The pandemic has dramatically changed a lot of things in everyday lives of people. One of the many changes is the change in the mode of Education. It has led to a shift from conventional offline/ classroom teaching to online lectures.
Even before pandemic, there were few platforms which offered online lectures and classes like such. However, the surge in the said learning mode after corona virus hit the world is incomparable.
Now in online mode of teaching too, there are two options to pick from. One mode is Live online lecture and another one is Flexible online lecture.
Given below are the details of the above stated two learning modes and also few of their merits and demerits. You can go through both and wisely pick the best for yourself.
Live online lectures
This is a form of learning in which the classes which are held online have a requirement to have students and instructors online at the same time to discuss several topics and issues together.
In these online lectures the interaction between students and teachers is a real time session. It basically replicates many of the elements of face to-face instructions. It is just that there is no physical existence but virtual existence.
Merits of live online classes
Live interaction
One of the greatest benefits of live online lectures is the live interaction between the students and the teacher. Students can ask their doubts on the spot and get a instant reply. This becomes a kind of one-on-one interaction. Students do not need to wait to get solutions to their doubts.
More comfortable environment
The students get more comfortable with the teachers and overall environment in the live online class. If the student faces any sort of discomfort then the issue can immediately be resolved by the teachers. The real time interaction hides really nothing.
Boosts confidence
The live interaction in online classes gives exactly the same opportunity to boost the confidence of students as a live offline class gives. The teachers can ask questions from students. Also, topics can be assigned to give presentation on. The student knows that the entire class is present and watching him so he ultimately prepares well.
Discipline
The students remain more disciplined when they know that teachers is watching them live. A sense of discipline is always present here because the teacher has a close watch on all the activities of the children.
Demerits of live online classes
Temporary Network issues
Sometimes it may happen that there occurs some temporary network issue in the connection of student’s or maybe the teacher’s connection. Then if the lecture is not backed by recording of the lecture then it will cause serious loss of time and data.
Difficult to manage
During a live online interaction a huge number of students ( just the same as in an offline class) interact. However, it becomes very tough to efficiently handle the same number of children in an online class. Things become hassled and unmanageable.
Flexible online classes
A flexible online lecture has pattern which is a complete opposite to the earlier one. In a flexible online lecture the student has the convenience of getting access to recorded lectures. Basically, the lectures are recorder and made available to the students and they can use them whenever desired.
Merits of flexible online classes
Convenient
In case of flexible online lectures there is total convenience for the students. They can get access to the pre recorded lectures and learn accordingly. There are no fixed schedules and the students have a luxury of personalized schedules. Whenever the student feels like he can start listening to the lectures.
No network issues
The greatest advantage of the pre recorded lectures is that they do not require internet connection once they are already downloaded. After downloaded once, the lectures can be accessed anytime from any device as per the requirement. Hence, no hindrances are caused because of network issues.
Advantage to repeat
In the live classes you just have a one time opportunity to learn. Undoubtedly, you can ask multiple questions from the teachers but you cannot hear the entire lecture twice. Whereas in the flexible lecture you can listen to the same lecture for more than ten times. There is no boundation on repeating the lecture.
Demerits of flexible online classes
Loss of connection
There is a huge loss of connection between the students and teachers. Also, the student to student contact is missing too. How can a student continue learning without having any contact with his peers.
Isolation
When the students opt for flexible online learning then the entire contact between them and the classroom gets detached. The student sinks into isolation which is not good for the mental health of the student and also the learning capacity is reduced.
This isolation is not good for the growth of the children and they may face problems in interacting with the real world later on.
No immediate feedback
This a very extreme demerit of the said mode of learning. The reason being that the student gets no immediate feedback of how he is doing in studies. Also, the teachers too can’t have a look at the status of the students that what were their immediate reactions to any topic being taught.
What was the level of clarity and how many of them face problems in understanding because the students usually don’t themselves approach the teachers to clear doubts.
Parting words!
Both the live and flexible online lectures have their own set of merits as well as demerits at the same time. It is up to the parents and children to wisely pick one with the best of merits and eliminating the maximum demerits.
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