Nowadays, more and more people tend to choose online-based learning rather than attend face-to-face classes, offering flexibility and accessibility for learning many study materials from internet. This essay will discuss both the benefits and drawbacks of this modern approach on education.
The primary benefit of online learning is that the flexibility to study in any condition. With the development of technologies such as the internet that we can use on our smartphone or laptop, we can access education anywhere and anytime we want. This also has a big impact in the way we gain material from our teachers, without going to school, we can provide ourselves a comfortable place in our own rooms, so we can study more enjoyable. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I learnt online and I decided to decorate my study room with some ornaments to enhance my mood and focus while studying. Another reason why online education has a good effect is that there are so many study materials we can access on the internet, like e-book, journal and other sources. The easier access to some e-learning sites can be helpful for students who are looking for some content. For instance, we do not to go to the library to find some books which sometime take a long time, so that our time can be maximized to something more important.
There is, however, an obvious disadvantage is that students tend to have more chances to cheat while they are taking an exam. Virtual-based exam means that there is no direct supervision from the teacher during the exam which leads to cheating. This habit can make students become less respect and knowledge about the subjects. For example, while I took an online exam, my friends and I prepared some notes that could be viewed during the test. This leads me to become lazier and makes it harder for me to understand the subjects I want to learn. A further major issue is that come from unprivileged families who can not provide their children a device for learning online. People who live in isolated places also have a big issue that the internet do not reach their places, it makes harder for them to access education and tend to prefer traditional method to study. For instance, I have some friends that come from poor families in isolated place, they have to ride for about 3 hours to the near city and borrow some devices from their close families there, just for accessing material from their teachers. Hence, the facilities required to support it should be improved by the government.
In conclusion, while the online education has many benefits in supporting students, I feel that there are still many problems that need to be solved.