Cracking The Impact Of Online Education: Student’s Perspective

Online education is not a recently developed trend. The internet was also earlier being put to use for expanding the horizons of knowledge. But after the pandemic did hit the world, the extent of its usage went crazily upwards. Previously, the online mode of learning was considered the last resort for the professionals who wished to pursue higher education apace their jobs or for those who couldn’t commute to their distant institutions. But in the past few years, it has become the only alternative for every student. After all, there are times when we have to bow to fate.

The total dependency on virtual modes of learning initially did present both students and teachers with some issues. Even so, students and teachers did adapt to this new-age learning which became a part of the new normal. But as the saying goes- ‘there are two sides of a coin,’ e-learning also has pros and cons. This article will throw light on the impacts of online education on a student’s life from different aspects.

 

Journey Alongside Online Education

When the lockdown was globally imposed, earning the daily bread became quite a biting a bullet kind of task for people. Yet, a lot changed along with that. The daily routine, social interactions, and study methodologies as well as patterns.

Students were provided with notes and assignments online either by mail or WhatsApp. Government accredited boards and committees such as UGC, CBSE, ACTIC, etc., formulated roadmaps so as to make further policies and execute the necessary measures accordingly.

Online education eased the hefts of maintaining records by way of storing every single piece of information on online tools. Not just that, it also shot up the availability of online courses and programmes. Thanks to e-platforms like Zoom, Google Teams, etc., which made it as easy as ABC to join classes from anywhere at your own comfort.

While these virtual platforms couldn’t provide the students with the precise feel of having on-campus discussions, enjoying and munching on food at the cafeteria, actively engaging in different activities, etc., it surely made them recite phrases like “my phone got hung.” In a nutshell, impish minds did find ways to continue their on-class fun in online classes as well.

On the other hand, some did fret about the chaos it created at times, which made the lecture nothing but just an attendance-focused period. On this note, it becomes inevitable to decode the contrasting impacts of online education.

 

Positive Impacts Of Online Education On Students

• Ease Of Accessibility: The most alluring part of utilizing the power of technology in the educational sector is that it has made accessing classes anytime, anywhere a duck soup. So even if you are pursuing a course from a foreign-based institution, you can easily access your class by sitting at a distance equal to seven seas.

 Online education must be credited for making accessing the study material  just a matter of clicks.

 

• Enthralling Learning Methods: This is an undeniable fact that a huge mass of teachers made themselves familiar with up-to-the-minute teaching tools so as to facilitate better learning. 

At the same time, there are teachers who go the whole nine yards in order to spellbind students by opting for more interactive and compelling methods of teaching. I was really touched by the amount of effort my teachers put in to help us throughout our studies. Believe it or not, their work is far more extravaganza than that of ours. And those efforts did pay off when students reaped maximum benefits by understanding and engaging actively.

 

Impact Of Online Education On Student’s Physical Health

• Vision-Related Problems: Online education demands students to scroll through the phone and laptop screens to access the notes and assessments most of the time. This added to the screen time of students who were already engrossed with Netflix, YouTube, and social media platforms.

 

• Improper Body Posture: Sitting or lying in improper positions for consecutive long hours has adverse effects on the body postures. It also affects the ligaments and tendons. This might not sound that serious, but its ill effects can hamper the body’s functionality to a greater extent.

 

 

• Obesity: Obviously, lack of proper exercise can give birth to severe diseases such as obesity, let alone the additional impacts of limiting your movement. As per research and studies, the younger generation is more prone to improper physical build-up because they are found much equipped with online platforms, be it for social interactions, studying, gaming, or entertaining themselves.

Impact Of Online Education On Student’s Mental Health

• Piled Up Anxiety: Students already had enough stress when the scenario around them left them being bystanders watching the numbers of Covid cases and deaths going up daily. Also, it became quite arduous to sit at home and cast around for ways to occupy oneself to divert the mind from the negativities.

Plus, the time frame before the autonomous bodies and educational institutions actually made their minds regarding whether or not exams would be conducted and how and when they’ll be conducted created chaos in students’ minds. Even study materials weren’t available for students because of the sudden alterations made to the syllabus and exam structure, whereas the datesheet already stated that exams are on the head. Such hassles create a sense of nervousness among students and parents as well.

 

• Tapered Interest: This is one of the worst impacts of online education. Without the proper environment, focusing on studies becomes quite a strenuous task. Consequently, taking an interest in it becomes a really arduous task.

 

Impact Of Online Education On Student’s Knowledge Development

• Lack Of Proper Environment: While one can get past several hurdles of learning with online learning modes, it stands behind in the race to provide a proper environment for the same. Students who don’t have access to the internet and other essential facilities face a lot of problems in managing their studies. Connectivity issues also create hurdles in the path even after having all the resources in place.

 

• Dwindled Productivity: Since online education has tampered with students’ schedules, productivity has been trimmed down. Much like in the offline mode, virtual classes also take place within a fixed time frame, but it was a duck soup to maintain a well-established routine instead of getting up just a few minutes before the class starts.

Also, the distractions enormously took upon the learning every now and then, making students procrastinate the task at hand.

 

What Can Be Done To Get Past The Negative Impacts Of Online Education?

Online platforms and tools are now being used more than ever since the covid outbreak. If it wasn’t for online education, only God knows if students could ever graduate or not in such times.

 

Undoubtedly it was the only option left with us, but now even when things are starting to get back on track, the role and impact of online education have become an inevitable part of our lives. Of course, online learning is inescapably going to be a part of the education system, but the effectiveness and efficiency of the offline learning modes can’t be overlooked.

Online education has changed the old perspective and served limitless sources on the plate to acquire knowledge. It has also reduced the dependency and surpassed the time restrictions, as a consequence of which one can now manage a plethora of activities alongside. It won’t be wrong to say that online and offline modes of education go hand-in-hand.

So while all we can do is to pray and hope for things to take a positive turn and manage time by keeping ourselves disciplined as we’re answerable to our inner self first for whatever we do, using the resources at hand to their full potential for good and all so as to garner benefits to the greatest extents lies in our own hands.