Parents and students have a natural tendency to assume that online education can hardly match face to face tuition during COVID 19 lockdown. Our experience reveals that much depends on what subject is being taught, the age of the student and if the student has good organizational skills and self-discipline. Below are a few important points to consider before deciding if online tuition is the most suitable option.
Benefits
- Online education can be the perfect solution for older students(more than 10-12 years) who are comfortable with computer technology and virtual environments.
- Online education is convenient, it can save time, travel expenses and in some instances can be slightly cheaper than face to face tuition.
- Online education has been working successfully since 1998 all over world including India.
- Computer software permits users to record, save and access information at a later date. The whole lesson could even be recorded and kept on file.
- Students using digital pens can allow the tutor to see what is being written in real time.
- Parents feel calm knowing their child is safe at home, they can even monitor the quality of online lessons.
Challenges
- When teaching a young child(Less than 10 years old) how to multiply, subtract or similar, the tutor can’t physically show the child with actions what they are trying to explain.
- Students will need to acquire new technical skills to handle frozen computer screens or server downtime – this can cause added frustration(Internet is not working properly).
- If the student becomes frustrated or upset over a certain task, it’s not easy for the tutor to console the student without being physically present. (again lack of personal interaction)
- leaving appart internet connection, students can easily cheat the teacher of working as per instruction, while they maybe just be looking at answers and responding.
- It’s on student’s will to respond or not when teacher is not sitting infront of them during lockdown.
- Teachers task is more difficult in online education as it is more difficult to judge the status of students in terms of his performance in studies.