E-Learning: A Self-Paced, Win-Win Solution

Various colleges are now beginning to realize the importance of using technological advancements in communication for education. More and more graduates are becoming employed before they complete their post-graduation, especially engineers and professional degree graduates. Therefore, many colleges are providing students to continue with their education while working. For this, it is impractical to expect working executives to attend classes every weekday after office hours. Therefore, a more viable and convenient option here would be to use online education as a method of delivering lectures to students in the comforts of their own locations and at their own time. If we look at the mushrooming BPO sector, we find that many graduates start working early either due to financial constraints or to earn extra income. The ever-changing shift timings or long working hours, do not allow them to either join coaching classes to crack entrance exams for full-time courses.?Even employees in client-facing roles who have to be based out of various client sites for months, only have access to the internet, would not necessarily have to miss lectures and take notes later on once they are back.

Therefore, many reputed management institutes with great credibility, including the IIMs,?have started offering certifications in management, the duration of which could range from nine months to two years. They have collaborated with IT giants like NIIT to provide technical support and infrastructure, where the students can visit the nearest center and attend their sessions. The intake is much higher and students do not have to leave their jobs and study in the locations where the institutes are situated. The lectures are similar to the ones delivered in classrooms, the only difference being that they are in the form of a video. Also, some colleges have gone to the extent where the lectures are telecasted live from the institute’s classrooms and the students can solve their doubts online itself. It's typically a boon for working executives as they do not have to leave their sources of income altogether but also attain a qualification of their choice.

Online education has not only limited itself to management institutes but has also influenced school education. Many schools now update the holiday homework for the students on a secured website. Also, the students are exposed to extensive use of computers, thereby, making it easier for them to be comfortable with the concept of using computers at later stages including when being employed professionally. They also are exposed to Microsoft Office applications like excel and word, to start with and they get well versed with these applications by the time they graduate from school.

The critics of this mode of teaching might believe that this is not a ‘personalized’ form of education since the teachers are not physically present to monitor the progress of the students and the interaction is purely based on the computer. There are definitely positive aspects of the conventional methods of teaching as it is well known that discussions, counseling as well as doubt clearing sessions are best done when done in person and not through any other mode of communication.

Another critical point to be seen is that these certifications have to prove their credibility and are not fool-proof. It is one of the most convenient and common forms of attaining a qualification, however, graduates who complete their qualification through these current ‘non-conventional methods of education need to prove to be at par with the graduates who are products of the conventional method of teaching. Also, the degrees from reputed institutes are given a lot of importance purely due to the fact that only a few people manage to achieve it since it requires a set standard of traits, which is available only in some. If more and more students manage to graduate from such colleges through this new form of education, the reputation of the college and the degree might have to take a hit.

Critics of online education also believe that studying while working is not the ideal concept since the attention is diverted and the students are neither able to fully concentrate on their studies and take exams properly nor can they focus on their work. This concept is now gradually changing since more and more people like to believe in multi-tasking as being one of the traits required in a professional today. So, this would give a good grounding to inculcate this trait in students who eventually would qualify for such degrees and join companies as professionals.

Another critical aspect is that while most full-time courses offer placements, alternate means of education such as online education, do not conduct placement sessions for its students.

In conclusion, this debate is more of ‘old school vs new school’ wherein one method of education supersedes the other. The fact is that while the conventional methods already have been used for many generations, the other is more recent which puts the advancement in technology and communication into effective use. While both have their pros and cons, the students now have a wider choice of not only choosing the qualifications they would like to pursue but also the option of the mode of education as well.

*Opinions expressed in the article is of the author alone and does not represent the views of the organization she belongs to*