Getting education online becomes viral. Students no longer need to travel to another country to study at the college or university of their dream. They can listen to the lectures, attend seminars, and submit their papers using the Internet. However, many still think that eLearning is unreliable and a student gets no knowledge while sitting at home and listening to the podcasts. This situation should be changed by revealing some of the myths that are associated with online education.
In this article, we collected 6 of the most popular misbeliefs that prevent you from becoming an online student and getting a diploma or a certificate of your choice. If you have some doubts, you will get rid of them and start to see all the benefits of Internet education.
A student does not interact with the lecturer
When it comes to online education, many think that it is about studying on your own with no support from the lecturer. However, colleges and universities have specialized platforms that ensure interaction and communication between students and lecturers. If you have any questions, starting with what cause and effect essay topics to choose for a paper and ending with how to prepare a laboratory research, you can just write to the lecturers and they will give you an answer. Frequently, online communication becomes even more productive than face-to-face interaction.
What’s more about these platforms is that students can discuss their questions and problems right there and the lecturers can help them by solving some issues immediately.
As most of the youngsters feel more comfortable while having a conversation online, they are not shy to ask questions that they would never ask in a classroom in front of other students. This helps them get better results and gain new skills and knowledge.
Even the platforms for online courses with the biggest choice of education materials in different spheres have forums where lecturers and students can communicate.
Technologies are not secure
In the digital world, the issue of security deserves particular attention. We all want to be sure that our personal data is protected. The developers of different platforms, educational, financial, and even informational, know these needs and create software and apps that are totally secure and reliable. In fact, most of the offline colleges and universities also use online platforms for interaction with the students. The biggest and the most popular of them give preference to learning management systems that help control the productivity of students, submit and check essays, and share some useful information.
The universities that have decided to run online courses or full educational programs choose the platforms that allow them to provide protected services. In this way, the students may be sure that third parties won’t get their personal details.
The educational programs are of low quality
If this question bothers you, start first by checking free online courses that are offered by the college or university you would like to apply to. This way you will make sure that the professors are good at presenting information and interacting with the students so the education that you get here will be of the highest quality.
To make this question clear to you, you should know that all establishments are to pass a complicated certification process. The commission board will check whether the program is good enough to be presented online.
The matter is that the courses and programs that presuppose getting a diploma by a student must be certified, otherwise, the college or university has no right to give out the diplomas. If this rule is not obeyed, the establishment will be punished severely or issued penalties. None of them would like to lose their licenses, so they all get appropriate certifications that allow them to educate students online.
Students don’t actually study online
One of the common myths about eLearning is that students do not study online, they just spend some time on the Internet listening to some materials and writing some papers. The same can be said about brick and mortar colleges: students just go there to have fun with their friends, not to attend seminars. However, everything depends on the student themselves. If they want to study, they will do it no matter the environment.
There is one significant difference between studying online and offline. Those who study online have more spare time to use their knowledge in practice, while offline students rarely have such a possibility because they don’t have enough time. It means that online education is even more effective. A student gets a theoretical basis and then implements it in real life situations!
There is no way to measure the results
Another fear and myth that may prevent you from getting the education online is that the lecturers do not know how to measure students’ results. This is not what should bother you. Distance education appeared long ago and today, the methods to check the knowledge of the students are various. Moreover, with the use of modern technologies, cheating is almost impossible, which makes the results even more truthful.
To give you an example of measuring results, let’s imagine the situation when a student submits an essay. A lecturer will definitely check it for plagiarism online and won’t accept a paper that does not pass this test. This is just like in offline colleges, so the student may be confident that their work will be checked properly!
Employees do not respect the diplomas
Today, none of the employees will tell you that they can’t give you a job offer just because you have a distance learning diploma. They will pay attention to your knowledge, skills, and job experience. As we have already mentioned before, online education gives you more freedom, so you can get relevant job experience still being a student.
Moreover, the employer will be happy to hire a person who got the education online at Harvard, not at some local college.
As you have probably understood, it is not hard to get an online education but the myths may prevent you from doing that. We hope that 6 of the most common myths were dispelled and from now on, you won’t ever hesitate whether or not to attend online courses.
What other myths and prejudices did you hear from your friends and relatives? We would be glad if you shared them with us and we will dispel them together! Perhaps, you have some other myths on your mind that keep preventing you from getting an online education. Write them as well and we will prove that eLearning is more than you can imagine and there’s no need to be afraid of it!
AUTHOR BIO: Lori Wade is a freelance content writer who is interested in a wide range of spheres from education and online marketing to entrepreneurship. She is also an aspiring tutor striving to bring education to another level like we all do. If you are interested in writing, you can find her on Twitter or Google+ or find her on other social media. Read and take over Lori’s useful insights!
