Opinions are divided on whether the popularisation of online learning is a positive development or not.It is observed that online learning today operates as a highly beneficial learning approach, with educational balance and flexible accessibility. Although this turn offers several positives, I still believe it is a negative development due to the reduction of the face-off interaction and the unsuitability for certain fields.
The widespread growth of online learning can be attributed to several reasons.The first one is that it enhances access for underserved populations.Admittedly, conventional learning is quite expensive nowadays because it involves numerous expenses and frequently concentrates in developed cities, making it more accessible to high-income families. Therefore, the emergence of online platforms strike an educational balance between the privileged and the underprivileged. It creates opportunities for low-income or mountainous students to gain not only general education, but also specialized academic curriculum after graduation.For instance, online learning brings practical benefits to students who are pursuing international certificates such as IELTS, TOEIC or TOEFL. Before online learning became popular, learners had to attend in-person classes with huge expenses for tuition and learning materials which were affordable only for high-income families. However, now thanks to the popularisation of online platforms, students can all access high-quality content and join in professional classes at their own pace and on their own schedule.In addition, learners prefer online learning to the traditional one because of the expansion of academic circles.To define, this concept refers to the removal of geographical barriers and the flexible approachability to educational programmes. This means learners can obtain a wide range of research resources and experts around the world due to global academic communities and online applications instead of paper textbooks or libraries.
I am strongly convinced that it would be a stretch to commend that online learning is a fully fledged learning approach. Moreover, these minor advantages of online learning can easily be eroded by external factors.First of all, online learning is ill-suited to subjects requiring hands-on, especially science subjects such as Physics, Biology and Chemistry or laboratory experiments.Those subjects all need highly physical interactiveness, while online learning just provides visual aspects by observing and rewatching recorded lectures. The reasons for which are the high-priced specialized equipment and the danger of chemicals being used in laboratories.There is no doubt that learning highly practical subjects through observation without realistic practice is definitely inefficient and lacks motivation. To become masters in those fields, students should practice as much as possible to gain useful feedback instantly from their tutors and maintain consistency throughout the period.Another notable demerit is that online learning leads to the erosion of interpersonal academic skills.This is the result of the limitation of face-to-face interactiveness. In-person classes allow students to debate, contribute their points of view and perspectives, after that they can receive teachers’ comments immediately, which many educators regard as essential for developing communication and critical-thinking skills.
In conclusion, the globalization of online learning brings two notable advantages, namely the accessibility for underprivileged populations and the expansion of academic circles, while the negatives to this trend are much more serious, including the unsuitability of highly practical subjects or lab work and erosion of academic communication skills.