Pros and Cons of Online Learning

Technology has taken many things to new soaring levels: medicine, long distance communication, and education, just to name a few. The internet has revolutionized the way we access, receive, and disseminate information to the point that we are able to earn degrees online in as little as a year. With these type of conveniences there are always opportunities for challenges. In-person classrooms provide the opportunity to network and connect with fellow students, engage in dialogue, and get your questions answered on the spot. Online classrooms have the potential of being static and leave room for passive learning. For the working professionals, online classes are convenient and offer a degree of flexibility that in-person classes don’t.

In the video titled “Teaching Presence in Online Learning,” the interviewee stated that it is key to utilize the basic forms of communication. Students will feel better informed and connected to the instructor if there is early and constant contact with a personal touch through announcements, emails, timely responses to questions and feedback. One word of caution that was shared was that instructors also need to beware of being too present as to avoid influencing the student’s learnings too much. The point is to have students formulate their own ideas and understanding while also learning from each other. The one concept that I found most significant is that as instructors we need to integrate variety to our virtual learning spaces. In the “Strategies to Promote Communication” reading and the “The Essentials of Supporting an Online Learning Community” YouTube video, we were provided ideas on how we can do this to ensure we break away from leading monotonous online classes. Varied content and assignments in an online platform will help keep students stay

I like the idea of developing teams so they can answer questions together, facilitate presentations with online programs such as Prezi, and have them critique each other’s work. I could see how this would make for a far better online learning experience than what I encountered. It is my hope that my students are able to learn from each other but, most importantly, I’m looking forward to what I could be learning from them. What I learned this week is that it’s my responsibility to create the learning community that will allow this to