Main pluses of e-learning

As society advances into the digital age, the use of online technology has become indispensible in our daily lives through successful integration. The internet has vastly contributed to the growth of a virtual environment made possible by various sites such as social communities, blogs, research engines, online newsrooms, virtual offices and classrooms among other online tools that have facilitated numerous online interactions in addition to solving various issues pertinent to the society. This technology has presented everyone with more options and greater opportunities than before. Such precedence has been enhanced by the well-known fact that online technologies are able to condense the barriers of time and space thus allowing for real time communication. Besides, online technologies are usually fast, quite affordable and user friendly. According to Castells, the internet has vastly revolutionized our way of living.

Nowadays, a lot of transactions are conducted through the online platform and numerous features are consequently being built and integrated to allow for a fast, easy, fun and secure online interaction. Such features includes things like security, back up, search engines, toll free systems, feedback mechanisms and a FAQ segment for further enquiries. The most notable changes in the virtual environment are the online classrooms that have recently gained immense popularity. The possibility of studying in a school that is without your geographical bounds especially during your part time has so far been greatly embraced and further commercialized. The demand for such programmes is correspondingly high and of potential growth in the future. It is thus prudent to analyse the impact of such online technologies in the realm of learning.

E-Learning is quite a flexible programme that suits students’ schedules. It is constantly being tailored to meet students’ demands in this day and age. Learners of today no longer require a tutor or a lecturer standing in front of a class to teach, but they can effectively acquire the same knowledge over the internet. With E-Learning, one can virtually attend more classes and take up more degrees depending on their ability. Students can as well choose to attend universities of their choice even when they are not within their geographical bounds. This flexibility has tremendously made E-Learning vogue as more and more people continue to enrol for online classes. A thorough exploration by Lynnette reveals the extent of independence to which students subscribe to when it comes to learning.

Apart from flexibility in time and place, E-Learning also allows for convenience in learning as it facilitates individual attention to students. Students are able to personally interact with their professors online without distractions and can profitably gain more insights as questions are directly answered. One can, therefore, learn at their own pace especially with the elimination of fear brought about by asking questions in a physical classroom. Usually, E-Learning programmes provide class websites, mailing lists, chat rooms and bulletin boards that allow for student interactions and contributions. This allows for different views from a global perspective that is just not possible within a physical environment.

E-Learning also allows students to be tech savvy and a number of technological tools are integrated to enhance learning. This includes the use of visual aids such as graphics, flow charts and tables that clearly illustrate concepts. Various word processors that highlight, underline or bold texts are frequently used to stress on points that enabling students to recall. Instructional tools such s the auditory component or the translation functionality are usually employed in online studying.

The greatest facilitator of E-Learning has been E-Books and other online material provide by research engines which offer a vast choice of resources. The online research search engines have amalgamated educational material to create the world’s largest unruly library. This tends to make research easier, faster and more credible owing to the diverse number of resources used. Online researches have a colossal endowment of information which can hardly be accessed solely on books. The gargantuan availability of this information guarantees statistical power and diversity of samples. This fosters credibility of information provided. E-learning materials are also frequently updated to enable current incorporation of new information. However, as Devereux documents, most institutions recommend the use of educational, peer reviewed sites or institutional library materials to authenticate the information that students gather. This is to avoid the susceptibility of students to commercial sites that offer invalid information.

Despite the pros, the internet has as well been of destructive phenomenal effect in the sphere of literacy. A revelation by Briggs in the Economist reveals that the internet has been accused of encouraging laziness and plagiarism of content. There is also a lot of piracy that occurs online through the illegal copying and sharing of content such as E-Books. Security of data is also an issue since it is vulnerable to hacking while internet malware has been on the rise, putting students at the risk of attacks which often leads to crashes and loss of data. Another major challenge that students often succumb to while taking online classes is procrastination. If students are not determined and lack a compelling force, the chances of failing or even dropping out are high compared to the physical attendance of school.

In essence, this paper has managed to take a major stand in highlighting how online courses and online research have been facilitated and transformed by online technologies. Both positive and negative impacts have been analysed with regards to their revolutionising the learning process. Evidently, the benefits of online technologies have proved to be more constructive than adverse, hence the continuous global embrace in meeting various virtual needs.