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Nowadays, more and more students choose online education due to the ease of conducting online courses. What else could be better than having a class from your bed with your cat snoozing away in your lap while drinking hot tea? Sounds like a dream for someone. However, not everyone can handle online learning.
Of course, it’s very convenient for good reasons. First, you don’t need to be physically present in the class. Secondly, you don’t need to be in a rush every morning not to miss classes. Lastly, you don’t need to spend time and money commuting to uni. Despite these advantages, many students report they can’t absorb knowledge and enjoy the learning process as much as they would on campus.
In this article, we will draw your attention to the main reasons why many students find online learning challenging.
You Don’t Delegate Work
Some people believe that with online learning, they will have more time for managing homework, deadlines, exams, or some housework. As a result, they can’t properly estimate how much time they should devote to each task and just put some assignments off.
The greatest solution will be making use of modern technology. For instance, if you struggle with assignments like writing papers, you can reach out to professional research paper writing services specialists who will gladly assist you. Thus, you can focus on other tasks instead of being overloaded with them.
If you order a paper from EssayPro, for instance, it will give you a whole bunch of advantages:
- Unique essays
- Guaranteed anonymity
- Limitless amendments
- Around-the-clock customer support
Lack of Social Engagement
The student years are believed to be a golden time. It’s not only about absorbing knowledge 24/7, doing homework, and having exams. It’s also about meeting new people, making contacts, sharing memories with friends, falling in love, going to parties, and enjoying yourself. And we also need to remember about networking since university is the best place where you can get so many useful contacts.
But due to online learning, this social aspect is gone. Of course, you can see and talk with other students while using a certain platform. But according to the Australian national Student Experience Survey data, both students and teachers still find online interaction weird. Many socially rewarding situations, like hanging out with your friends after finishing exams or sharing emotions after completing a successful collaborative team project, can no longer occur.
Due to this virtual barrier, it might also be hard to reach out to your educator. If on campus, you can just catch a teacher in a hallway and have your inquiry answered, in an online format, don’t expect your question to be answered soon.
Because there is no adequate social engagement, many students can develop depression and anxiety and feel lonely, especially with the piles of homework and looming deadlines.
It Might Be Inconvenient
Even though the ability to roll into an online class immediately after you wake up, brush your teeth, and have breakfast is convenient, you still might encounter some struggles. One of the biggest challenges involves such technical issues:
- Internet access. Even though you have internet access, the bandwidth and speed can be limited. This makes page loading and file transfer speed incredibly slow, not to mention launching a platform for online classes.
- Compatibility. This happens when students try to use devices with different operating systems.
- The high cost of remote learning. To be truly effective, students need to purchase high-quality devices to run certain programs, which are pretty expensive.
- Poor Wi-Fi. In most cases, learners who work with laptops use Wi-Fi. Walls, distance, and other people using Wi-Fi can interfere with your signal. A weaker Wi-Fi signal can lead to slower speed and frequent disconnects.
These are just minor problems you can encounter. There are a lot of other technical issues that can arise. In this case, you will need the help of a specialist, which might cost a lot, depending on the problem and time.
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Flexibility Puts Pressure on Students
One of the benefits of online learning is that you have more choices about the time and space dimensions of study. However, the problem is that not all students know how to manage their time efficiently. The increased flexibility might put more pressure on such people who also can’t judge their own progress and make good choices.
Students who rely on college schedules and are used to attending classes in person face the need to come up with this schedule on their own. When studying on campus, the entire day is planned, and students stick to this routine. But when they are studying at home, they may interpret that lack of structure to mean that they are not obliged to do something. Or vice-versa: with so much free time, they can become overwhelmed with tasks and an inability to determine in which order to complete them.
The Same Scenery
When attending classes, in-person students get a change of scenery regularly. Firstly, they go from one class to another. Secondly, learners have breaks scheduled for them. Thirdly, they have a chance to chat with friends. Lastly, they have PE classes that allow them to exercise which helps to unwind and refresh themselves.
When studying at home, you are stuck within four walls, which can cause frustration and make it harder to keep focus for the full college day.
Distractions
Attending online classes means you lack in-person supervision. This means you can be easily distracted by countless notifications from social media websites, various applications, and so on. In addition, your learning process might be interrupted, whether by annoying neighbors, loud traffic outside, or your family members. If you can’t focus on studying, these apps might come in handy:
- ClickUp
- Focusmate
- Forest
- Freedom
- RescueTime
- Noisli
- Focus Plant
To Sum It Up
Online learning is not suitable for everyone. If you don’t want to attend classes in person you need to take into account all the challenges mentioned above that you can encounter and weigh all pros and cons of online learning.
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