TITLE:
Online Education: A Change or an Alternative?
AUTHORS:
Eisam Asaqli
KEYWORDS:
Online Education, Digital Technology, Synchronous Learning, Asynchronous Learning, Professional Standards
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.11 No.11,
November
25,
2020
ABSTRACT: Online education connects a teacher/lecturer and a student/pupil or who is not in
the same physical location and not necessarily even in the same time zone. This
system can operate through almost any electronic device connected to the internet.
Students engaged in distance learning in real time,
with teachers giving live streaming classes
via the internet, are performing “synchronous learning”. “Asynchronous learning” offers prerecorded classes that are always
available to students. Students access these recordings when convenient for them
and study and practice at their own pace. Online education has advantages, e.g.,
increased access to knowledge and learning and reduced teaching costs, takes less
time and enables learning at one own speed, but it also has disadvantages e.g.,
decreasing the “market value” of an academic degree, weakening the learning quality,
limiting dialogue with lecturers/teachers, and hurting academic research. Its success
depends on the optimal combination of technology and pedagogy—two aspects that demand training. Regarding technology,
practitioners (teachers/lecturers) must have a strong grasp of the system underlying
the online courses; and regarding pedagogy, they must understand approaches for integrating technology and pedagogy, to advance
innovative teaching paradigms, and promote partnership and peer learning and workshop
and modular learning. The effectiveness of online education can be assessed at a number of levels: the reactions of learners when
asked about their satisfaction with the learning, knowledge or ability acquisition,
improvement in implementation/application, development of life skills, the degree
of economic worth whileness, the relevance of the content, etc.