Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Courses

Education and training play a great role in the life of people. A big quantity of new and necessary information appears every minute. Highly qualified specialists need to be always aware of all new products, services, inventions, but they are all busy to devote all their time to study. Online education helps to solve the problem of time. In addition, distance learning is cheaper and for some people is the best way of perception the new information. Making a search in Internet, there can be found a lot of websites with offers to study online. So what are advantages and disadvantages of distance education and is it worth of spending time and money on it?

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Online (distance) education is increasingly used as supplementary education. It is perfect for those who want to get a second degree, pass retraining or improve their skills. It is not difficult to study online if a person already has accumulated knowledge base, which he received as usual student, and has the basics of the profession. But it can be difficult for those who choose totally new for him specialty. The duration of training can be different, according to the course the person takes.
Advantages of Online Courses are:

To study in accordance with a personal pace, personal qualities and educational needs.
To use modern technologies while studding; at the same time to develop skills that could be later used at work.
To plan personal time, schedule, duration of training and a list of subjects.
To study in the most pleasant and productive environment; creating a comfortable atmosphere for student.

Also online education gives the opportunity for everyone regardless of his nationality and place of residence to obtain a diploma of any university anywhere in the world. Student and teacher are able to communicate at a distance, at any time convenient for them. So, on-line education gives equal opportunities for education regardless of place of living, health and material status.
Disadvantages of Online Courses

Lack of personal contact between teacher and student (there is less efficient, impersonal knowledge transfer). Also there is a lack of communication with fellow students to share experiences.
Lack of a student’s strong personal motivation and the ability to learn independently; without the constant support and prodding by a teacher. Student should have a number of individual psychological qualities, such as rigid self-discipline; learning result depends on the persistence and conscientiousness of a student.
Lack of a possibility of immediate practical application of knowledge, followed by discussion of emerging issues with the teacher and explanation the situation with the specific examples.
Online education usually is only in writing. For some people the lack of opportunity to express their knowledge in words can make negative impact on knowledge assimilation.

Conclusion
Knowledge and education are important in the life of every person, but there are different ways of obtaining them. As it was said above online course is a good way to get knowledge, but it is not convenient for everybody. People should choose the way of acquiring knowledge according to their personal skills and time they are ready to devote to studding.