greatest features or advantages of online learning has been that it has broken a lot of shambles of traditional learning experiences. Online classes have made learning very remote and very flexible. Famous online interaction platforms have made it possible to attend classes from even a smartphone which is accessible to each individual in this day and age. Students can attend their classes from any place wherever internet access is present. The most flexible feature of online classes is that it saves the most precious time of traveling and commuting and brings the classroom home. A lot of surveys state that students have found it easier to balance their academic life and their personal lives because of the facility of online classes.

Time-Management Skills

There is a phase in every student's life. A normal student generally moves from schooling level to college education level to a phase in which a student becomes a professional and starts undergoing a job or a business. The most important thing that makes a student ready for all these phases of his/ her life is having disciplined time management skills. Online classes instill this quality into a student's life, the efficiency of a student, and the way he carries out his/ her academic and extra-curricular activities are paved out by the flexible regime of online classes.

Learning Methodology

Every student is different from another student and they all have unique learning capabilities and different ways in which every student grasp knowledge. Certain students perform well in online classes while some perform well in the more traditional classroom setting. The online classes have made the faculty and the teachers more and more advanced and they have adapted a lot of new learning mechanisms to make every student learn easily.

Disadvantages of Online Classes

It is visible and very easily seen that online classes have a lot of benefits and it has turned out to be revolutionary for students all across the nation. Online learning has a very powerful impact on students and the complete academic community but it also has its challenges and limitations. To make online classes and online learning experiences perfect certain drawbacks need to be eliminated. Even though online classes helped a lot of students they also received a lot of negative feedback.

Absence of Face to Face Interaction

There is a case where it is completely true that students are not in the favour of being looked on at all the time but still from the teaching point of view students must be kept in check. The traditional classroom setting makes it very easy for teachers to look after students. In many cases, students lose interest and resent themselves for whatever is going on in the classroom. It sometimes happens willingly but a majority of the time it happens un-willingly, therefore it is the job of the teaching faculty to prevent that from happening. The format and arrangement of online classes make it difficult to look at the faces of the students while giving a lecture or while teaching some important concept. This isolation sometimes leads to un-focused students. This is one of the areas where online learning loses its edge.

Compromised Communication Skills

Online classes are very easily accessible and it makes learning very convenient and simple to obtain however it leads to certain drawbacks that are related to personality development. One of the most important traits of anyone's personality is having good communication skills. The arrangement and set of online classes make it very hard to develop the skill of proper communication because a majority of the interaction happens on a textual medium which makes the students very estranged from the idea of actually speaking and conveying their thoughts. It has a prolonged effect on a student or any individual, spending more and more time in front of a computer screen or a mobile phone estranges the students from the actual world.

Potential Social Isolation

The online class is a medium of providing a comfortable and accessible way of learning experience which sometimes makes it difficult for the students to experience things outside the world of the internet. The whole experience of online learning has the goal to create a learning environment for a student but sometimes it can become a little overwhelming and the student can get completely lost in this experience. There are many cases in which a child can become anti-social because of the excessive use of the Internet or smart gadgets. Social isolation can cause many mental health problems for a young individual. It can also cause some serious life-long traumas.

Technological Setbacks

In an academic environment, there are a lot of types of individuals. Some students are sharp and are very technologically savvy while some students are not that sharp and have a lesser hand in the areas of technology. In some cases, there are financial drawbacks that may result in the loss of financial backdown. There is also the factor of internet connectivity that plays a major role in preventing students to gain access to online learning. All these factors are certain roadblocks that are not enabling online learning to become a new mandate.

The Future of Online Classes

During the pandemic, the arrangement of online classes turned out to be very fruitful for the whole academic community. In those dark times, online classes paved a strong way to show light to a lot of misguided and confused students. The pandemic was just a way to show the world that the nature of our life is very unpredictable and absolutely anything can happen. The concept of online learning and the introduction of various online interactive classroom platforms showed the world that learning can never stop, no matter what happens in the world. Online learning has opened a lot of opportunities for students of all types, especially in India. It has made it easier for the students to learn multiple new skills at once and also master some hobbies.

Online learning is not just limited to academic learning but it also diversifies itself in acquiring special skills in art, music, sports, etc. Anyone can learn anything through the medium of online classes.

The virtual setup of education has instilled the quality of independence and self-sustenance in the students. The new generation is getting more and more advanced and they are learning the skills and attributes that were very less accessible in the olden times. The whole discretion of whether to study or not has completely shifted into the hands of the students. The parents can't force them anymore on their children to do anything. This force of independent attitude has created a lot of positive feedback amongst the students and they are more and more inclined to try newer things in their lives.

The students have access to the internet which has made the exercise of researching more intense and significant. Learning is a lifelong process and it should never stop which is why the transition from traditional education to online education has been the perfect example of that saying.

Conclusion

It can be truly said that online learning has been a revolutionary force and a truly positive change that has been beneficial for a lot of people. No one can even imagine how difficult it would have been if there was no medium for online classes and education through the internet.

Now we can truly say that despite its disadvantages, online classes have been really helpful and have provided everyone with a great medium to indulge and learn some new things.