No body wants to remain uneducated in today’s world as education is considered a very important part of their lives. Education can either rise you to a certain height or cause u a downfall in the future depending on the careers you choose. Education is greatly different today in comparison to the 1950s because of advancements in teaching and other great inventions that provide easier techniques of teaching. With advancements in the today’s world a major development with education has also taken place and that is distance learning or online education.
Online education has become a widely accepted alternative to learning in the classroom. Distance education has helped students to educate themselves in a world where technology rules and fast paced lifestyles are a part of life. As the Internet is becoming increasingly popular, so does the online education gaining popularity.
There are many formats through which distant learning could be made available such as online Power Point Presentations, Videos on tapes, CD’s, DVDs, or other internet courses format that is put online. This easiest way of learning has been legalized since 1993 and is considered a new way of teaching students of all ages. Online education has been gaining popularity through out the years because of the ease of the internet. The internet has made it easier for people to stay connected and has provided people with unlimited resources on the World Wide Web. Many educators have mixed feelings about online educating because there are so many pros and cons to the issue.
Mary Kassop, an author and educationalist, gives general overview of online education and support it. He writes, Can students learn as much and as well online as they do in face to face courses? The answer to these questions is not just ‘yes,’ but one can there are many ways that online courses may actually surpass traditional face to face classes in quality and rigor”. Mrs. Kassop, as an online education supporter, is correct on the issue because it can provide a good education to many people. The convenience of online courses provide busy individuals a chance to get the equal amount of education as a student going to class and all that is needed to get started is a computer with internet access. One computer can open the gates to a whole new world of learning and excitement.
Online education now is either offered by private entities or there are many city and university colleges that offer these programs. Some Colleges and schools offer programs such as Psychology and Sociology which are equal to or even better then face to face classes. One example of a class that is better online rather than face to face is Sociology because they let the students observe human communication at public spaces without the teacher being there.
Online education could be the tool of the future to provide the young and the old with schooling and instruction. It provides a cheaper way of teaching while still giving the student the material necessary for the class. Students learn responsibility through online education and will give them a reason to work hard during the class. In general online classes will help provide many students with the education they require.
By: Ismail Ahmed Alhashmi
Posts Tagged ‘Online Education’
How Good is Online Education?
April 14th, 2010E-Communities – The Advanced Phase of Online Education
April 11th, 2010
Community means integrated body of individuals. Therefore learning communities could be defined as a unified body of individuals whose purpose is focused on learning. Learning communities can be brought together in a variety of ways. Schools, colleges and universities are a good example of communities. But there are some communities slightly different from the traditional communities which we see in colleges or university, and are called virtual or e-communities (electronic) or online education communities.
Here the question of address is what makes up an e-community, the theories that help those communities boom, the strong effect that those communities have on the participants, and the issues involved in developing an online community.
E-communities: There is an important difference between diverse types of online education and online learning communities. E-communities or virtual communities are not physically seen but exists in the cloud of internet. E-communities that meet mainly in cyberspace are emerging. Online education cannot be stated plainly by the use of technology since there is usage of different degrees of technology during education. An online course could be web-based, flexible of 1 to 29% of learning taking place online, blended/hybrid, comprising of 30 to 79% online education, or purely online where 80% or more learning takes place online. A recent study on online education shows that 11% of all U.S. higher education students, over 1.6 million people, registered in at least one of their courses online. Today, 57% of academic leaders understand that the learning result for online courses is equal to or better than face-to-face instruction.
With these online communities there is a significant difference because e-communities can grow in any of these circumstances, but internet is a tool and just having the tool would not help in sustaining relationships needed in making a community. The being community-ness of e-communities develop when there is interaction – sharing collective wisdom. This switch-over of ideas, knowledge, and imagination takes place between the learners and facilitators and makes up a mutually entertained experience rather than an experience that is just shared. This exchange of ideas takes place from learner-to-learner or learner-to-facilitator.
E-communities can be successful if there applies the constructivism and adult learning theory. The other element of its success is technology. Constructivism means learners must share knowledge actively and build new ways through which the real experienced based knowledge is shared. In addition, the role of the educator is also a key that will be act as a developing an environment that will promote real life experiences that lead to learning. Besides, educators have also placed an emphasis on the social aspects of constructivism, the collaboration of learners during knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Whereas adult learning theory is an important hypothetical reflection of study since people go for online education mainly after the completion of high schooling.
An obstacle to promoting e-community-based learning there is the complete absence of face-to-face instruction which is practically non-existent. The other obstacle may be the geographical and time-zone differences that hinder the learners from being communicative to other individuals of the e-community.
Technology and instructional design are the other two critical elements of designing an e-community based education. Technology based learning and communication is composed of video, audio, and text programs which could be of synchronous or asynchronous type. There should be some on the lookout consideration that explains which medium for this learning is suitable, when it will be used, and how it should be used be supposed to be included into the instructional design process. Other issues that should be considered in the instructional design process include how constructivism and adult learning theory contribute to making significant the function of the instructor and how they contribute to the sustainability of the e-community.
In conclusion it is obvious that the future of e-communities is certain. In simple words the medium used today for teaching will transform into another form whereas theoretical basis will remain comparatively the same. When there is more data on the effectiveness of various mediums as they connect to learning theories, the design of instruction for e-community learning will become a more precise science. Learner will get the rights to use the best instruction available, irrespective of geographical or time constraints and this will become more of a reality. Students will also be able to make choice of instructors/facilitators that they believe will fit with their learning styles and thus creating a more focused and dynamic model for instruction and learning.
By: Ismail Ahmed Alhashmi
Is Online As Good As Traditional Education? The Truth Exposed!
April 8th, 2010
Since online education classes are a new education format, it also does not possess many of the known support systems that we can find inside a traditional school structure. This process is usually done with your classmates in a traditional school system but because of the nature of online education, you really do not have classmates in the traditional sense. However, there are people who fear that online courses may not give students the same benefits that traditional courses do.
Earning an educational qualification from the comfort of one’s home or workplace is an idea that is appealing to a large number of people who do not have the time to enroll for a traditional classroom-based course. Before you sign up for your first online course you might find the information presented in this article useful.
Courses are offered in a sequence, and students can complete each course in about five to six weeks. Offered by many accredited colleges and universities, this method of distance learning can help you earn a degree that is every bit as valued as the one you’d get if you were physically attending courses on the campus of a major university. The distance learning programs offered and degrees available through online education or correspondence courses (yes, some do still do it the old fashioned way) vary by school, so it is best to research the school you’re interested in to be sure that the degree you’re interested in offers the program that you are looking for.
This liberation of education has truly revolutionized the way we as individuals and professionals can attain additional knowledge and skills. With an online education – gaining knowledge has been freed from the confines of a school building and has now entered the domain of the individual in whatever place or time that is convenient to him. Many people find that helping students achieve knowledge is one of the most rewarding careers available because of the unique challenges and the often surprising results.
In this age of global education and the need for current knowledge and skills, this is a fast delivery system that will bring all the technological advancement right into your living room instantaneously.
It is up to you to set up a convenient schedule for study. Most online driver education courses do not have any fixed schedule or time line for completing the course, which means that there is no pressure at all. There isn’t even a need to ever meet the teachers or other students and you can do it at any time of the day so it won’t interfere with your work schedule or your life in general.
Determine your goals, make a plan, stay committed and never give up. To determine whether or not online education is right for you, you need to be honest with yourself and ask the following questions. If you are ready to succeed, take some time to determine why this is a great thing for you.
By: Derek Dexter
