There are some things that will always be best taught in the traditional, brick and mortar, educational institute. Values such as community setup, communication, and interpersonal skills, experiential learning, and peer interaction can only be taught in a physical setup. In their context, e-learning can only be a supplement. However, where the emphasis is on gaining specialized skills, such as preparing for a competitive exam, e-learning platforms are more than capable of taking the lead.
E-Learning Platforms provide several advantages that traditional learning platforms do not. Online Learning is still in its early days but it would not be surprising to find these platforms, one day, dominating and perhaps even replacing several of the traditional learning platforms that we see today. Considering its advantages- there are many:
Every individual student has a specific set of learning needs. Everyone learns at a different pace, picking up some concepts faster than others. E-learning platforms let students match their learning, to their natural speed. Classroom programs cannot hope to do so, at least not perfectly. Well, designed e-learning solutions can even arrange the lessons in a proper progression of difficulty, for the student.
E-learning does not involve any of the hassles of commuting or getting ready for classes. Nor do you have to travel a 30 minutes road to reach your school. You can save time that you can put to better use, in extra practice and revision.
Traditional learning systems are dependent on classes of a fixed length that must adhere to a fairly strict schedule. Unlike them, with e-learning platforms, students do not need to adhere to a schedule. It allows the students to study whenever and wherever they want. The students can also revisit the lectures, whenever they need to, as e-learning platforms utilize video lectures. This is very convenient for all types of students but working professionals find this system to be, particularly, useful.
E-learning solutions do require a lot of initial investment, in order to develop the educational literature and technology that they need. However, once the product is ready, the amount of further investment needes drops off considerably. This is not the case for traditional learning platforms, wherein the educators must repeat the same effort for each class that they take.
Through the internet, e-learning platforms provide a way for educators to share their knowledge with a worldwide audience. This aspect of e-learning has attracted many high potential educators to these platforms. This has, in turn, increased the quality of these platforms, as the quality of any learning system is intrinsically tied to the quality of its educators.
EdTech solutions have the capacity to adopt artificial intelligence solutions, to improve their functionality. For example, machine learning algorithms EdTech tools can identify patterns in the user’s behaviors and tailor learning solutions to each student’s specific needs. While this concept is far from perfect, as of now, e-learning systems will soon see massive deployment of artificial intelligence solutions.