Online Education
Online Education The Internet looks set to transform the way we live in the future, and even now it is an important and sometimes necessary part of the daily lives and routines of many millions of people. Like other realms, new technologies have made a great impact on education. ... Although the concept of distance education is not new, studying via the Internet, which is also called e-learning as it refers to Internet-based training, has a history as short as about ten years. Nevertheless, the speed at which online education is developing is astounding and its great impact on the traditional educational methods is profound. ... (Aase, 2000), one million students participated in online education courses in the US in 1999 and this number is predicted to reach 2. ... Likewise, more than 80 percent of two-years degrees and four-years degrees colleges in the US will be providing online courses by 2002. However, not all people hold such an optimistic attitude towards the future of the online education. ... This essay aims to discuss some far-reaching changes that the new technologies will bring to education, and will argue that although current online education is still in need of improvement to cater for the comprehensive demands of educatees; its potential to be a major educational alternative to the traditional teaching methods is unquestionable. This essay will firstly describe three dominant advantages of online education: convenience, flexibility and abundant formats. Then, two arguments about the quality of online courses and the interactivity between instructors and students will be examined respectively. ... The case will illustrate that if the online course is carefully planned and implemented and the teacher pay attention to students¡¯ feedback, online instruction can provide an effective educational environment and offer a feasible alternative to the traditional teaching methods. Finally the essay will examine some problems existing in the development of online education. One of the advantages of online education is that students can gain knowledge and practice skills from their homes instead of traveling to attend classes in school, which is also a major benefit that distance education offers. ... Internet-based education is so flexible that students can decide when, where and even what rate and in what order they would like to learn (Robb & Geffen, 2000). ... With online education, these students could save a lot of time with which they might acquire much more knowledge. ... With online education, the content of the online course can be changed and revised easily and promptly. ... Although some tools such as projector and TV have already been introduced to most classrooms as complementary teaching tools, the formats of traditional education are still limited. Online learning has the potential to break down such limitation and it can be offered in a variety of formats.