Online education has become an agent of innovation in the recent years. It plays a crucial role in overcoming the challenges of traditional universities, such as higher tuition fee, shortage of seats for admission, commuting costs, cost of study materials and many others . As more and more universities are incorporating online education as a part of their curriculum, there has been an increase in the number of students enrolling for these courses. An increase in the availability and accessibility of the Internet allows students to pursue their career in corresponding fields at relatively lower costs when compared to traditional university and college education . Online education has become an effective alternative for students as it facilitates earning academic degrees, ranging from career certificates to doctorates. Therefore, this paper analyzes three significant articles to give an account of the value and impact of online education.
According to Alcorn et al., online education has resulted in an increase of number of students completing their college and university degrees. It has considerably decreased the costs for enrollment and penalties for dropouts. Furthermore, Alcorn et al. state that various universities offer certain kind of rewards for students successfully completing through education online. However, the article suggests that such education is fatally flawed in most of the cases as its educational value does not match traditional university education. The authors cite that a majority of students pursuing education online appear for the exams directly without attending the course lecture as attendance is not a primary parameter for online education. This in turn decreases the ability of students to study and understand the course content.
On the other hand, according to Christensen and Horn, online education disrupts students’ education rather than saving time and money. While short-terms courses are apt to study online, full time online education leaves students vulnerable as they get attracted to less expensive colleges. Christensen and Horn criticize online education as most of the schools employ indiscriminately enroll at the expense of educational quality. However, there are online education is the most effective for students aspiring to learn basic level concepts as these concepts are not usually taught in a majority of institutions and universities. The impact of online education is significant as it allows students to personalize their educational experience with what they actually need and what they can afford.
According to Vu, online education facilitates universities to ensure higher enrollment of international students. When compared to the benefits of on-campus education, online education continues promoting university rankings by offering an integrated course curriculum. The value of online education is felt in higher education as world’s reputed universities are embracing the digital environment to develop high quality education and nurture students for pursuing better careers (Vu). The impact of online education is felt on student mobility, higher flexibility and credibility of online degrees in the job market. According to Vu, supplementing traditional education with online education is a better means when compared to completely replacing it.
Works Cited
Alcorn, B., G. Christensen and J. E. Ezekiel. "The Real Value of Online Education." September 2014. The Atlantic. 08 05 2016 <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/the-real-value-of-online-education/375561/>.
Christensen, C.M. and M.B. Horn. "Innovation Imperative: Change Everything: Online Education as an Agent of Transformation." 1 November 2013. The New York Times. 08 05 2016 <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/education/edlife/online-education-as-an-agent-of-transformation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
Vu, Patrick. "The rise of online education and its potential impact on international student inflow to Australian universities." eMatariki Undergraduate Research Journal (2013): 1-11.
