Online Classes Advantages and Disadvantages: Covid 19 has brought drastic changes in everyone’s life. Closure of schools and colleges had made life challenging for the students. Did you know almost 1.5 million are closed due to lockdown? Online classes have brought new hope, new ways of learning for the children. It is an excellent alternative to regular classes or traditional classes. Closings of the schools have interrupted the academic year of the students. For the past 4-5 months, children feel normal as schools have managed to conduct online classes. Now, children are learning new ways of studying using different apps. But online courses are beneficial or not. You will get to know as you read further.
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Was It Essential for The Schools/Coaching Centers To Start Online Classes?
Pandemic was a difficult phase for all. Did you know almost 1.2 billion children are out of schools in this pandemic as the schools are closed? Covid 19 has forced the schools to think about different ways of reaching out to the children as their future is at stake. To date, there is nothing official as to how long the schools will be closed. To strengthen the children’s learning, online classes were the only option left with the educational institutes. On an unprecedented scale, online classes were the best way to make students come into continuity with their academics. Till now, the teachers of schools, colleges, and coaching centers are reaching out to students via the internet for classes. Students now know about their syllabus, their day-to-day teachings and are also giving exams. They are getting into the routine of taking classes and gaining knowledge about their curriculum. This education system is not that effective for younger kids, but as long as the schools are closed, there is no other option left for class five and above kids. Educational institutes must continue with e-learning until there is no announcement made by the educational governments.
How is the Whole Education System Affected, And What Are They Doing for The Kids?
The whole education system is affected by the closure of the schools. A sudden shift from classroom learning to e-learning has made children, and their parents think that this system will continue in the times to come. All those students coming from well-off families have managed to continue with their classes online. But, for students who are poor and cannot afford an internet connection, their future has come to shut down. The same way as the educational institutes have, in this phase of lockdown. But, they need not get disheartened as one such institute has announced free online classes for everyone.
It is BYJUS that has managed to provide a free learning experience to kids across India. After they announced free live classes, this app became one of India’s best edtech companies. After the announcement of free classes, there is a growth of students by almost 200%. Thus, there are institutes like this, who are genuinely thinking about children’s education and their future.
Advantages Of Online Classes
- Students will be aware of their academic syllabus: Students have become irregular with their studies due to the lockdown. Some don’t even know their course. With the help of online classes, they will understand what they need to study for the whole year. The parents of younger kids get a rough idea about their academic course to help their child in learning properly.
- Students get the chance to record the class: it is not always that everything becomes clear in a 45 minute or a 60-minute class. Thus, the students get an opportunity to record a class and share the content of the class with others and their parents and friends. They have access to the learning material, the class and can hear the recording at their convenience.
- Students will be regular and disciplined towards studies: the lockdown phase has put a complete stop. But, with the help of online classes, they are getting into the practice of regular studies. They need to attend the class as attendance is compulsory. Students have also been given a link that helps them join a particular class that allows them to be aware and concentrate on their studies. Homework is given by the teachers that help the student recollect what has been taught in the online class. Moreover, teachers are taking weekly tests online, which makes them understand what the child has understood.
- Online classes keep the child engaged: None of the children were regular with their studies during the lockdown. Online classes have made the students regular in their day-to-day courses. They are no more wasting their time playing video games, making mischief, and watching TV. Online classes have set a routine for the kids and keep them engaged for a few hours.
- There are fewer distractions during studies: When the child is in the class, they either keep playing with other friends or are engaged in making mischief. But, here in the online class, the child is attending the class alone, and there are lesser chances of the child getting distracted. They can concentrate better and hear what the teacher says and explains.
- Parents get aware of the child’s day-to-day learning: As the child is doing 3-5 classes every day, the parents are updated with what their children are learning. Parents may also look over their child’s study material. Parents feel more responsible towards studies as the child is learning everything through online classes. It becomes the responsibility of the parent to see whether the class is connected properly, to see whether their child has any queries regarding any question, course, or homework.
- Efficient and productive for the teacher and the student: through online teaching, the content can be shared with the students through PDF, images, and videos. The teachers find efficient ways to make the classes clear to the students. Making lesson plans using pdf and videos becomes easy. Apart from the textbooks, there are a plethora of options to study and understand the content.
Disadvantages Of Online Classes
- Network Issues And Connection Failure: One of the significant issues with online classes is more chances of network issues and interruption. Due to bad weather conditions, the connection can get lost, and the class can be interrupted. The data over, signal lost are two.
- Doubts are not very clear: Classes at school can be interesting as the teacher is right in front of you, like a one-to-one session. You can ask your doubts on the spot. But in an online class, if one child raises their hand, everyone does it for fun. Doubts are not very clear if everyone keeps asking one after the other by switching on their mike. This cannot be very pleasant for the teacher as well as the students.
- It brings a feeling of isolation: when studying alone, one feels as if they are in a state of isolation. Learning alone with a computer can be monotonous and can be a terrible experience. Regular classes at school are fun-filled as the teacher and friends are there in the class. Doing the online classes with parents or alone can be uninteresting.
- The chances of getting distracted are high: as the students are doing their online classes using the internet. They can get distracted by chatting with their friends while doing the class on whats app. Opening Social media accounts while doing online classes can distract the mind of children. There is a lack of continuity in learning for the child.
- Students cannot focus on the class: if they keep asking their doubts while the class is going on, other students get distracted and cannot concentrate on what the teacher is teaching. Students cannot focus on the class with full concentration if the class is for long hours. Sharing the screen with the children becomes irritating for the teacher as the children misuse it.
- The teacher cannot focus on each child: as the teacher is online, focusing on each student as they tend to switch off their screen. The teacher cannot see each child and has to scroll on the id of each child to solve their issues. This is a significant problem that teachers face while taking classes online.
- Eye-sight issues: doing online classes can lead to eye-sight problems as the child is in front of the computer for a long time. Each school or coaching class schedules three to five classes each day. Thus, staying in front of the screen can be harmful to the eyes.
- Not all students can afford internet access: this is one of the demerits of online classes that not all students of a school can afford an internet connection and a smartphone. According to a survey conducted by the government in 2019, only 24 % of the students in India have internet connections in their homes.
Conclusion on Online Classes Advantages and Disadvantages
COVID has affected everyone, those who are well-off and those who are barely earning their living. Pandemic has disrupted the education system too. It is the duty of the educational institutes to make everyone get the benefits of online classes. Face-to-face communication between students and teachers is not possible, seeing the condition of the lockdown. Thus, teachers need to find different ways to make the classes more interactive so that children can enjoy them and concentrate wholeheartedly.