online education Essays - Educational Psychology, Distance Education

Today, in our modern world, the word ?innovation? is in use almost every day. It is always something new going on in every sphere of our life. The most important innovation in education of last century was online education. There are a lot of disputing abut advantages, and disadvantages of extend education, however there are three major strengths characterizing education on the web; flexibility, cost effectiveness, and privacy. The first strength and the major one, is flexibility, and easy access to learning. Whether you are in Asia, Europe, Africa, or anywhere else e-education will always be with you (the only thing you need is the internet). Mark Kassop, the author of the article ?Ten ways Online education Matches or Surpasses, Face ? to - Face learning?, notes: The height of this flexibility may be the well-publicized eArmyU.com program?. All students are on active duty, and they belong to military units throughout the world?. In a recent class of 25 students, the participants were located in Europe, Asia, The South pacific, Alaska, Hawaii, and all Kovaleva 2 four time zones in the continental united States.(360) Also student with families or jobs do not have enough time to attend school. In this case way web education might be the only one solution. ?The advantages of online learning,? emphasizes Kassop, ?include ample opportunities for students to pursue coursework at any time that fits into their busy lives? (360). The second advantage of web learning is cost effectiveness. In the most of the countries high education is not free. The average tuition fee is depends on country, but usually very high. Not a lot of people can afford a bachelor, or master degree. In many cases young people prefer to work after high school, than to apply for college. Alfred Bork in his article at ?The Well Crafted Argument? points out: In developing countries, learning often happens only on a very limited scale because these societies cannot afford learning with the methods currently employed. Even in developed countries, the cost of learning is becoming a problem. Current systems for learning cannot adequately grow to meet society?s needs. (341) Kovaleva 3 Online education is more affordable, than a traditional ?face to face? one. Students can save money, and still get high quality education without leaving their houses. The third advantage of leaning online is ?anonymity?. A lot of students at the traditional college system are ?hiding? their points of view: somebody is shy, somebody just do not want to share theirs opinion. The online education gives students around the world to share their experience, discuss problems, and simply chart without any F2F connection. It helps a lot of people to ?open? themselves, and to be social. Mark Kassop believes that: Many online students have indicated that this is the first time they have ever ?spoken up? in class and that they enjoy the opportunity? Many instructors have also observed that the relative ?anonymity? of online discussions helps create a level playing field for women, homosexuals, student with physical handicaps, and members of other potentially marginalized groups?.(358) Therefore we have three major advantage of web education, that helps student all around the world to have not only affordable, flexible education, but also an education that helps them to open their minds, and to be self-conscious.