Online Education — The Perfect Alternative

From a student’s point of view, the avai­la­bi­lity of online educa­tion has taken half the effort out of fulfil­ling educa­tional goals. Online educa­tion, or distance lear­ning, provides all the core mate­rial that is normally presented in a class­room setting, embraces online teaching, accom­mo­dates student and teacher commu­ni­ca­tion through email, web pages or chat rooms, and allows students to turn in written assign­ments, take quizzes and submit tests. All of this can take place without ever ente­ring a class­room but rather by employing the use of online colla­bo­ra­tion soft­ware.

The Versatility of Online Education Studies

Known also as e‑learning, online educa­tion is available at almost any grade level, from grammar school to graduate studies. It is adap­table to almost every disci­pline, cove­ring core subjects like science, history and mathe­ma­tics as well as specialty areas like medical billing, midwi­fery, and taxi­dermy. It is offered by an array of distance educa­tion insti­tu­tions from public schools and colleges to private trai­ning insti­tutes and tech­nical schools and its range is conti­nuing to grow.

There are a range of presen­ta­tion tools and online colla­bo­ra­tion solu­tions that have enabled the growth of online educa­tion. Web confe­ren­cing services allow large groups of people to share desktop content live over the Web for others to see from their own computer screen anywhere around the world. The use of such remote desktop and online presen­ta­tion soft­ware is a core factor to online education.

Education Online Offers Tremendous Savings

The savings realized through pursuing an educa­tion online are mind-bogg­ling and affect every conceivable area for both the insti­tu­tion and student. Students save gas, car expenses, travel time, parking expenses, baby­sit­ting costs, clot­hing expenses, lost wages due to time taken away from gainful employ­ment, and more. Students are no longer limited to educa­tional choices within a reasonable trave­ling distance but can take advan­tage of oppor­tu­ni­ties on the other side of the country, if desired. Online lear­ning opens up a whole new realm of possi­bi­lity and oppor­tu­nity. Insti­tu­tions stand to save substan­ti­ally as well. The expense in opera­ting a school without walls is greatly reduced. In fact, there almost needn’t be any school at all. Compa­nies are able to benefit from online educa­tion as well by hosting online trai­ning sessions for employees.

Again, the list of costs deferred is prac­ti­cally endless, parti­cu­larly in areas of struc­tural upkeep and main­ten­ance, utili­ties, support staff, main­tai­ning acces­si­bi­lity, and campus expansion.

Still More Benefits of Online Education

Distance lear­ning is essen­ti­ally self-directed educa­tion. Because of its unique setting and format, students can learn at their own pace, neither held back nor pushed ahead prema­tu­rely by fellow students. This provides for comple­tion of courses in less time, or if needed, allows students extra time for deeper emphasis in specific areas of weakness.

Online educa­tion places added respon­si­bi­lity on the student to disci­pline himself to pursue his studies even when his atten­dance is not required in class. If the pupil is serious about the pursuit of educa­tional advance­ment and is willing to exer­cise the disci­pline required for self-directed lear­ning he is more likely to attend the webinar. This makes online educa­tion the perfect alter­na­tive and allows needed time for employ­ment respon­si­bi­li­ties as well as other concerns of ever­yday life.