15 Jun Advantages of Online and Digital Courses
Online and digital courses are perhaps now more relevant than ever given our new normal. We have been forced to isolate ourselves inside our homes for the last couple of years, and a major chunk of our lives have shifted online.
The traditional classroom has its own appeal. Many of us yearn to sit with our classmates again, take notes, and talk to teachers in real life. Well, nostalgia aside, online and digital courses are not all bad. In fact, they have plenty of advantages over real life classes.
- No more commuting
The hassle of commuting is real. It might sound utterly insignificant, but spending quite some time everyday simply to travel back and forth between your home and the institution is not only time-consuming but also expensive. The problem gets worse with increasing distance. Not to forget the dreadful crowd and how weather conditions often force us to miss classes.
Both teachers and students face none of these issues in online courses. All you need is an appropriate device and the internet. And there, you are good to go!
- Greater flexibility
Online and digital courses are more flexible than the traditional learning process. You can fit the lectures into your time schedule as you please.
- This is especially useful if the student is employed. They can strike a balance between their work life and learning. None of them needs to get hampered by the other.
- Online and digital courses are excellent options for homemakers. Managing an entire household and looking after kids is stressful. It is next to impossible to go to an actual institution in real life and take classes. Not only do homemakers have little time for his but also it is more expensive.
Now, they can learn from the comfort of their homes when convenient.
However, this has a predictable downside to it – one is at risk of becoming lazy and undisciplined. You might end up lagging behind, or abandoning your course altogether midway. Hence, stay alert and disciplined.
- Often, we want our teachers to revisit an older text or repeat something. This is easy with online courses. All one needs to do is refer to older recorded lectures. You never lose out on information.
- Money is less of an issue
There’s less to worry about when it comes to online courses in the context of finances.
- You might underestimate how much you spend when you attend classes in real life. But think about it, and you will soon realize that the expenses are numerous. Eating out and commuting daily amount to quite a lot. If you drive to the institution, there’s the cost of gas. If you are a homemaker, you need to hire someone to look after your children. All that is done away with when classes are held online.
- Many online or digital courses tend to be less expensive than their real-life counterparts. For instance, you can choose to opt for cheaper online language courses that might have cost a lot if you were forced to go to some institution and take lessons offline.
- Easy to connect with teachers
Not all of us are gregarious extroverts. Many feel too shy to ask questions in front of the entire class. When it comes to online and digital courses, you can simply mail your question to the teacher. You can also communicate every other issue you have to them without letting the entire class know.
The same is true for teachers as well. If they think they need to talk to students privately, it can be done easily. There’s no need to discuss anyone’s shortcomings in front of the entire class, or draw attention by calling them to their office.
- Connecting with people across the globe
The internet has broken down all physical and geographical barriers. You get to enjoy the same advantage in online classes.
It is possible that students from all across the world and different walks of life are in your class, attending the same course. Maybe your teacher is someone from the other side of the globe! It is possible to interact with each other through group chats and other mediums; you can directly interact with them through live webinars. In this manner, online courses greatly broaden your horizons.
Take advantage of this opportunity, and network with people. You might learn a thing or two from their journeys and jobs. For all you know, one of them might be your partner for your next major project!
- Learn at your own pace
Some learn fast while others are slower and steadier. You might have often felt like the class is too slow; conversely, you might have despaired over how fast everyone seems to be moving. One faces no such issue with online courses.
You decide how fast or slow you want to learn. You are not competing with anybody but yourself. Going through many lectures a day or reading the same material twice – you get to set your pace and work accordingly.
- Choose your teachers
Schools and universities decide who teaches you. When it comes to online and digital courses, you can choose your teachers. Online courses let you connect with famous experts and scholars, writers and artists, no matter where they live, or how out-of-reach they are.
Do you have a favorite professor? Or a renowned expert you’d love to interact with? If they are offering courses, you can choose them and get to fulfill your dreams.
You needn’t have a favorite. It is still a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be taught by them, and to get to interact with them.
- Live your dreams
It might sound vague and grand, but online courses and digital courses help many to fulfill their dreams.
- Many have certain niche hobbies they wish to learn more about, but fail to find an opportunity to do so. Many not enough people are not interested in it where they live; maybe there’s no demand at all.
People around you might not be interested, but surely many around the world are. You will very probably find an online course that caters to you.
- Technology is advancing at a rapid rate. It is hard to stay in touch and keep up with everything that’s new. You need to brush up your existing skills, and learn new ones to stay employable and employed. Online courses are a great way to do so. You can work on your skills while carrying on with your job, all at the same time.
Would this have been possible in offline classes? Probably if you tried very hard, but online classes make it terrifically easy.
- Most homemakers are women, and many of them were forced to give up on their hopes, dreams, and education for the sake of their family, marriage, and children. You love them, but you wish you had time for yourself too. Constantly thinking about what could have been is embittering and depressing.
Online courses and digital courses make life so much easier for such homemakers. Get back on track and take the courses you were always interested in. Be an active learner again.
And if it’s just a hobby? New skills you want to learn? That too is open to you.
This is not only useful but also empowering. Attending classes in real life would have meant finding someone to look after the house and kids; it would have been very time-consuming and exhausting too. Many issues are solved to a large extent by online classes.
The pastures are not completely green on the other side, for sure. But online courses and digital courses solve many issues, and provide a greater number of people with opportunities and access to learning. Learning is a never-ending process. It should never stop, and being an active learner is an excellent trait. Online courses and digital courses do just that by letting you learn whatever you want, whenever you want, from wherever you want.
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