Disadvantages of E-learning or Online Learning
E-learning or online learning has been one of the educational trends we have seen every now and then but this time, it was due to covid-19 that we saw educational institutions all over the world shutting their onsite classrooms and moving onto an e-learning lifestyle. We saw how the world appreciated efforts of teachers and educational professionals who tried their best to keep the mission of education going on in the time of crisis but when asked about the system of E-learning or online learning and its role in a life of an average student, a negative impression was observed by the majority.
E-learning or online learning can be a smart alternative to onsite classroom learning but it is risky as it brings a number of disadvantages with it. Here, we have a list of reasons which sum up the negative impact of e-learning on students.
• No one-on-one communication:
It bring a communication gap between teachers and students as e-learning tends to struggle with student feedback because student feedback provision in an online setting is a whole process which is quite complicated to execute easily and due to this, the queries of students remain unsolved.
• Social isolation:
Along with communication issues, less social interaction causes students to experience social isolation as they spend most of their time alone getting through online lectures and attending live sessions with teachers. Studying alone in such an environment is itself stressing and difficult to be dealt with.
• Unfair means of assessments:
One of the biggest disadvantages of e-learning is unfair means of study and various methods of cheating used by the students. The students cannot be directly observed during assessments without a video feed, making cheat detection during online assessments more complicated than for traditional testing procedures.
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• No practical education:
E-Learning tends to be more suitable for social science and humanities, rather than scientific fields such as medical science and engineering which require a certain degree of hands-on practical experience. Provision of practical education online is a difficult and complicated task, and no such education means a lacking in concept of students belonging to engineering disciplines which need ample of experiments.
• Stress and anxiety;
Studying from home in an entirely different environment requires a lot of adjustment. Students develop severe stress and anxious scenarios to deal with. Distraction, different timings, and pdfs to read and understand from makes the student feel over-burdened and build a negative impact on mental health of a student.
E-learning or online learning requires self-motivation and strict time management skills to manage studies which is quite difficult to attain by a student that too in a different environment.
While it has a negative impact, there may be some advantages as well so a proper strategy before enforcing e-learning along with training of students and teachers to get adjusted with this setup is required in order to use this concept in an advantageous manner.