Online Education Facilitates Better Learning

Findings of a recent research conducted by the United States Education Department has found that on average, students are performing better during online courses than during traditional instructional classes. This is a welcome note for many educational institutions that are now pursuing measures to go online. The findings of the study could very well serve as a proof and a further driving force that education should now be taught in non-conventional ways.

The same study also revealed that students are more likely to perform best during ‘blended’ courses, wherein the elements of traditional and online classes are combined to facilitate learning. This of course is also welcomed by educators, especially those who are already doing the combination. The study showed that blending of online and traditional classes could be beneficial to both students and teachers. To students, they might not need to go out on several days and instead take learning into their own pace. For teachers, online teaching saves time and efforts, but the effectiveness still remains.

In fact, other researches found that students are very much excited and enthusiastic about online classes. They tend to pay more attention and be more participative in class activities during online or virtual sessions. This could be because students are very much free and are able to relax at the comfort of home. They also enjoy the fact that learning is not confined to the classrooms. When they are online, they tend to multitask and do many other interesting activities like social networking and Internet surfing. This, however, is seen as a potential threat as there are too many distracting sites across the Web.

The findings of the study adhere to many colleges’ assertions that blended types of instructions in classes are more effective. According to numerous colleges and universities, those classes are gaining more popularity and are gaining fastest rates of growth in enrollment. Positive results of all studies are consistent all throughout different levels of higher education, whether graduate or undergraduate. Many academic subjects are also gearing towards blended classes, if not full online instructions.

Thus, it is just logical that online education is currently providing numerous opportunities. It is able to give people more opportunities and chances for experiential learning and flexibility, according to experts. This is important because most students are now aware that the best subjects and lessons are to be learned not within the confines of the classrooms. Internet classes help students make use of practical applications of lessons learned. This assertion should be a strong reason for colleges and universities to consider further utilizing of online education methods.

The success of online education could be pointed to an effective combination of factors, which include pedagogy, curriculum, and of course time spent on courses. This way, studies agree unanimously that online teaching could facilitate more expansion to learning than its traditional counter part, face-to-face mode of instructions. This must reinforce teachers’ need and action to incorporate into daily classes digital content and open-source teaching management systems.

Education is obviously continuously evolving. It is not surprising that in a matter of years more graduate and undergraduate courses would be taught and facilitated online. Doing so would be beneficial both to students and to instructors as well. The Internet has really become an important venue for education.