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HEADS IN THE CLOUD : PROS AND CONS OF ONLINE LEARNING. - Coggle Diagram
HEADS IN THE CLOUD : PROS AND CONS OF ONLINE LEARNING.
Meaning and concept of e-learning.
E-learning practices require complex evaluation before they can be implemented in the process of teaching and learning.
Educational technologies should always be made with increased awareness for the full range of conditions of each learning situation in question.
Learner's Point of View
Advantages
Learning enhanced by online technologies follows the principle of "anywhere" and "anytime".
Students can choose when to attend to a particular study unit and can usually personalize their learning schedule to a large extent.
Teachers can set up general guidelines and deadlines to be followed.
Can exploit the opportunity to easily share information and collaborate on a range of topics and projects.
The almost unrestricted access to information, knowledge and learning.
Increase student self-confidence.
Enhancing student digital intelligence and IT competencies in general.
Digital materials can be stored and shared among a learning community.
Enhancing student collaboration.
Digital study materials do not take up almost any space when compared to traditional paper-based materials.
Text-based online communication (chats, forums, etc.) may help overcome shyness and initial awkwardness of the exchange.
Disadvantages
Cause negative resentments with students who lack sufficient motivation and the ability to organize workload and learn independently.
The issue of communication and information overload.
Lack of sufficient knowledge and skills to use these technologies efficiently in order to enhance their study experiences.
Raises some health-related issues connected predominantly to spend long periods of time working with computers.
Considerable imbalance among students as far as material equipment and Internet connectivity is concerned.
Become the reason for decreased productivity and worse study results.
Teacher's Point of View
Advantages
Foster communication among all course participants.
Allow for outside participants to join the education process at a specifically allotted time.
Students are provided with the chance to interact with field experts, teachers from other institutions, successful practitioners and others.
Variety of online tools.
The possibility to show examples and document processes.
For teachers' own professional growth and development.
Provide great help for teachers in the process of setting up their instruction modules.
Variety of freely-available, sophisticated online tools can now be used to create study materials.
Disadvantages
Insufficients teacher knowledge and skills to use education technologies present anothe major obstacle for successful e-learning implementation.
The rather difficult and time-consuming process of preparing a quality study module, which would not only include texts and other materials, but would also allow for practice and real-life application opportunities.
Aggravated if a particular course is attended by a huge number of students with an inadequate number of teachers.
The unavoidable reliance on technology infrastructure, foregrounding the episodes of technical breakdowns and similar occurrences.
Hinder learning.
Conclusion
The issue of pros and cons of online technologies in education is quite complex.
It might be prudent to retain a cautious attitude towards various new, emerging solutions and allow enough time to evaluate their possible costs and benefits.
Always advisable to consider the main purpose of implementing any technological solutions and the enhancements it should mean for the learning situation.
Best to adopt a broad, open-minded view of education technology implementation.