Without a doubt, education is the single most important, most time-consuming endeavour in our lives. From the moment we are born we begin learning by observing, by trial and error, and eventually through formal education – kindergarten, primary, secondary, high school, colleges … you name it.
The means of education, though, has changed over time. In ancient times, education was done through observation and imitation – much like how infants learn. This has later progressed through story-telling, where stories provided not only linguistic education, but also expanded the imagination and generally included a moral to learn from.
We have come a long way since then, and formal education is still in full force; however, there is an uprising trend – that of e-learning.
In its simplest of forms, e-learning encompasses all online-acquired education. E-learning is often free, but there are many paid sources of online learning, and both free and paid programs are on offer from various institutes and universities.
But why do some people opt for online education instead of the traditional class-and-teacher format?
For many reasons, actually. To start with, online education is accessible from anywhere; one doesn’t need to commit to a specific class schedule, be stuck in traffic, or limit travel options. Technology has allowed the information to be available anywhere, at any time (as a side note, some classes do have an option of a live lecture at a specific time). The ability to not be physically confined to a place to learn has given many people who have a 9-5 jobs the ability to further their education at their own pace, online.
One can argue the downside of not being physically present in class to be the lack of interaction. There is no doubt that interactions in the classroom often add value, and more often than not – from my experience – information is given during a class under the circumstances of the ongoing discussions that is not present in the official curriculum. However, there are online forums for such discussions, which draws in knowledge and expertise from people from all walks of life – with the right amount of comment filtering, of course.
Another advantage of online learning is the plethora of subject matters, institutes, and payment options that are available – from free to paid. iTunes, for example, has a whole educational category with plenty of free podcasts to listen to, curated from various high quality institutes on all subject matters. It’s great to listen to in the car, for example, on long commutes. In fact, I have personally listen to several psychology lectures while stuck on the Dubai roads.
Online education utilises technologies for more interactivity. Since the screen is the classroom, it is up to the creativity of the developers and the instructors on how to deliver the information. Duolingo, for example, offers an interesting language-learning format that has been gamified. Some medical learning applications offer 3D, interactive human anatomy models.
While offline education definitely has its advantages, one cannot deny the flexibility that e-learning provides. It has opened doors for people from different countries to access all sources of information and not be confined with what is offered locally. It has given people the opportunity to keep learning at any time, at any age, wherever they are.
