Impact of Covid-19 on Education Sector: Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Learning

This report discusses the impact of Covid-19 on the education sector and the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. It covers topics such as flexibility, affordability, career advancement, social isolation, lack of self-motivation, lack of face to face communication, focus on theory, limited feedback, and self-evaluation.

ACADEMIC STUDY
SKILLS

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
TASK -1...........................................................................................................................................3
Advantages of online learning.....................................................................................................4
Disadvantages of online learning.................................................................................................6
TASK – 2.........................................................................................................................................7
Self- Evaluation...........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Covid-19 has impacted different aspects of the society on different levels. The pandemic had
major implications over the business sector, service sector, education sector, living and income
and spending levels of the individuals of the society. This report will precisely focus on the
impact that Covid-19 had over the education sector. Due to health and safety purposes of the
students studying in schools, colleges, universities, institutions, etc. the classes had to be held
virtually which obviously like every other thing has its own advantages as well as disadvantages.
This report discusses the pros and cons with understandable reasoning and examples
respectively.
MAIN BODY
TASK -1
Covid-19 can be stated as one of the biggest situations after World War 2 where
individuals and families around the whole world were facing major issues regarding the health
issues, safety issues, educational issues and many more problems (Schleicher., 2020). Each
problem had to be solved but everything happened in such a quick way that all the issues that the
people were facing could not taken care of collectively. Hence, it was a slow process. Also,
something like this was faced by the people of this generation for the first time and therefore
they were not able to take correct decisions without consuming much time.
One of the sectors that had the most major impacts of the pandemic over it was the
education sector. Individuals were not allowed to leave their houses due to the government
regulations which were for their own safety purposes (Burgess. and Sievertsen., 2020). Hence,
the students could also not leave the house and for a little while the education of the students was
harmed too until the concept of online learning was discovered. As no path through which the
pandemic could be over was visible to the world the people had to come up with ideas through

which the basic necessities and requirements of theirs would be fulfilled by being at their house
too.
Therefore, the concept of online learning was discovered. Through which the education
and learning procedures of the students were harmed no more, and they would be able to
continue their studies by being at home only (Dhawan., 2020). The educational organizations of
the world that were big and small, stepped into the online teaching world. Some people from
either of the groups, of students and teachers were happy with the concept and some were
disappointed and not in support too. But due to the regulations passed by the legislations of the
countries all over the world each one compulsorily had to obey the code of conduct. The online
learning has its pros and cons, which are further discussed in this report.
Advantages of online learning
 Flexibility – The online learning was obviously forced over students in the beginning but
most of the students got comfortable as it went on (Yuhanna. Alexander. and Kachik.,
2020). According to my perspective, the students felt more satisfied while studying in the
place they were comfortable in. online or virtual learning provides a facility to learn from
anywhere without going to a particular campus on daily basis. It was a major shift for
sure but students started appreciating it in a long run, as it was much easier and less
hectic than going to physical classes regularly. The major reason due to which the
students were interested in online or virtual learning at hat time and now also is that
seizing education for each and everyone has become much easier due to virtual classes,
also the quality of education is unhindered and even working professional are able to
expand their knowledge through this. For example, due to virtual classes if the student is
not living in the area where the university or institution of education is present still the
student can learn and also if the student who is learning is a working professional then
some major educational institutions of the world provide the best quality education
through online classes which can be seized from anywhere and everywhere.
 Affordability – One of the major aspects due to which the students are inclined towards
the online courses or learning programs is because they are cost-efficient (Mukhtar. and
et.al., 2020). In the online courses there is a vast range which one can choose from but as
there are many options in the curses there are also a variety of price ranges. An individual
or student can choose an online program which will help them professionally and also fit

well in their budgets. Now, some people might argue that this is also possible in offline
courses. Yes, of-course there are many universities that provide with a number of courses
to their students in physical classes. But by opting for online or virtual courses a student
will save the living, shifting, commuting or other costs that he or she might have to bear
if they would opt for physical learning or offline courses. Also, many institutions provide
the online courses at lower costs because of low maintenance and other expenses that the
university does not have to bear. For example, if a student wants to opt for an offline
course in the University of Oxford but lives in Scotland then the costs he has to bear to
move, live and study in Oxford will be expensive. Whereas on the other hand if he opts
for an online course from the same university all of these expenses will not be applied
and the quality of education will also remain the same.
 Career advancement – For the purpose of career growth and development, only learning
from teachers and books is not essential, rather practical training is also very necessary
(Hiranrithikorn., 2019). And online learning allows an individual to do so. As online
courses can be flexible and need not much of effort for the activities like commuting, etc.
The individual can also do internships or jobs to improvise their resume for future
opportunities, help themselves and their families with extra expenses without giving up
on their education. Also, the professional who are already working and desire to get
promotion and appraisal in their own company or get a better job opportunity or even to
enhance their knowledge in the field they are working in already can opt for the courses
that can be completed according to their own preferences. It gets easier to balance one's
job and the education they are pursuing if it is being pursued online. For example, if a
person who is working for 9 hours everyday in a corporate job and wants to a hike in
salary and also get promoted and has a bachelors degree can opt for an online or distance
master's course from renowned universities of the world from the comfort of his home at
any time that is perfect for him.
 Avoiding commutation – Commutation basically refers to moving or shifting from one
place to another precisely for the purposes of either job or educational qualification
(Mirkholikovna., 2020). Due to online classes and courses that are available at present a
student does not have to compulsorily move to a different city of country for the purpose
of acquiring education only. The online courses from accredited educational institutions

of the world allow to choose from a wide range of courses and also one does not have to
relocate to a different place without any hindrance in the quality of education. For
example, if a student who lives in France wants to opt for a course from a renowned
university in UK, then he can do so without moving to UK by opting for the online
classes.
Disadvantages of online learning
Social isolation: As everything the online learning has its advantages but also comes with
disadvantages. One of the major disadvantage of online learning or virtual learning is that the
students are not open to social environment. Which means due to online educational learning the
students are more inclined towards their personal space and it has become a habit for some
people now. In the case of offline classes the students were in an environment where there were
other students too, and they were able to socialize and build their social circle. Due to two major
hits together one the isolation due to pandemic and then isolation due to the online classes the
students were forced to socially isolate at that point of time due to the situation, but then they got
habitual to it.
Lack of self-motivation: online learning requires self-motivation and good time management
skills. Lack of self-motivation is one of the primary cause of students so they fail to complete the
online courses. In the offline classroom there are many factors which continuous push students to
achieve their learning goals. Peer to peer activity, stick schedules and face to face
communication with the teachers work in unison and motivate them to studies. Students taking
online learning courses to learn hard material in comfortable home setting they feel that there is
no added pressure as compare to traditional colleges. So, keeping up with the deadlines during
the online learning can become difficult for students who not self- motivated and not having
good time management skills. So, building self- motivation and strong rime management skills is
very important to get success in career. Communication gab is also arriving between the students
and also between the teachers and students (Dumford, and Miller., 2018).
Lack of face to face communication: the main disadvantage of online learning is lack of
communication that is face to face students not interact with each other and also with their
teachers. Lack of communication with the teacher prevents students’ feedback, cause learners
feel lack of pressure and could cause social isolation. Lack of pressure is another disadvantage of

the online learning, because students feel no pressure so they not work in the proper manner. Not
study in the effective manner which may result in lack of knowledge. Without the qualification
students cannot get good jobs and not succussed in their career. Constant pushing by the
instructors may be unwanted for many, but then again it can be effective approach for improving
the learner retention. Due to lack of communication, there are many problems face by both
students as well teachers. As seen in many cases what teacher want to convey and how students
get that is totally different. In traditional learning, if student have any doubt they can easily ask
from the teacher and by the face expression teacher also interpreted that the students are
understanding or not.
Online learning is more focus on theory: Another drawback of online learning is this because e
learning fixed more innovative online platforms, issue has disappeared completely. The main
issue is that the online learning provides and develop theoretical knowledge, relatively than the
practical skills. Theoretical lecture is measured easier as compare to online learning
environment. Without physical classrooms that is use as workshop and face to face interaction,
applying practical project in an e- learning courses required more planning and recourses as
compare to theoretical training. In today world there is more equally importance of practical
knowledge as theoretical. Both are important for student success and growth. Lack of hands on
knowledge, for example learning biology or math online will be easy, whereas learning things
such as dental work, carpentry or even pottery and medical examination might be difficult
because of hands on workings.
Feedback is limited: In online learning student feedback is limited, in the traditional approach
teacher give feedback immediate as face to face. Students who have problems they can solve
problem quickly as compare to online learning. Personalized feedback has an positive impact on
the learners, thus it create learning process more easier, more significant and richer, all factors
raising motivation level of students (Urokova, 2020). And online learning required technical
equipment, for online class student need good internet connection to take classes. Then they need
tablet and laptop to do their assignments. Online learning also affects the income of the parents.

TASK – 2
Self- Evaluation
Online learning is a process of education that can only takes place over internet. Online
learning can be called as distance learning. The main purpose of online learning is to make
students more independent learners (Gonzalez, and St. Louis., 2018). From the above research
about the online learning, I learn the concept of online learning and also understand the
advantages and disadvantages of online learning on both teachers as well as students. From the
study I learn importance of online learning. As it offers good control to the users by use of
minimal infrastructure, and the users can personalise their learning times. This makes sure that
learners to take up new things and new courses, and can learn from anywhere and at any time.
Online learning offers more flexibility to the users. I enjoy various things about the project such
is it is very good topic to study and research. From this study I learn the actually review of the
people and what they want. Many people are wanting tradition approach of learning whereas
there are also people who want online learning. I face problem during the study because the
opinion of people is very different from each other. So it create confusion that what people
actually want, because human behaviours is different from each other.
During Covid – 19 people are not allowed to more from their houses, so it affect the
education sector also. At that time government are not allowing individuals to leave their houses
so at that time the concept of online learning was exposed. Online learning its positive and
negative points. Online learning provides flexibility, as student are satisfying with studying in
their comfortable zone (Gonzalez-Ramirez, and et.al 2021). Thus, online learning give assess
from anywhere, anytime so students are like this. But from this student are not want to attend
physical classes regularly, which may give negative impact. This is because in online learning
teacher are only focuses on theoretical knowledge rather than the practical. Online learning also
helps people who do their internship and jobs, as they can join their classes after their work done.
One of the major disadvantages I found in research is social isolation, students are not to
environment. So, for this teacher can increase interaction between students online, using blend
learning environments. There is another disadvantage of online learning is lack of motivation and
bad time management skills. In physical classroom there are many factors which motivate
students towards study while in the online teaching mode there is no such factor. If the student

has self- motivation, then it’s good for them, but if the student is not self-motivated then it will
give negative impact on their growth.
Lack of communication is also given great impact on development. Due to online there is
no pear to pear activities so for this they can use discussion boards, chartrooms and video charts
which help to deal with the negative impact that is communication gap. From this I learn that
online mode is also beneficial for people who not attend the physical classes due to their personal
reasons. There are many courses are available to skilled up and for enhance knowledge. For
example, if student lives away from the university, then they can opt online classes so it saves
their time as well as money. Online mode needs some investment such as laptop, internet
connection etc. but these are the essential for living now a days. So, it requires small investment
and less expensive as compare to the offline or traditional classes. Online help student to learn
new things in different manner (Albrahim., 2020). So, by online learning students get two
important advantage such as they attend both their class and their job or internship and save time
and money as well. By their internship and job, they learn new skills and acquire knowledge
which not help them in earning money but also build good CV as well. Due to covid every
industry affected so this sector is also affected but through online students are easily attend their
class. Due to covid -19 the schools and colleges are closed more than one year so, online
learning or classes is very helpful. Moreover, students also give their exam online so, it can be
said that online learning save the one year of every student.
For improving my research skills, I should learn how to identify quality source. As there are
many sources and its not that every source is reliable, so it is very important to identify good
sources. For determining good and reliable source I will need to use my critical thinking and
analytical skills. I have to focus on these skills to identify reliable source. The internet is also
help to me to collect information. Research is a very big task so it can be crushing to know about
where to start. Online resources like Wikipedia and google, while both are not always accurate,
as such platform just give the basic overview of the research topic with a key points and brief
history (Hoi., Sahoo, Lu, and Zhao., 2021). I also work on systematically record and manage my
references. There are many ways to manage my reference in more systematically, so such things
are important when I working on research projects. By the advice of the experts, I also learn new
things and improve my skills and knowledge.

CONCLUSION
This report precisely focuses on the impacts that Covid-19 had on the different sectors of the
world. Majorly the report discusses the impact that the pandemic had over the educational sector,
which was one of the major sector that was affected during the past years. The report also
discusses the advantages of the online course or mode of learning in brief, that are, flexibility for
the students, affordable courses in comparison to the offline ones, advancement of career and
commutation avoidance. Also, the disadvantages of online learning are discussed above in brief.
These advantages and disadvantages are presented with the examples and understandable and
logical reasoning.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Albrahim, F.A., 2020. Online teaching skills and competencies. Turkish Online Journal of
Educational Technology-TOJET. 19(1). pp.9-20.
Burgess, S. and Sievertsen, H.H., 2020. Schools, skills, and learning: The impact of COVID-19
on education. VoxEu. Org, 1(2).
Dhawan, S., 2020. Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of
educational technology systems. 49(1). pp.5-22.
Dumford, A.D. and Miller, A.L., 2018. Online learning in higher education: exploring
advantages and disadvantages for engagement. Journal of Computing in Higher
Education. 30(3). pp.452-465.
Gonzalez, D. and St. Louis, R., 2018. Online learning. The TESOL encyclopedia of English
language teaching. pp.1-6.
Gonzalez-Ramirez, J., and et.al 2021. Emergency online learning: college students' perceptions
during the COVID-19 pandemic. College Student Journal. 55(1). pp.29-46.
Hiranrithikorn, P., 2019, October. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE
LEARNING. In International Academic Multidisciplinary research conference in Berlin
2019 (pp. 14-17).
Hoi, S.C., Sahoo, D., Lu, J. and Zhao, P., 2021. Online learning: A comprehensive
survey. Neurocomputing. 459. pp.249-289.
Mirkholikovna, D.K., 2020. Advantages and disadvantages of distance learning. Наука и
образование сегодня. (7 (54)). pp.70-72.
Mukhtar, K. and et.al., 2020. Advantages, Limitations and Recommendations for online learning
during COVID-19 pandemic era. Pakistan journal of medical sciences, 36(COVID19-
S4), p.S27.
Schleicher, A., 2020. The Impact of COVID-19 on Education: Insights from" Education at a
Glance 2020". OECD Publishing.
Simamora, R.M., 2020. The Challenges of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: An
essay analysis of performing arts education students. Studies in Learning and
Teaching. 1(2). pp.86-103.
Urokova, S.B., 2020. Advantages and disadvantages of online education. ISJ Theoretical &
Applied Science. 9(89). pp.34-37.
Yuhanna, I., Alexander, A. and Kachik, A., 2020. Advantages and disadvantages of Online
Learning. Journal Educational Verkenning. 1(2). pp.13-19.

Appendix
CV
Profile
I’m very honest and reliable person, I enjoy challenges. I love working in teams and also
achieving my best potential in every task am given.
Well-mannered, and I have the ability to interact with people of all ages and backgrounds. I am a
confident individual who strives to make others feel welcome.
Education
Brick laying and building houses in slovakia. 2001
Primary and secondary education (1992-1999)
Skola mechanic college kosice 1999-2000
Employment History
Direct staff- Mark and label containers, container tags, or products, using marking tools. 2)
Measure, weigh, and count products and materials. 3) Examine and inspect containers, materials,
and products in order to ensure that packing specifications are met. 2008-2016
725 Ltd - Operate balers to compress recyclable materials into bundles or bales. ... Operate
processing equipment, such as fiber-sorters and grinders, to sort, crush, or
grind recyclable materials. Cut discarded products, such as appliances and automobiles, into
small pieces using saws, blow torches, or other hand or power tools 2018-2018
Monitor Ltd - Cleaning, stocking and supplying designated facility areas (dusting, sweeping,
vacuuming, mopping, cleaning ceiling vents, restroom cleaning.Performing and documenting
routine inspection and maintenance activities.Carry out heavy cleaning tasks and special projects
2016-2019
Skills
 Teamwork
 Problem-solving
 Organisation
 Time management

 Critical thinking
 Active listening
 Flexibility
 Communication
 Adaptability