The Challenges Of Attending Face-To-Face And Physical Classes Have Caused The Attention Of Many Students And Trainees To Turn To Online Classes And Courses.
Challenges such as the high costs of physical (face-to-face) classes, holding limited courses, and inappropriate hours gradually made the market of online universities and higher education institutions flourish.
Today, online education is a popular and excellent alternative to traditional universities. Millions of students take and graduate from virtual classes and online courses.
If there were doubts about the quality and profound impact of online education in the past, today, it has been proven that online learning has the same effectiveness and impact as traditional and face-to-face education.
A student, student, or professional expert to choose online education instead of a traditional university must have solid reasons and documentation and have done comprehensive research and studies about choosing a university and course, comparing all aspects and indicators between two approaches in a learning course. This article will state ten advantages or reasons for determining online and virtual systems over traditional education methods. Register online.
1. Variety of programs and courses
The biggest reason for choosing virtual and online education is the variety of courses and programs.
Students can participate in these courses freely and have no restrictions in choosing a system, previous education, or related field of study, taking several classes simultaneously, and starting and ending times of the system. A nursing student can take programming courses, and an engineering student, management and entrepreneurship courses.
Students of these courses receive a reasonable degree and continue their studies with master’s and doctoral degrees. Due to the physical limitations of the classroom or finding a professor and the non-interference of programs, universities are forced to offer only a few fields or training courses.
Still, such restrictions are removed on the Internet, and the same university can offer dozens of virtual education fields. Such a situation prevails in almost all countries, and online courses offered by universities and higher education institutions are more diverse and extensive than face-to-face courses.
2. Lower cost
One main reason for choosing online and virtual education is their cheaper costs than traditional universities. Although online university courses are not accessible or affordable, you can attend a classroom for several times less than a physical course. Prestigious universities such as Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia, along with the University of Pennsylvania, have a total of 400 free courses; That is, you can become a student in these universities without paying a single rial. Virtual education courses are cheaper and more affordable in Iran than physical ones. Imagine that you are a city resident and were not to continue your studies at one of the universities of Tehran. The cost of participating in virtual education courses is only limited to paying the university tuition and buying some necessary equipment and a high-speed internet subscription. Still, to join in the same university’s physical systems, transportation, accommodation, food, and dozens of other side costs must also be paid. Most online training courses do not require the purchase of textbooks, laboratory equipment, etc. Another critical point is the applicability of online training courses, which results in a faster return on costs.
3. More comfortable educational environment
Would you instead be stuck in traffic for several hours and then sit on a dry and rough chair and listen to the professor’s lecture for two hours, or sit at your home computer and review new lessons during your break? Then go over the essential points several times, listen to the sermons quickly, and do your homework online. Undoubtedly, virtual and online education has provided students with a better and more comfortable learning environment. Although this comfortable environment may act as a double-edged sword and cause student laziness and lack of motivation, studies conducted by the “Online Learning Association of the United States” show that students are more willing to attend online and virtual classes than physical classes. They are fugitives because they learn lessons more efficiently and make the most of their time and energy.
4. Educational flexibility
Online courses allow students to plan better for study and practice. Educational materials are always available to them, and they do not need to be physically present in the classroom, library, laboratory, and workshops. A better balance and power between study, life, and work will be provided. They will bring satisfaction because the student takes care of his work and life duties and obligations and can take advantage of the rest time and unemployment opportunities throughout the week with reasonable and appropriate planning. Please make the most of it to review lessons and do homework. Some tasks and topics may be repetitive or easy for him, so he completes them early and moves on to the following classes. The opposite of this procedure also happens; maybe some topics are entirely new to him and need more review and practice. In this situation, he doesn’t worry about missing issues and new lessons or getting caught in the circle of compliments and embarrassment with friends and professors. He knows that if he focuses more on the current study this week, he can make up for all the backlog lessons next week and return to the class’s progress. The study will come. Some students have the talent, ability, cost, and even physical presence conditions in traditional classrooms and universities but still, choose online classes for more flexible training and practice.
5. Greater interaction and concentration
According to statistics, students interact and participate incredibly in the lessons and topics of virtual classes. Shy students do not see any obstacles to participating in the class and easily make comments, offer suggestions, and volunteer to take on some class tasks. A student who avoids the teacher’s attention in the face-to-face class becomes the first person in the group to exchange opinions and provide suggestions and solutions or solve exercises in virtual courses. People with disabilities or problems attend virtual classes with greater concentration and comfort and interact with the teacher as easily as others.
6. Career advancement
One of the most widely used and popular aspects of online education is courses and advanced career skills. You are a programmer and have an excellent job in a company. Online education provides you the opportunity and platform to participate in the best programming training courses of prestigious domestic and foreign universities, increase your skills, stay up-to-date, and learn new methods without harming your work and life. Or that you have to take leave and leave work and not be with friends and family. If you add new advanced training courses to your resume, you can get closer to your dreams and pursue better job opportunities. The variety of online education courses is so much that you can continue studying in any branch of engineering, experimental, humanities, management, medicine, arts, and practical skills courses.
7. More complete and professional
Traditional universities cannot complete your job and make you a professional person. Young graduates may be interested in conventional universities, but a 40-year-old experienced person has no future in the physical classrooms of traditional universities. But free and online education courses will be a platform for people to become professionals and complete studies and knowledge of the work field. Middle-aged people can’t leave work and life and sit in physical classrooms at that age if they desire post-secondary education. Still, virtual education makes it possible to reach higher knowledge and skills without delay. Get career and professional development. There is more flexibility and variety of planning in virtual education, and these days, most working or experienced people continue their education or take the required training courses.
8. Improving technical skills
You must improve your computer and internet skills to take online theory courses. Online training significantly increases people’s skills and prepares them more for work environments. In many universities, students must be trained to work with a learning management system (LMS) to attend a virtual class, interact with the course and professor and participate in projects with other students. All assignments are done online, and during this period, the student must learn things like sharing information, creating audio and video files, editing videos, recording videos, etc.
9. Overcoming physical limitations
Due to physical restrictions, some people in the society cannot attend the classrooms of traditional universities. Disabled people and people with physical and movement disabilities, people with particular diseases, and people who have to be under the constant supervision of a doctor or for whom traffic and crowded streets are deadly and toxic do not have to stop studying and university or learning new skills. One of the significant advantages of virtual and electronic education is to allow these community members to feel valuable and positive and to be able to increase their knowledge in their favorite fields and skill. Physically healthy people cannot go to university for several reasons, such as the disability of a family member, sitting behind the computer, and using online training very quickly. This training succeeded in providing the possibility of education for all sections of society and took a big step toward the realization of social justice.
10. More practical and updated
The last significant advantage of today’s new classrooms is to move away from academic and only theoretical training and toward practical, up-to-date, and society-required training. Here, we do not want to refer to the merits or necessity of educational activity. Still, we are talking about the fact that students can choose the courses, subjects, and classes they are most interested in and think will be suitable for the job market. Will get Online training to prepare a person to accept a job opportunity in the labor market. In this training, the technical skills needed by the trainee are taught, and dozens of exercises, practical projects, and simulations are done by the student. One of the reasons for the trend of large and prestigious global universities towards online education is the application of education.
Types of online training
The advantages of online education have been mentioned, but it is essential to note that online courses or classes are conducted differently. Most of the time, the teacher and student must use a learning management system (LMS). The professor uploads the lessons of each session on this system, and the student must receive these video, text, audio, and multimedia lessons. A time frame is specified for viewing and doing the exercises and assignments. All tests, activities, and projects are done on this LMS system. Even students can communicate with the professor or other students through this system and have video conferences, lectures, and live presentations. Sometimes in this system, the classroom is broadcast online for students, and periodically the offline files of the lessons are uploaded. Another method of online education is to provide all the classes in one place on the website of the university or educational institution. The student must receive the lessons of the entire course and view them in order. In the end, evaluation tests are held to determine the student’s status. In some online education systems, the student must be physically present in the classroom several times and get acquainted with the professor, other students, or a series of topics.
Are traditional classes more convenient or online courses?
The answer to this question is critical. Some people think online classes are more accessible, convenient, and require less effort, but there is no general principle. Some physical courses may be more complex than online classes. On the contrary, some virtual courses and training may be much heavier and more challenging to obtain their degrees than traditional classes. It all depends on the university, course, topics, tests, exercises, and projects defined for the student. In Iran, some universities consider more strictures for virtual course students to ensure they have the same quality as regular university students. Some other universities allow traditional and online students to study together, so there is no discrimination or disagreement between students.
The bottom line: Learning becomes more fun
Many experts and supporters of distance education or online and electronic education believe: “The main reason for the success of these courses is that the education is fun.” You can chat with others or participate in forums and comments in online training.
It is possible to display academic progress on social networks, and you have more interactive tools. Many young people of recent decades have liked this style of teaching and learning more than traditional classrooms and do not see education as a critical task. They want to be educated, have fun, and have more freedom.