Amy Narquis
November 13, 2008
Distance Learning Education Project
To become a part of the distance learning education world, one must be responsible. Being responsible for your own time, your own work, and your own classroom management is the only way an online class may be successful. Both students and teachers must be dedicated to treating this like any other class and not get lazy about working as hard as possible to foster learning. There are numerous general pros and cons for distance education, however, online class success depends solely on the individual situation and effort.
Pros:
One of the biggest pro about Distance learning is that it is great for parents who cannot dedicate consistent hours. Whether single, married or working together, parents may not always be able to reserve specific times to attend class. Taking online classes would allow for these students to attend class after their kids are in bed, or while the kids are napping or watching a movie. This way, education is not just limited to those students readily available with no parental responsibilities.
Another pro may concern homebound, handicap or bed ridden students. Many individuals may have these problems that would prevent them from being physically able to attend class. Distance education is an opportunity for these individuals to earn degrees and take classes. It is simply an accommodation for their particular situation.
Distance education is great for students that need a class but cannot fit it into their schedule. I have taken online classes simply because the particular class interfered with other required classes I had that semester. This really helped me not fall behind in my college career.
Taking an online class required discipline. Distance education is a great way to develop independence and responsibility for one’s own education. To get something out of online classes, students must be responsible and stay on top of due dates, assignments, blogs and other such participation.
Although some students find no issues with their professors, others may believe that teachers can have grading bias and/or student preferences. Online classes would prevent teachers from having any such physical discrimination affect an individual’s grade.
Cons:
One major issue with online schools is that there is no guarantee it is the actual student doing the work. I’ve heard of numerous individuals having their work completed by a friend, spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, or whatever. This in no way benefits the individual attempting to attain the degree or class credits. It’s abusing the system and fostering laziness.
Along the lines of such plagiarisms, there is no guarantee the student actually learns anything in online classes. It is hard to determine the level of understanding when the student is simply submitting assignment papers based on a page of typed directions. Students and teachers need interaction to foster learning and to make sure all the information is properly taught and understood.
Individual students can vary when it comes to their ideal learning environment. Just as some can work well with music or the TV on, some cannot work without complete focus in silence. No doubt the internet is a distracting work environment. While writing a paper or reading for an online class, students could be tempted with myspace, facebook, instant message, solitaire or countless other distractions available online and on the computer. If a student does not have self control to dedicate time specifically and solely to the online class they could easily become distracted from their lesson.
Having an online class means that human contact/interaction is a rarity. I personally believe that interactions between teacher and student are critical in education.
The fact that technology has limitations is another downfall of the online education world. Computers can crash, internet connections can fail and accidents can happen without warning. This puts extra stress on the students and teachers and can ruin a positive outlook on a lesson, assignment or class.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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