Introduction
When school is out for the summer, many kids are looking forward to spending time with friends and family. For students that attend school online, school never really ends! The pros of school online are easy to see: you can schedule your class times, so it fits in around your other commitments; you can learn at your own pace without feeling pressured by deadlines, and there’s no need to worry about travelling to school every day. But what about the cons? Is attending school online suitable for everyone?
What is an online school?
Online school is a school you attend through a virtual learning environment, like an online course or program. Many students who attend school over the internet do so by taking classes from home and communicating with their teachers and classmates via email, phone calls, webinars, chatting programs such as Team Viewer, virtual “whiteboards” during live online classes, and other means.
What are the pros of attending school online?
Although attending school online through the internet requires self-discipline and organization skills, there are many benefits to completing courses.
- Less-expensive
Children attending school online will have a lot of savings! They needn’t spend so much on stationery and other fees because they require a laptop and an internet connection. Online school is less expensive, and it won’t require them to spend on additional materials like notebooks or so because everything can be stored on the laptop itself.
- More interactive
A school’s curriculum should be designed to help students learn better, and one way is through more interaction with their classmates. While schools have forums open for discussion, children attending school online will surely benefit from a higher level of participation in meetings as they can communicate directly with other students during live virtual sessions or webinars. Also, education will not only focus on the school subject being discussed but also on sharing experiences within groups.
- Increased flexibility
In today’s society, where people are constantly moving from place to place – either because of work-related reasons or personal desires – young learners now need flexible school schedules that can allow them to study while still working towards their dreams like having stable jobs and families. Students enrolled in school online programs can create their schedules as long as they meet their requirements.
- Fewer distractions
When people study at school, there are several factors that could distract them from studying, like noise outside of their home or poor internet connection. However, when students attend school online, these problems will not occur because it is more convenient for them to finish all tasks without interruption and have 24/24 access to information thanks to web-based learning applications that provide real-time data transmission. This also allows better concentration while improving creativity and productivity by taking advantage of technology tools such as social media networks (e.g., Facebook), photo sharing websites (e.g., Flickr), and video streaming websites (e.g., YouTube) to connect and interact with schoolmates, lecturers, and professors from all over the world.
- Provides schoolmates with different backgrounds
Attending school online also offers schoolmates the opportunity of having people from all over the world as their classmates, which provides them with an exposure that they may not have had before due to geographical limitations.
What are the cons of attending school online?
Though there are benefits, school students may also find some disadvantages when they decide to attend school online. This mainly pertains to the lack of human interaction and physical presence in school activities, such as group work or studio classes. Attending school online requires them to be more independent than ever before compared to traditional schools where students interact with other classmates face-to-face.
- Unexpected poor network connections can
Sometimes internet connections can flop! This will further lead the child to lose their necessary attendance. They may not have access to the internet when they need it most, such as during important school projects and presentations with their classmates.
- Technology is challenging
Technology is challenging for school kids. This can be seen through the fact that they cannot use it properly even when parents try to help them with their school work, so how will they manage on their own? Moreover, some parents also don’t know how to handle technology which worsens the problem.
- Kids are more comfortable at traditional schools than online ones.
Kids are more comfortable attending school in a physical location where other students are around them rather than sitting alone in front of screens all day long. They need socialization and interaction as much as possible! Just like adults do too! So let’s not forget about this essential factor just because we don’t want our child to attend regular school anymore.
Final thoughts
Online schools have been gaining momentum recently, but still, there are some significant problems with them too. The school you choose for your child is a decision that should not be taken lightly. Considering the pros and cons presented above, it is up to you what school path you’ll take! There are many factors to consider, and they all must be balanced to find the school that will meet most of your needs as well as those of your kids.
