Online learning is also referred to as e-learning, mobile learning, virtual learning or online education. You can simply put that online learning is the education that takes place over the internet.
When it comes to offline learning, learners are meant to travel to a location for their classes this could be a lecture hall or a classroom and it can also be a distant location.
From my observation most schools in Nigeria could not run online classes conveniently when the students were at home. It was only the strong private schools that were able to sustain their operations through online learning.
Most schools (private and public) in Nigeria were not able to run online classes effectively and that is because it is not something they have been used to and they were not prepared to run online classes fully.
During the pandemic, STEAM club also had to switch to online learning as what we have been used to is training our students offline. It’s was during this period that we saw and knew the importance of online education and that is what has birthed our STEAM Online learning
In this post, I will be discussing about some benefits of online learning and why it should be adopted in Nigeria.
Benefits of Online Education
Any location can be used
One of the advantages of online learning is that it can be done in any location. Students can attend online classes even when they are on the road. They might be in a car an logon to their classes online.
Students can also be outside the country and still attend online classes. For years, people have been used to offline classes whereby they need to get to school before learning can take place but that mentality is changing already.
Supports social distancing
Children are very playful by nature and love to associate with each other. With this nature of theirs, it will not be so easy to maintain social distancing within children which is why online learning is a good alternative.
Students do not need to come together physically for online learning as they can all come together online. They will be able to learn and interact with each other via different online platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet.
Self paced learning
One of the benefits of online learning is that students can learn at their own pace. That means the can finish the whole sylabuss as fast as they can.
Some students learn faster than the others but that does not really matter because everyone can learn at their own pace. Some students could finish a 3 month course within a month while some students will use 2 months and some other students can use 3 months to finish the course.
What matters is that the students are able to complete their courses. Some online platform also allow courses to be divided into weeks so that students can access topics as it has been arrange
Saves time
From my experience, I can say that online classes saves more time because you do not need to stay in traffic before you get to class. All you need to join a class is to sit in front of a computer system with internet connection and then connect to the online class.
Online classes saves a lot of time
Lesser logistics
Most schools are able to save more since switching to online education. The logistics needed for online education is lesser than that of offline education. There’s no need for chairs and table, no need for school bus, lesser use of school facilities.
Lesser distraction
Some students find it hard to concentrate when they are in school and this could be due to some reasons such as noise makers in the class, playing or talking with friends during class period or just distracted by other student’s activities.
I’m not saying there would not be distractions during online classes but it is minimal and also a function of internal factors rather than external factors.
Flexible timing
Online education allows flexible timing as classes could be held any day during the week. classes could also hold during weekend.
Prerecorded classes seems to be the most flexible of all classes as it can be accessed anytime of the day and it can be watched repeatedly. Prerecorded classes seems to have more benefits than live classes, which is why our STEAM classes are prerecorded so that it can be accessed anytime of the day and also allows students to watch the classes repeatedly.
Encourages research
It is easier to do research online because there are a lot of resources available and the materials can be easily accessed.
This gives room for students to do research while learning since they are online and can search for more information about the topics they are treating.
Unlike the classes held offline, you are mostly limited to resources you have available in class to make your research. So, online classes have an upper edge when it comes to carrying out research.
Opportunity to learn different courses
There are several free courses available to students online asides the paid courses they have access to. It will also surprise you that some of these free courses are very valuable.
The internets allow students to learn other courses related to what they are studying already and you can study all these courses within same period of time.
Reduced cost
Generally, online education offers reduced cost of education to the school and also the parents. It saves you a lot of time and gives more for learning a lot of things.
You can do your assessment also if your child has done both offline and online education to see which is more cost effective. You will notice that the online education is more cost effective.
Conclusion
Both offline and online education have their pros and cons but the effort the students put in also matters.
I also believe both offline and online education can be combined so as the get the best learning result. Live classes and prerecorded classes should also be used as these combinations re what brings about the desired result.
You can also share your thoughts on what you think about offline and online education in Nigeria.
