Strengths and Weaknesses of Online Learning

Posted on Mar 3, 2021

Online learning has gained a lot of fans over the past year. People need to quickly learn new skills, and online learning already in some areas solves this problem better than offline learning. A sudden plunge into distance learning revealed the pros and cons of this system.

Weaknesses:

1. Large families and teacher families, where the parents themselves are teachers, found themselves in unequal conditions: it is physically extremely difficult for all children to organize distance learning at once, and sometimes it is impossible.
2. The methods used in certain subjects (physics, mathematics), where it is required to perform practical work directly by the student, turn out to be ineffective in distance learning.
3. Due to the lack of distance learning experience, a lot of time has to be spent on the technical organization of the lesson. Today, the volume of material is less, and the quality of the online lesson is lower than that of a regular classroom lesson.
4. Children with disabilities, especially hyperactive children, have problems in concentration while online learning.
5. Students’ short answers. Difficulties in the formation of a coherent monologue of the student. The prevalence of primitive text.
6. There is no guarantee of independent completion/solution of educational tasks.
7. Obviously, a website is required to manage the distance learning process.
8. Self-organization is needed. As parents of schoolchildren who have switched to “distance learning” and students of online courses note, it is quite difficult to study on your own. If vigilant mothers, fathers, or grandmothers still manage to control children, then it can be much more difficult to come to an agreement with oneself – procrastination often triumphs over patience. Forbid yourself to be distracted by social networks, calls, messages, and your beloved cat during class. Not only willpower can come in handy here, but also a student planner app.
9. There is no personal contact. Communication with fellow students or with a teacher, habitual in face-to-face classes, may not be enough. This is especially acute in foreign language classes. The absence of a neighbor on the desk makes many pair and group tasks impossible, for example, discussions. But this is also a plus. Often, even within the same group, language levels differ, and stronger students become bored.

Strengths:

1. The student learns to educate himself or herself, which is important in the modern world.
2. The family can be mobile and provide an opportunity for the student to study wherever there is the Internet.
3. Most of the students and teachers are provided with all the necessary technical devices for distance learning.
4. There are no unnecessary activities.
5. Teachers have the opportunity to choose from a huge number of Internet resources the most convenient and comfortable for them.
6. Training is individual, which eliminates the need for tutoring.
7. More free time appears. There is no need to spend hours getting to and from the classroom. You can allocate any free time. If the desire to study comes only at five am, no one will stop you!
8. The possibilities of the Internet are in the selection of bright, colorful demonstration material, the use of video and audio content, which contributes to retaining attention.
9. In the current conditions, parents can participate with their children in the educational process. We can say that they became active participants in it.
10. Shy students have become more active in online lessons.
11. Money is saved. Classes with a teacher or in a group are often expensive. School owners have to pay not only for the teacher’s services but also for the rent of premises and other costs. Online learning is less costly.

As you can see, the online learning system still turns out to be more profitable and effective than the traditional approach. It also has disadvantages, but they are covered by many advantages, thanks to which you can become a genius even remotely.