Here is why On line Learning is the way to go....!

By Twin Philemon , Friday ,10th September 2021. 09:00 hrs E.A.T  

Just about two years ago, Online learning in Uganda was more perceived as a "luxury education" commonly associated with only scholars pursuing their masters degree & PhD's in the universities abroad.
To the rest of the us, our everyday mission was to make sure you are in class early enough before the lecturer arrives or at the very worst before the infamous roll-call goes.
Despite the rise of the internet in recent years, e-learning or online learning for the sake of this blog hasn't been well embraced due to many inherent restrictions leaving us with the need to attend physical classroom sessions.

On march 18th, 2020, all this would come to change as schools and universities were indefinitely closed, a preventive measure to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus that was spreading like wild fires across the globe and has of today claimed over 4.6 million fatalities.

As the hopes of the usual normal returning faded away, it was the time for the professor ( for the non- fans of the popular Netflix series Money heist, i meant it was time for Plan B ). Schools trained their staff and it was time for online classes _ a concept we never thought would happen...well at least not in our generation.

Online learning despite the lack of the physical face to face interaction with the teachers, it comes with the wide range of benefits on top of receiving the same quality education while still seated in the comfort of your home. In our blog today we explore some of these few key benefits.

  1.Flexibility
With the online learning , students can study at their convenience and at their own pace. A student can log into the school portal gain access to the study and learning material and the end of the session even do self review tests and complete assignments at anytime anywhere. 

 2. Cheap 
Despite the major limitation in our country being the cost of the internet, factoring in all the relevant costs such as the student accommodations, pick & drop transport charges and the rent fees paid for the school buildings, Online learning presents a cost effective method of delivering and receiving education. Over the years, many universities have offered same programs/courses cheaply to online students than on-campus scholars.

3. Better understanding
Many students actually find it easier to drop their questions in an online class rather than in a face-face lecture. Some platforms even come with the option anonymity which allows more freedom for the student to ask the question. This fosters more understanding of concepts. Recently in one of our Advanced financial reporting lessons, Anonymous x asked why we  debit Land. I can place a bet on this, i highly doubt he wouldn't have asked it boldly in a physical class without holding back.

4. Same quality better packaging
I argue that with either online or the traditional mode, the same quality of education received is the same , it is the same teachers after all but imagine your off days when you enter class and leave like you entered. With the online mode , you may now get to rewatch, pause and rewind that recorded lecture session that you didn't understand well with a blended in additional learning material & library all exclusive in the same platform.

5.Balanced education.
One of the major challenge in the education landscape has been the differing level of education standards received across the different schools and universities. With the online learning, this challenge can be easily solved by simply making content available for everyone . A case in point ,a certain excellent economics tutor can deliver conclusive lectures that can be in real-time or recorded and later be circulated as part of the learning materials to every student offering that course unit. This will bridge out the gap as students who wouldn't get an opportunity to learn from him, now they can. With the traditional mode, i don't even see how the option of bringing even just 1000 students into a theater hall for a lecture is would be  possible.

We can not exhaustively mention all the benefits that are associated with online learning in just a blog for example to my kindergarten & nursery friends, i forgot to mention that there are no canes from madam class teacher for shouting in class when attending the online class.

In my conclusion, as we adapt to the new format of studying, we need to note that it is not replacing the entire traditional mode though it may be a better mode, we still need to uphold the basic habits of studying and learning for instance the need to not multitask during class ,the need to take notes &summaries during sessions and well the need to discuss _finding a discussion group to revise and understand the different concepts better.

         Magnah Learn #Re-defining the future of education                                        THE END