Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Learning for Students

Advantages of Online Learning for Students

• Increased personal interaction with other students and the teacher. Students can meet

and communicate with other students online for support like students who attend fouryear

colleges/universities do in their dormitories and other informal meeting places on

campus and in the community. For community college students, this medium gives them

the opportunity to interact with other students socially. These social interactions

strengthen academic endeavors.

• Flexibility in responding/interacting with other students and the teacher

• Learning from other students. With collaborative assignments/activities on the class

listserv and WebBoard, students learn course concepts by explaining/clarifying those

concepts to other students.

• Learning from the teacher’s responses to other students’ assignments. For instance, my

students read my comments to other student’s drafts. Although some of these comments

are specific to the topic the student chose, many comments reinforce effective writing

(“teaching moments”).

• Excitement about the medium. Most students, especially those who have Internet/email

access from home/work, are more willing to spend time working/interacting online.

• Flexibility in completing assignments/projects anytime/anyplace. Students can complete

assignments to suit their home/work schedules. I find that some students work late into

the evening or early in the morning. One student said that one day he awoke at 4 a.m. and

decided “to go to class.”

• Freedom to communicate without the social barriers of gender, race, and ethnicity.

• Increased opportunity for written expression. Since students must communicate to an

authentic audience for real purposes, opportunities for reading, writing, and thinking

increase.

Disadvantages of online learning for students

• Technology difficulties/concerns.

Students’ personal computers can crash anytime during the semester. Teachers need to

note on their syllabi that lack of Internet/email access at home/work is not an excuse for

not submitting/completing assignments. Students can gain access by using their network

accounts in the computer labs on campus.

The TCC servers can be down or working sporadically, so students frequently feel

frustrated when they cannot access the class listserv and WebBoard to complete

assignments.

• Increased hours spent on online completing tasks/assignments. Online courses are much

more work than students imagine. For instance, just reading/responding to email can take

many hours. Students often comment that they thought an online course would be less

work than a traditional course.