Distance Learning And The Benefits Of Online Education

Online education is a convenient way for traditional and non-traditional students to earn a diploma, certificate or degree. Online education or “distance learning” first began through shorthand classes being offered via mail. As technology progressed, television and radio were used for mediums as well. In 1981, the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute 's School of Management and Strategic Studies began offering a computer based learning program. With this new way of earning a degree comes the argument that earning an education online is not the same, or even as legitimate as the traditional way of a structured classroom environment. Earning an education online in no way makes the accomplishment less than the traditional path. Students in the online environment are held to the same academic expectations as the trasdiotnal learner. Distance learners are required to study …show more content…
Students of online classes, in essence, have more responsibility placed on them as a result of the flexible nature of the curriculum. In a traditional classroom, students have open discussions with peers and lectures from the professor; the same is true online. In his article exploring distance learning, Todhunter (2013) observes that “there is little flexibility in terms of commencement, selection of courses, duration and choices of assessments” (p.240). It can be argued that online students are challenged more in this area because they are required to have written open discussion (with word count requirements) in addition to responses to one or more classmates. The traditional student can choose to not to participate in discussions and not be penalized for their choice. This is not true for an online student, failure to participate in discussions can have a negative impact on grading and count as an absence from