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For any student who lives within informational society in uncertain pandemic times it is crucially important to have the ability to study remotely. To improve this skill by developing online learning flexibility, one must take into account pros and cons of this process.
Advantages
Less Chances of Studying While Being Hungry
Oftentimes online learning gives you a privilege to decide at what part of the day you want to study. Choosing your own educational hours will always help you to stick to your biological priorities, and as a result – you will have better chances to study without being hungry. Part of your brain that plays a big role in your educational abilities called the “prefrontal cortex” requires a lot of energy to get started. If the level of glucose in your blood will be too low – your brain will find the studying process way too difficult and irrelevant. That is exactly what happens during offline classes when students skip their breakfasts. Meanwhile, online learning allows you not only to take a snack while listening to the lecture, but in some cases even make your lecturer wait until you finish your meal.
Higher Chances of Non-Sleepy Studying
Since most schools, colleges, and universities start their classes in the morning – 12they have a bigger number of drowsy students than the platform of online learning, where for the most part students show up according to their own biorhythms. And needless to say, you are more likely to study productively when you’re awake, than when you are sleepy.
Better Conditions to Concentrate
It is no secret that offline classes have plenty of social distractions. To some people having friends, foes, or especially someone they really like in the same room creates additional excitement and strong desire to distract on something that has no relation to education whatsoever. Whereas when we talk about online learning, for the most part we have a lot less these types of people around us. Of course, some other factors take their place such as neighbors, pets, roommates. But at the same time, we have more options to eliminate these noise sources, and study new information more diligently.
Privilege to Take Pause to Process the Information
Offline students will never ask a teacher for a minute of silence where they can think about what they have just heard. Most if not all of the teachers will react to this initiative aggressively. On the other hand, online students are enabled to “manipulate time” by pressing “pause” to take notes, to search for more information on the topic and get back to lection once they are ready to move on. It makes a huge academic performance difference, if we consider that most educational failures come down to knowledge gaps. All of which can be avoided in pausable online learning format.
Disadvantages
Feedback Difficulties
True educational process always causes a sense of confusion. Taking part in a live lesson gives students chances to ask their teachers anything they want to know about the subject. Being vocal about insecurities and asking questions is always a problem for shy students, but it is a blis for the curious ones. They can always get academic feedback or clarifying information right away, while online students have a much longer if not internal time gap between asking questions and receiving answers.
Higher Risks of Taking a Break and Not Coming Back
It is completely okay to walk out of the offline class for a couple of minutes. But it will certainly be a problem if you try to apply a multiple short break strategy hoping that it will not bother the person who gives you the knowledge. No self-respecting teacher in the world will allow you this type of behavior. Of course, it is not the case for online teachers who may not even see you. In these conditions you are free to take as many breaks as you like. But the problem is that this freedom creates a bigger number of temptations that may drag you out from your class for good.
Weaker Connection with Your Online Teacher
Watching a video of an autopsy and taking part in the autopsy are two different types of experiences. You will learn and remember a lot more if you choose the second type of learning, since it implies a much stronger potential of emotional connection between you and your study material. The same principle works with having an online teacher and offline teacher. It is great to have this person talking to you from your screen, but it is not as powerful as having the same person giving you this information while standing in front of you controlling such factors as volume, playback speed, pauses and comment replies.
