Online Learning vs Traditional Education

What are the advantages of online learning and why is online learning better than in-person learning?

Online Learning vs Traditional Education

All of us had an opportunity to become well acquainted with the traditional approach to learning and its teaching methods in different educational institutions, so we are well aware of all its lacks that often surpass its advantages. The road to the desired title or certificate can often be so hard, or can demand so much money, will power and time that it can discourage us from further attempts of personal and professional development.

This is why many people opt for online education, still a relatively new phenomenon in this part of the world, which has created many new opportunities for all those who want to learn something by reversing the former paradigm, and which, without hesitation, can be considered a revolution in contemporary education.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the advantages of online learning.

1. Numerous opportunities and learning topics

The attending of a traditional course implies travelling to the place where the course is taught, and often staying outside of your place of residence, which affects both the professional and the private aspect of life. Furthermore, the number of places in some educational institutions is often limited, thus denying many people their desired education.

Online education enables you to take most programs or courses that are the same as those in traditional educational institutions. Great diversity of programs and courses is one of the more important advantages of online learning. It does not matter where you live and where you would like to educate yourself – it is always possible to find the type and the kind of a suitable program that you can attend without leaving your home.

2. Motivation

It is assumed that the motivation level is very high when you are choosing an educational program and starting with a course, but it decreases over time. Since almost all traditional education forms have a longer duration, the decrease of motivation is more significant and more likely to occur than with the online education.

The traditional course format is structured in advance, and attendance is very often mandatory, which can also have a negative impact on the motivation of the attendees. Depending on personal and professional situation, it is sometimes difficult to coordinate all our daily tasks, so we tend to drop or postpone some of them, with the things that are low on our priority list usually getting sacrificed first.

On the other hand, the most common source of motivation for online education is ourselves, which can sometimes cause problems, since we are lacking an external factor that pushes us on. When we are left to ourselves, it is easy to find excuses, like bad weather conditions, a traffic jam or a day made for lying around and watching TV… Let’s be real, the only valid excuse for missing an online lesson is if there is no internet connection!

3. Flexibility

Managing the pace and the available time for learning on your own is certainly one of the main characteristics of online education. In such conditions, learning does not become a painstaking task and the main life priority, as can often be the case with the traditional education.

Furthermore, the often dry and dull content of a textbook is transformed in its online form by numerous techniques and methods of presentation, proven to provide a richer and more effective learning experience than the traditional methods and channels.

On the other hand, the very learning material is flexible since it is changing with the times – the content is more subject to change resulting from new ideas and information, unlike textbooks which are updated every few years.

4. Comfort

Sitting in on a class for hours is a thing of the past. You manage your ideal learning conditions on your own and adjust it to suit your wishes, needs and capacities. All required materials are a mouse click away on numerous online platforms, and the accessibility of learning materials in any time of the day is the advantage that the traditional learning simply cannot match.

But pleasure, no matter how positive it is, can also present a disadvantage. We must always be careful not to relax too much at home, so it would be best to leave the comfort of our couch and organize a stimulating learning space. We only need a desk and a comfortable chair for that.

5. Price

Classic education can often present a major expense, especially if it is organized by a prestigious educational institution or if it covers a specific field of interest.

The fact that online programs are cheaper than those organized by traditional educational institutions should be a reason enough to consider taking them. They are not cheaper because they are inferior or lacking in content – they are cheaper because they require fewer resources to achieve the equal result, which is transferring knowledge. Moreover, numerous online courses are free, and while by completing them you often do not obtain a certificate, they are worthwhile and useful to all those who want to learn from esteemed educators.

Conclusion

Online learning is still in its infancy, but it promises a prolific future. New models of teaching are sprouting up on daily basis, showing an enormous potential for elevating online learning to new levels of accomplishment.

Online learning can help employees to thrive in a scattered, global and virtual office, and provide a helping hand to those already climbing the corporate ladder by offering them the necessary resources and technology.

Online programs and courses are more convenient and cheaper than their traditional counterparts. These are also the two main reasons why numerous attendees choose online platforms to achieve equally valuable results.

So, why should you learn online?

In a nutshell, online learning is more convenient, faster, simpler and… at your fingertips!

The greatest advantage of online learning is probably the casual and relaxed approach to learning, and the fact that earning a completion or attendance certificate is optional. The only thing you need is a desire to learn and a brief search of available online programs and platforms to find the right content.

From that moment on, your education is in your hands.