Let us hear from Maureen Connolly – Brock University. She thinks it’s very difficult to be an attendee online, which is ironic! Because the students become almost immediately invisible by their non-participation. When in a large class, a student can miss several lectures.
Benefits and challenges of online learning – Let’s listen to some people what they have to say about this online learning concept.
What are some of the benefits and challenges students might experience with online learning?
Let us hear from Maureen Connolly – Brock University. She thinks it’s very difficult to be an attendee online, which is ironic! Because the students become almost immediately invisible by their non-participation. When in a large class, a student can miss several lectures.
She also finds that with this generation, even though they appear to be tech-savvy, with their social networking tools; Using those in the surface of their learning, she finds that somewhat impoverished!
She helps them to use a social networking tool as a means to online learning. She thinks that can be liberating for some of them.
Now it’s no longer diversionary; it’s online learning.
Benefits and challenges of online learning
From the University of Guelph, M.J. D’Elia thinks that the benefit of online learning is partly that it is asynchronous in nature. So the fact that students can go back and revisit, maybe material that we’ve covered, and they have an opportunity to hear it the second time.
Online learning benefits and challenges
Kevin Cheung from Carleton University explains one of the main benefits of an online course as the materials can be reviewed by the students anytime, anywhere, and possibly any number of times.
He has received feedback from students saying how much they appreciate that they can go through the materials at their own pace, unlike where they have to go along with everybody in the regular classroom.
Online classes benefits and challenges
From the University of Toronto, Laurie Harrison mentions another important benefit of moving to an online space. It is the flexibility that it provides both for the instructors and for the students.
The flexibility is not only in terms of geography and the location where they can participate incomplete activities that are part of their overall course process, but also any place any pace as well that students can proceed at the pace that’s appropriate to them, their previous knowledge, either more slowly or perhaps more quickly.
e-learning benefits and challenges
Let’s move on to Patrick Lyons from Carleton University to know about his thoughts on online learning benefits and challenges. He says that the learners learn from the best environments where they have a measure of control right now.
He thinks that learning is central to them, and in online learning, they’ve been able to design courses with that kind of methodology in mind, that kind of pedagogical approach.
So being able to provide that measure of control to students is appealing to them in terms of their own motivation towards a course and ensuring and helping them learn better and more meaningfully and more deeply.
Benefits and challenges of online teaching
Boris Vukovic of Carleton University provided us with some important parameters regarding the concept of online learning.
According to Boris Vukovic from Carleton University, online courses enable higher education, specifically for students who have traditionally faced barriers accessing post-secondary studies and curriculum.
There’s a level of access also in terms of accessing the information, which is very important for students who, for example, have learning disabilities or even for second language speakers. Online courses allow assistive technology or other technological tools to aid understanding comprehension and expression of learning.
If not properly maintained technical quality, electronic online information can sometimes be inaccessible for students with sensory disabilities.
Challenges and benefits of online learning
Bob Burk, Carleton University, expresses another important message on his type of concept on online learning – the benefits and challenges of online learning.
He says that nowadays, students are looking for the information that they need on a screen. It could be on their cell phone, their iPad, their computer screen or even their television.
Bob Burk realized this 15 to 17 years ago that this was a very powerful communication method. Students are expecting to find things on a screen, so why not put them there.
This has developed into a way of teaching for many teachers, including Bob Burk himself. He puts everything that he is trying to teach on a screen, and it’s available in many formats.
He thinks the online learning concept greatly benefits the students because this is how they’ve been brought up almost from birth if we talk about the modern age students.
Online learning advantages and challenges
Students find information on a screen, and it is just that simple in this day and era. The benefits for students are clear to Franco Taverna from the University of Toronto.
Students from our current timeline use to interact and access things online. They’re very comfortable with it, and in many ways, they prefer it.
They can learn at their own pace. The students can review or study using materials provided online, which is much easier for them.
Online learning benefits, challenges, and opportunities
From the University of Guelph, Denise Mohan says that a student has to take a certain level of responsibility. A huge level of responsibility in facilitating their learning.
She expresses the idea that students need to meet learning objectives to navigate through the material and set a path for themselves to achieve the learning objectives.
Of course, that sometimes constitutes a challenge.
Conclusion
To conclude today’s article, we will learn another online learning challenge from Richard Nimijean of Carleton University.
He thinks the other big challenge for students is discipline and time management.
He has talked a lot to his students about this, and they know how it becomes a challenge to catch up if they fall behind.
For some students, the out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon takes place.
Because the students are not going to a classroom regularly, they forget about it and then when assignments are due, or a test is coming up, they try to catch up.
Of course, they have other classes to attend too.
Information Source:
Carleton University and Media Production Center.
