Online Education Report: Exploring Trends, Challenges, and Benefits

This report provides a comprehensive overview of online education, exploring its various forms, including distance learning and e-learning. It highlights the importance of online education in reducing costs, providing flexible access to resources, and personalizing learning experiences. The report discusses the social impact of online education, emphasizing its convenience and the opportunities for collaborative study. However, it also acknowledges the challenges, such as the need for teachers to adapt to new technologies and the importance of student self-discipline. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for quality online education and provides recommendations for fostering effective learning environments. It references several studies that support the claims made in the report, including the impact of technology on self-directed learning and the influence of social media on student learning.

Running head: E-LEARNING
E-LEARNING
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
What is online education?......................................................................................................3
Importance of online education..............................................................................................4
Social impact of online education..........................................................................................5
Challenges of online education in current era of times..........................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
With advancements in technologies and changing lifestyles, learning in physical
classrooms does not interest the present generation. Students of this generation are interested
in online learning. The era of Internet has brought in this transformation of choice. Internet
has been the medium of online education. Governments are investing in the communication
technology especially in case of higher education thereby creating the required potential for
online education mainly in the private institutions of education. Many of the private
educational institutions are persuading their teaching staffs to make uses of the
communication technology in the learning activities (Rashid & Asghar, 2016). Online
education is becoming a trend in the private educational institutions as learning activities are
being given via the medium of online web applications for example Edmodo, Moodles and
other such similar applications. Students prefer this learning methodology where traditional
classrooms are no more required and they can stay in contact with their mentors or teachers
for all kind of learning activities. Online education gives the scope of submitting assignments
online and it has emerged as a new form of education. It is termed to be as flexible education
owing to the numerous advantages that it provides. There surely is some dark side of this new
mode of education but the positive aspects make up for the negative ones. This report will be
discussing on emerging mode of education considering the negative as well as the positive
aspects.
Discussion
Online Education
Online education has many different forms for example distance learning, networked
learning and E-learning. As per the research done by Balakrishnan & Gan, (2016) online
learning deals with the instructional environment and the internet supports this environment.

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Online education can be fully online or it can also be combined with direct face to face
discussions and interactions. As per the studies E-learning is the type of learning that includes
a web-based element and enables collaboration with required access to the content of the
subjects. The students can access the contents anytime and anywhere. Online system of
education is considered as the approach that makes use of the internet technologies to bring in
communication and collaboration in a certain educational context. The theories and practices
related to distance education still have to face the assumptions and the challenges that were
defined back in the 20th century. Online education is not dependent on the structural
constraints that act as hindrances to the physical system of education. As per the research of
Sun & Chen, (2016) education based on online research is getting popular because of its
potential for providing flexible access to the contents and instructions by favoring those who
cannot attend the traditional classroom classes. Online education provides assembling as well
as disseminating the instructional contents in a more efficient manner.
Importance of online education
The importance of online education can be felt in the ways it is transforming the
education system. The online system of education reduces the cost that is required in
providing access to standard resources of education and associated experiences especially
benefitting those students who live in the remote areas. This system is also of great help in
those situations where problems such as enrolment of less number of students pop up in case
of the traditional model of school. Students at times cannot afford the high costs of traditional
education and in this scenario online education is of great help (Martínez & Duță, 2015).
These students get engaged in active learning with the instructional materials and can easily
access numerous resources that in turn facilitate adopting of research-based principles. The
online platform is made use of in personalizing and differentiating instructions based on the
performance of the students by analyzing the assessments and related stride of learning. This

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is effective in improvising the efficiency of the students in their journey of learning
progression. Lessons prepared on the basis of individual interest motivate the students and
they remain engaged in their work. Personalizing the education system will provide better
learning results than before. Online education makes better use of the time of lecturers as well
as the students. The online mode of education is economical as it gives the facility of reusing
the materials and involves distribution of the resources on a larger scale.
Social impact of online education
Living in an era where everything around is making use of technology, online
education is one such application of the advanced technology. Social impact of online
education has been huge. Online courses can be taken from anywhere and the students are not
required to follow timetable such as getting up early and getting ready for school as the
online course can be completed as per the time of the student. Online education can be
availed from the comfort of home and they are not required to go to attend any classroom
courses. The negative impact of the online system of education is that students are deprived
of face to face interaction with their lecturers. As per the research done by Broadbent &
Poon, (2015) when a student cannot communicate with his professor then he is deprived of
the opportunity of gaining significant help from the professor when it is required. In face to
face interactions there develops better understanding in between the professors and the
students. Even online education comes with deadlines and it is the self discipline of the
student to be sincere in taking the classes regularly. Online education is a good platform for
cooperative study as many students join the online classes and knowledge is shared and
discussions on the online platform helps in making the concept clear.

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Challenges of online education in current era of times
The primary challenge with online education in the present times is that the teachers
find it difficult to adjust with the transformation as majority of them 19th century born or after
that. The learners on the other hand are well accustomed with the digital world as they belong
to the era of technological revolution. The learners can thus make use of the technology in a
natural and easy way. The teachers face a lot of challenges in using information and
communication technology. The societal demands are different in case of online education as
they demand for high level of skills than that exists or was designed for the schools.
Information and Communication technology puts forward many challenges that the teachers
have to face in case of online education (Broadbent & Poon, 2015). Firstly, to set up an
online class, investment as well as internet connection is required and secondly the teachers
need to be educated on ICT and they must be able to handle ICT in an effective manner to
provide better experience to the students. The teachers need to be effective in handling the
ICT tools for the process involved in online education. The online education system has
deadlines and classes are scheduled. A student is the only one responsible to attend the
classes sincerely and regularly. In both traditional and online education system the teachers
can test their students but response is different. The traditional method is better in this case as
students feel the pressure only when they give tests in front of their teachers.
Conclusion
The continuous efforts being made to strengthen the educational opportunities and
learning experiences for the under-prepared students at the same time reducing the costs are
critical. Online education needs to provide quality standard quality experience. There have
been evidences showing that the existing coursework is changing the effort towards a wrong
direction. Online education should serve the purpose of providing access to the students to
resources and materials that are meaningful. It should not expose the students to just huge

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volumes of informations. Transforming the education system from the traditional system to
the modern system is challenging and there are two divided groups, one supporting the
transformation while the other is opposing the same. The online education can be of great
help to those who are unable to reach the physical centres of education due to some or other
reasons. Lastly, it can be said that online education has negative as well as positive impacts
and to implement online education in a broader range people the teachers need to have a
better understanding of information and communication technology.
Recommendations
From the changing patterns it is clear that online education is in the mainstream and
forming a large part of the market. It is expanding its access towards learning for more and
more people. Hence, the online teachers and the students require synthesizing informations
related to different subjects so that they can analyze different perspectives and inculcate
various inquiries. In order to do so they are require constructing these possibilities by the
means of fostering learning spaces. These fostering places must be able to encourage students
to increase their analyzing power, imaginative power, critical synthesis, self-awareness and
creative expression in actions. Well designed and structured online courses can successfully
bring in the required transformation.

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References
Balakrishnan, V., & Gan, C. L. (2016). Students’ learning styles and their effects on the use
of social media technology for learning. Telematics and Informatics, 33(3), 808-821. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2015.12.004
Broadbent, J., & Poon, W. L. (2015). Self-regulated learning strategies & academic
achievement in online higher education learning environments: A systematic review. The
Internet and Higher Education, 27, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.04.007
Martínez Rivera, Ó., & Duță, N. (2015). Between theory and practice: the importance of ICT
in Higher Education as a tool for collaborative learning. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 2015, Núm 180. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.02.294
Rashid, T., & Asghar, H. M. (2016). Technology use, self-directed learning, student
engagement and academic performance: Examining the interrelations. Computers in
Human Behavior, 63, 604-612 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.084
review. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 15, 157-190.
http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3502
Sun, A., & Chen, X. (2016). Online education and its effective practice: A research