In today’s world of COVID-10 and lockdowns, many institutes have turned to distance learning. This translates into online classes with online learning resources. Online schooling has proved to be convenient in some ways and a hassle in others. Every student has their own way of learning and for some, distance learning has proved to be the best outcome of this peri-pandemic period. We’ve seen many complaints about distance learning and virtual learning, but many people have also appreciated these measures.
Distance learning has many benefits. For high-schoolers, it means they get to be on their phones during class and text their friends, or sneakily cheat on their tests. For college and university students, distance learning proves beneficial otherwise. It helps to break down time barriers, and students can learn and study according to their availability. It also allows students to learn at their pace, where they can spend more time on understanding things that they find difficult and less on what they find easy, and can go as fast or as slow as they would prefer, so helps ease the anxiety of not being able to keep up with their class.
In a way, distance learning fits individual needs and provides freedom of choice; students who are more auditory learners can go through the lectures that have been provided by their institutes, visual learners can go through multiple texts and notes, verbal learners can rely on both, etc. So, students can learn according to what suits them best, at times that they are free to sit down and do so. Students are also offered a wider variety of choices for programs online, and can pick any institute to get their degrees from, no matter where they are or where the institute is, because they’d be able to study from home, thus breaking down geographical barriers as well.
Furthermore, distance learning can save a lot of money, be it in tuition fees, dorm fees, food, gas, etc. Students no longer would need to pay the many different components of fees that universities would ask for. So, all in all, distance-learning has many, many advantages. However, distance-learning can also prove to often be a double-edged sword.
While distance-learning is great in many ways, it can be very toll-taking. It requires a lot of discipline and self-motivation to get up and study and to keep studying and learning; drop-out rates are higher for distance-learning programs than for campus-based ones. It can also get quite lonely, sitting individually in your room, without the presence of a classroom, classmates and teachers physically being there. There’s a lack of social interaction and personal bonding that would make the classes more enjoyable or that would make students more enthusiastic and motivated for learning.
Distance-learning programs can also take longer than expected, since students may tend to prioritize other time-consuming tasks and may delay taking on courses, which would increase the time it takes to complete a degree program. Distance learning students may also get poorer needed-student-services, such as the lack of access to library, academic advisers, job placement services, tutoring and student centers, etc. This makes distance-learning students more self-reliant as they would have to figure out a lot of things on their own when it comes to employment, program-related queries, etc.
Once again, the question arises: is distance-learning for you? If you feel like you can combat all the downfalls of this method of learning, and that you would prefer such an environment to an on-campus one, then it’s meant for you! Many highly-esteemed universities offer distance-learning courses for a variety of degree programs. To get more info about distance-learning and different courses that you can avail through this opportunity, please contact us at official.acumen@gmail.com!
