Debunking The Most Common Myths About Online Education

With the rise in technology and partly due to the coronavirus lockdown when schools and college campuses were shut down, locking millions of students and educators across the entire nation out of the classroom, online education has become the staple of teaching and learning today. Online educators have many lucrative opportunities such as guiding students by uploading their courses on various online course selling website. Some of the best platform to sell online courses can also help the educators in generating some passive income for themselves while helping the students.

Even though online teaching has become widely popular owing to the numerous benefits it provides such as flexibility to teach and learn from anywhere at any time, greater accessibility, affordability, engagement and likewise, it is still a relatively new concept to many educators, students and parents across the globe. Consequently, there are some apprehensions and myths floating around regarding online education. Most of these myths are totally unfounded and it is necessary to debunk these myths to make sure that the educators and students enjoy the numerous advantages of online education with their minds at ease. Here we examine some of the most common myths surrounding online education and find out exactly how much water these claims hold. So, without further ado, let’s dive in…

Myth 1: Students Get Distracted By Access to Internet and Technological Tools-

Many opponents argue that various gadgets such as smartphones and laptops which the students use to access online courses are a tool for distraction and the students are tempted to use these gadgets for purposes other than studying during their online class. The access to the internet only makes it easier for them to pursue other activities during their study time. However, these claims couldn’t be further from the truth and there is no reason why a student who can pay attention in a traditional offline classroom can’t do the same in an online class. Quite contrarily, students can be more focused in an online class because they are learning from the comfort of their own homes and can pace their learning. Moreover, online courses are generally more engaging and provide students with multimedia content and access to various innovative technological learning tools which only helps them in concentrating on studies. 

Read Also: Contribution of Music in Student Life

Myth 2: Online Education is Expensive-

Many parents are apprehensive about the cost associated with online education. Students need a smartphone, laptop, good internet connection and have access to better quality of content which makes the parents think that online education must be expensive. So, is online education really more expensive than traditional offline education? No, quite the opposite – online education is way cheaper than offline education. It saves students a ton of money on stationery, travel and lodging. Moreover, online courses are far cheaper because the cost of infrastructure, electricity, water, salary of support staff are not to be incurred by the students unlike traditional offline courses where costs of all those components are included with the tuition fee as part of the total fee to be paid by the students. 

Myth 3: Online Courses are Easier and Therefore Not Useful-

Many people think that online courses are easier than enrolling in the same course on campus as students don’t need to attend classes and just turn in their assignments and they are done. However, this is an unfounded myth as the workload for any specific course, regardless of the mode in which it is delivered to the students, is almost always the same. Moreover, online courses require more self-discipline on part of the students which makes them harder than offline courses if anything.

Myth 4: You Have to Be Very Tech-Savvy For Learning Online-

Many students and even educators are worried that they lack the technical finesse to be able to effectively learn online. However, these fears are unfounded as online classes are almost exactly like traditional classrooms with digital whiteboards, video lectures and likewise. Learning to navigate online teaching platforms is no rocket science. If anything, various technological tools and features provided on online teaching platforms make learning online simple, highly engaging and productive for the students.

We hope that by debunking these common myths surrounding online education, we were able to dispel many of your fears and apprehensions regarding teaching and learning online.