Online learning is an education environment or courses conducted on the Internet. But have you been wondering if online classes are really that beneficial or useful? And can it replace the traditional education environment, face-to-face learning?

First up, what are the advantages of online education? Online education provides a comfortable, convenient and effective environment for both students and teachers to teach and learn. You do not need any transportation to go to school anymore. You only need a computer at home, or even a smartphone will do all the work for you. As long as you have a stable internet provider, the simplest online education environment is set up! You can go teach and learn via the Internet now! Also, students learning via the Internet do not need to worry about overweight school bags. According to Asterclinic’s blog, overweight school bags can cause multiple drawbacks on students’ growth, such as long-term back problems, spine deformity, and other health problems. Learning on the Internet, you do not need to take your school bag from place to place, instead, just put it beside your desk, and whenever the teacher tells you to take out one of the books, just reach for the book! Easy, isn’t it?

Although there are a ton of benefits of online education, there are still a lot of drawbacks as well. First of all, students may not be totally focused. Since students attend the classes at home, there are a lot of things that can distract the students, for example, games, toys, books, etc. This situation won’t be happening in face-to-face learning, because students are in a place with people that will supervise them. During online lessons, teachers can’t check unless students turn on and face their cameras. Also, it would be more difficult for teachers to distribute worksheets and information, since teachers cannot interact with students in person, they can’t distribute the worksheets or test paper directly, and students will have to print the worksheets out or look at them via electronic devices. The former requires students to have a printer at home or print them out in a store that has a printing service. Also, constantly looking at the screen might harm students’ eyes or neck. Another drawback is that exams and tests cannot be fairly done via online classes, since students are doing the exam without supervision. There is a high possibility that the student will cheat, or even ask other students for the answer, which makes the test or exam unfair for other students.

Online education and face-to-face learning both have advantages and disadvantages with both offering some opportunities for learning and teaching. But for me, I prefer face-to-face learning. Not only because of the listed advantages, and because of the feeling of actually learning something, try and imagine, which environment feels more like a student’s life? Face-to-face! Which learning environment do you prefer? And why? Be sure to think of this question more often!