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Is Online Learning Effective?

Over the past 20 years, there have been several changes to education. External forces like as the 2019 Covid epidemic and technology have had a significant impact on some of the main transformations. During the same time period, technology underwent significant change, which had a significant impact on education. The expansion of the internet contributed to a rise in online learning. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, students were forced to learn more online as in-person participation in classes was discouraged.

Online learning has gained prominence over the last three years with more students preferring it to traditional learning methods. This study is supposed to show whether online learning is effective an aspect that will help more students in picking the learning method. The significance of this paper is to show whether online learning is effective through the various research papers that have been carried out. The education industry has also undergone has undergone several changes over the same period some of the changes leaving a lasting effect on the industry. Disruptive technologies like the internet and smartphones have changed the education industry especially by the introduction on online learning. The last two decades saw the introduction of online learning which was made more effective with the growth of the internet over the early 2000s. As part of the evolution of technology, smartphones were introduced in the late 2000s and enabled more people to gain access to the internet. The increased access to the internet also led to an increase in the access to online education. In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic caused major changes in the education industry leading to the growth of online learning. Over the last three years’ online education has gained prominence with more people preferring online education to traditional learning methods. Online learning has gained more prominence than traditional learning methods making it a more effective learning method.

The Covid-19 pandemic ignited an online revolution in online learning. The preference for online learning increased after the pandemic after the forceful shift due to government restrictions (Ali et al., 578). Even after the pandemic, the popularity for online learning has been on an increase with ore learner and educators preferring this type of education. The preference for online education has been due to several factors including increase in knowledge, higher retention rate, fewer time of investment, better learning method for the environment, and fewer evaluations are required. These factors make the learning method more appreciated and effective in comparison to traditional learning methods.

Learners ultimately gain more knowledge in online learning in comparison to traditional learning methods. Various studies on the effectiveness of online learning have pointed out how in online learning allows the students to gain more knowledge than face-to-face learning. Students can participate more in online discussion forums where they are able to share knowledge and ideas (Zulfikar et al., 31). The online discussion forums allow the learners to share information gained from research allowing them to share new ideas in class. Online discussion forums have also been improved by the availability of interactive technologies.

Students in online learning will also have access to more information in comparison to students attending face-to-face classrooms. Online learning allows the students to have full control of the learning process. This ensures they can research more on assignments allowing them to absorb more knowledge. Classes are shorter they therefore have to work fast to become familiar with the contents of the course. They have access to materials that are available online to ensure they prosper. Therefore, with online learning, the learners will gain more knowledge as they go through more materials than traditional form of learning.

Retention rate has been a problem in the education industry. Traditional methods of education have struggled over the past to ensure the students are able to retain interest in the classes. The period of a full semester is usually big, therefore, ensuring the students maintain interest during the whole period can be a major problem. As offline learning struggles with the maintenance of student interest, online learning is able to ensure a thorough maintenance of student interest, having a higher retention rate.

A study by Satyarini et al. was able to show the frequency of the effectiveness of online learning. Online learning had a higher frequency (Satyarini et al., 63). The higher effectiveness of online learning is attributed to the availability of more engaging content for online learning. The students have access to more engaging and entertaining content through the multimedia content available for the courses. This increases the retention rate of students in online earning in comparison to offline courses. The content for online learning is more engaging in comparison to offline learning. This allows the students to maintain interest throughout the semester, increasing the students’ retention rates.

Online students and tutors spend less time during the semester in comparison to offline classes. This means that the tutors have less time invested in the education activities in comparison to what the tutors in offline classes have invested. This has even led to both learners and tutors to regard the education method as satisfying. Learners have been able to gain more from online learning from the prompt feedbacks from the tutors due to the limited time available for learning. Online learning ensures the learners get instant feedbacks which is great in knowing whether the students has achieved their desired objectives (Tran, 109).

The amount of time invested in online learning makes it more desired method of learning. In comparison to offline learning, tutors have to spend less time with the learners; all they have to do is engage the students through online content which is sent to the students through emails on the school’s website. Online courses are designed to meet the various student’s goals and objectives with limited time with the instructors. The students will engage the instructor using the available technologies and receive prompt feedback. This has also led to a shorter period for the student to graduate. Online learning allows the students to complete courses earlier and graduate earlier in comparison to offline learning. Students partaking online learning course will end up graduating a year earlier in comparison to students taking offline and similar courses. This ensures the concept of time and value for money is applicable when using online learning.

One of the advantages of online earning that has been identified over the years is the ability to provide the student with self-assessment and instant feedback (Abuhmaid & Jarrah, 55). Offline learning will fewer assessments as a method of evaluating the student’s efficacy. These evaluations are usually given after some time and become part of the problem that reduces the student retention rates in education centers. Most students have a negative view of this form of assessment as it adversely affects their engagement. The tests will usually come after topics of after a month when the concentration of the students is low a problem that leads to the lower retention rates.

Online learning makes assessments to become part of the ongoing process. The course is designed to give students access to multimedia content and learning materials which will provide tests which are shorter with the aim of improving student engagement. These tests are usually shorter and given regularly to ensure student participation and improvement of content. This improves on the retention rates as the students are kept active throughout the semester. The instructors will keep track of the progress of the students with the short tests and offer help when it is needed.

Online learning is one of these aspects that can help in reducing the problem of climate change. The effectiveness of online learning can also be looked on its impact on the environment and how it impacts the climate. Its effectiveness is also on the environment where there are fewer carbon dioxide emissions in comparison to offline learning. The impact of online learning to the environment makes it a more effective learning method.

Online learning has proved to be more effective than offline learning. Online learning has been around for the last two decades but started receiving attention after the Covid-19 pandemic. This means there have been fewer studies on the efficacy of online learning in comparison to offline learning. Some of the studies have been inconclusive in showing the effectiveness of online education (Abuhmaid & Jarrah, 55). This would be because most of the studies on online education have focused on the Covid-19 pandemic and not the real benefits of this style of education. However, some studies have combined the two; the Covid-19 pandemic and online learning to show the main benefits of online learning and how these benefits make it effective. Ali et al., (578) was able to show the different benefits of online learning which make it a more effective learning method like accessibility, time saving, and retention rate. All these benefits have been discussed in other studies that shows the effectiveness of online learning that make it a better method in comparison to offline learning. In looking at the student retention rate of both learning methods, various factors show why online learning has a higher student retention rate. Factors like frequency of evaluation, content, feedback rate, and time involved in learning explain the higher retention rate. All these factors show how online learning is more effective than offline learning.

Works Cited

Abuhmaid, Atef, and Hani Jarrah. “Education Leaders’ Perception on the Effectiveness of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Crises in UAE Universities.” 
Nurture 16.2 (2022): 54-64.

Ali, Qamar, et al. “Exploring the Students’ Perceived Effectiveness of Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).” 
Behavioral Sciences 13.7 (2023): 578.

Satyarini, Marhaeni Dwi, Kasidi Kasidi, and Sri Setyaningsih. “The effectiveness of online learning and its influence on student participation.” 
Journal Varidika 34.2 (2022): 1-9.

Tran, Van Dat. “Perceived satisfaction and effectiveness of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating effect of academic self-efficacy.” 
Higher Education Pedagogies 7.1 (2022): 107-129.

Zulfikar, Ahmad Fikri, et al. “The effectiveness of online learning with facilitation method.” 
Procedia Computer Science161 (2019): 32-40.