Students and parents across the world are concerned about going to school and colleges in this pandemic, we are facing in  2020. Educational institutes were obligated to shut down their gates according to the emergency requirement. But they could not hold it for a long time as skipping school or college classes were impacting the career of the students and semesters were inching closer. Eventually, it was decided to implement a remote learning facility by the majority of the universities across the globe. Now, the question is, was it a good decision or will it impact negatively on the students and their career?

We have narrowed down some of the important aspects of online classes regarding the strengths and flaws in them, let’s take a look into it.

Advantages

1. Convenient

The major plus point of online courses is, these are available 24/7. All you have to do is connect your portal and start learning comfortably. Teachers or instructors can be easily reached at any time. There are online discussions, presentations, announcements and quizzes that are making the course more entertaining and engaging.

2. Flexibility

Parents who are having newborn babies, working people who have to travel around frequently, students who are having health issues, online classes are hugely beneficial for them. People can pursue their classes from anywhere; can study with any group they prefer, and how they want. In reality, Digital classrooms do have the flexibility to merge with students’ lives.

3. Education is coming to your doorstep

This is true that remote classes have reduced the rush of education; students are getting support from their home environment. The learning environment is more comfortable as people don’t have to prepare themselves for travel. All they require to do is turn on the Wi-Fi at home and connect.

4. One on one attention

Public speaking fear is very common among the students inside the classroom. But here they can communicate via email with their mentor without having any fear. Also, it is very easy for the teachers to answer different queries according to their comfortable time and they can focus on the individual.

5. Diversity

Online learning platforms provide diversity as people can meet a diversified group or individual. They talk with other students in online libraries, online groups and explore each other’s thoughts.

6. Practical skills

When the study is online-based, it means that a student is browsing the internet to gather information. That also means that he/she is getting expertise in web surfing and performing online activities. That can prepare them in advance for their professional career. The resume will project the strength of a student as they are working on it practically.

7. Knowledge for lifetime

Forgetting the newly learned topics is also a common concern of learners. But a remote learning process makes the students get into a situation where they work by themselves, put in their effort and synthesize any particular topic. So, they digest and formulate the information in a way that it stays for a long time.

8. Cost-effectiveness

There are certain tangible benefits that learners can get during remote learning. It may seem to be expensive as people have to pay for the internet or computer but if you think about it, there are savings from travelling, car parking, petrol, food, child care, pet care and many others. As long as a person is at home these costs can be cut down. So we can call it to be a cost-effective method.

9. Self-disciplined

Online learning methods are commonly known as a student-centred activity. Students, when they are in-classroom coaching, the mindset is different as they become lazy enough to seek help from their classmates. They get all sorts of information regarding the course but in an online format, those learners will not get any guidance from classmates and they have to make up their mind to complete their tasks by themselves. That’s how they train themselves to gain self-discipline which will be beneficial for the future.

10. Global reach

International universities or colleges have students from different countries all across the globe and in this current COVID-19 situation all students are connected in online learning platforms. A German university has arranged classes online and the students who are taking the classes are from India, USA, Australia, and many more. So, online classrooms are not only flexible but diversified and globally distributed also.

Disadvantages

1. Time-consuming method

You are sitting in a classroom attending a lecture and listening to your teacher. I mean, this is the familiar picture of the classroom environment. But the fact is, are you able to gather and process all information that your professor is saying? No, nobody can do that because the majority of the data are lost, doesn’t matter how concentrated a listener is. But in an online learning method, one has to read, type queries and then get the idea of a topic as no one is getting any physical help from teachers or classmates. So, it is obvious that typing takes more time than in the speaking form of communication and that’s the major flaw of remote learning, that it is time-consuming.

2. More postponing

Delay in work or postponing the work is very common in the internet-based studies. As there is no one to give you the extra push to finish your homework. Assignments to submit is more likely to lead to procrastination of the entire work routine. You have just started to adopt a new learning technique and enjoying the fact that everything is online, it is so cool, but at the same time it can be scary enough as you may have skipped the submission dates.

3. Time management 

Time management in online courses can be one’s advantage if they have mastered the art, but on the other hand, it can be a disadvantage if someone did not. If you are not managing the time efficiently then you can find yourself under the mountain of course work and it is obvious that it is not a piece of good news for any student.

4. It can be suffocating

Internet-based study methods are actually suffocating sometimes as your only companion is the computer, a machine which has been criticised for decades. A student can feel isolated as that person is spending a major amount of time of a day in front of the screen. This is an issue that affects one’s psychological health.

5. Excessive freedom

No restriction, no institutional guideline, no class commander. It is like a dream of every student to be in this kind of situation but the actual scenario is harmful as we all know that too much of anything is bad. In a remote study structure, students can misuse their independence and at the end of the day, the harm will happen due to misuse.

6. Too much attention required

This is also an example of sink or swim. Either a student will succeed by putting more attention and if not then they will fail. A choice has to be made, one has to be strong enough to have the realization of priority.

Conclusion –

Discussing a topic which basically depends upon a person’s personality strength and own priority, can be conflictious among the audience. It can be seen that online learning does have some advantages and has a sense of a new trend. But the other side of the coin can be full of flaws. But whatever it is, in this pandemic situation remote learning is the only way to stay safe while doing the essentials to keep oneself learning.