Why Schools & Universities Should Invest in Online Learning Programs

If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that I’m a huge advocate for the benefits of online education. It’s flexible, allows students to control their timings, and makes learning more collaborative rather than sitting in a classroom and having a teacher yell at you all day.

At least, that was my experience in my Indian school in Oman. I don’t speak for American or British schools.

So it’ll be no surprise to you that I believe schools should put down some $$ to develop their online education facilities! It’s not like we aren’t already doing it (hello, Covid-19), and we’ve all seen the potential and advantages of online learning… but we could do with a little push.

Here are 5 reasons schools and universities should invest in online learning programs!

🎥 👩‍🏫 Blended learning is proven to be an effective method of education

If you saw my previous post, you know all about the advantages of blended learning. It combines different online and offline forms of teaching to bring a well-rounded learning experience for students.

And for kids who need extra help after class, different mediums of learning like videos, animation, and podcasts can help them! Not everyone learns the same way, so the choice allows students to pick what they know works best for them!

📊 Teachers can identify issues using analytics

When courses are hosted online on platforms that support tracking and data analysis, teachers can actually use the feature to find out where students are struggling most in the syllabus.

Teachers can tweak their approach accordingly when they identify this and tackle the issue early on. Students can therefore be more in touch with the material because they’re getting the support they need.

Additionally, I don’t know about you, but I always felt very awkward saying “I don’t know” in class. Some teachers didn’t respond well to it, and sometimes your fellow students snickered in class while you embarrassingly explained how you didn’t understand the concept. A feature like this helps everyone out!

✍️ Engaging & interactive assessments

Sitting at a desk for 3 hours and being quizzed solely on what you managed to remember isn’t the most effective test in the world. Your grades are determined by how well you retain information, not whether you understood the concept.

But tests that use content-embedded assessments, simulations, games, and other forms of adaptive learning modules not only allow engagement and require kids to use their entire brains for the task, it also allows immediate feedback on the effectiveness of the test. Plus, the results come instantly, allowing students to track their own progress stay motivated.

We’re going to look into gamified learning soon!

🆕 Relevant & updated content

Look, I know I talk a lot of smack about traditional schooling, but I also talk about how certain aspects of it will never be replaced. I believe old-fashioned learning should go hand in hand with digital learning because access to online courses allows easy updates to the curriculum.

There is no reason classroom lectures can’t work in tandem with the latest news and discoveries in the field. Not only that, but digital courses with skill-building features can also allow teachers to personalize each course their way (OR make it totally different to keep it fresh and exciting).

So I, for example, learn best when facts are backed up with real-life examples. So teachers can either upload videos of themselves talking or simply link animated videos that do the same thing.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Creating a network of support for students

Education at all levels — school, college, university, Ph.D. — should encourage independent learning. And online programs can do just that! Online courses help schools and colleges empower students to work and motivate themselves to improve using various mediums that can be accessed anytime, from anywhere.

And because everyone is on the same page now (no kid left behind, because how they learn is already catered to!), it encourages class-wide discussions of the material. The model supports whatever path students wish to take in their learning while still giving them incredible flexibility.

So when learning institutions embrace the power of the internet and create online courses, they are not signaling that teachers are obsolete… they are merely saying that the learning experience can be enhanced for both teachers and students!

If you are a school or any educational institution wanting to create online course material for your students, or you want to get started on planning how to create an online portal, contact me through my website! I do offer discounts to schools :)