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Online Education Should Be Applied In Our Educational System

Online is the status of being connected to a network of computers or other devices. The term is often used to describe someone who is presently connected to the Internet. Deprecated spellings are on-line and on line. The opposite term is offline. Then, the education refers to the process of learning and acquiring information. Education can be divided into two main types which are formal learning through an institution such as a school and self-taught learning or what is frequently termed life experience .Generally, education is important for learning basic life skills, as well as learning advanced skills that can make a person more pleasing in the job market. The idea of online education was scoffed at not so many years ago. But these days both educational institutions and potential students are taking online education seriously. Online education, also known as distance learning or e-learning, differs from traditional education because students are not required to visit an actual classroom and listen to an instructor face-to-face. “Online education is a classroom without walls," says Dr. Stella Thompson, an online Assistant Professor of English at Prairie View A&M University. In my opinion, it is about you can study wherever you are. Today, as long as you get a gadget that can connect with internet, then all your problems will solve. According to “e-Learning” book, Cisco Chairman, John Chamber said that “Online education is an internet-enabled learning process whose components can include content delivery in multiple format, management of learning experience, and a community of networked learners, content developers and experts”. Based on that definition, I simply can say that online education has covered content, services and experts. Moreover, it is the best way to learn nowadays. In 21^st century, there are a lot of digital gadgets that have been sold in market such as iphone, ipad, and computers. Mostly, these entire gadgets can access internet connection. Moreover, abundance of functions is required in these gadgets. As we already known, as long as our country develops, there will be more facilities that we can find. Actually, our country already uses online system in many works of life. For example, if you want to make a booking for a room in the hotel, all you need is a modern gadget that can be connected to internet. Then, you can do it. Moreover, even though to transfer money, you can transfer it through online. Now, you can see how online system plays important roles in our life.

There is abundance of reason why people need online education. There is also no doubt that today’s young generation is extremely technology savvy. The world around is changing every day, so to keep up the step with it, the generation is leaving no stone unturned. The competitive scenario demands perfection and success in every effort, which in turn is taxing young minds. In students’ effort to gain unlimited knowledge, every lesson learned is used to put best foot forward. Unlocking the secrets of education and knowledge is, therefore, the need of the hour. Here is comes the relevance of 21st century through online education. Now is the era of one child, one computer. Many school projects make the students used computer to finish it. Statistic has shown that 90 % graduates own a laptop. This statistic shows us that computer is a compulsory learning tool. This gadget is not a tool for show a wealthy anymore in future because it is a necessary tool for student’s academic. Moreover, they already have the facilities to use online education. We now are living in a global era where traditional mode of teaching instructions like blackboard, duster and chalks has been comfortably substituted with online education and virtual classes. In fact, it is the easiest way for students to learn with degree of precision and accuracy. The online content is usually multimedia enriched supported by attractive visuals, graphics, sound, animation and power point presentation. It engages students’ attention in comprehending the concept more rapidly and then creates e-learning environment which is sharing no limit information with the people without fear of being ridiculed (e-learning, pg 101). This will make the environment full with enthusiasm. So, the students will enjoy their study.

In future, the era of book will be outdated. As you known, the books are getting expensive cause by the price of it source material, wood, are increasing year by year and it less likely to be reuse (Alexander, 2001). The plants will disappear in future if no alternative be taken. Technology has changed this thing. Now, knowledge is in your fingertips. Certainly no one expects the printed book to disappear overnight. Oral histories are the primary means of story transmission until they are substituted by printed scrolls and books, and these have been around for centuries. However, looking back over the past several centuries, we can see how technology changed the nature of the capacity and its accessibility. For example, long-standing usage forms and economic models for content creation and distribution changed as we moved from the medieval scriptorium to the printing press, from the printing press to digital production, and from digital production to digital distribution. There is some debate about the accuracy of the actual sales figures for e-books but little doubt that e-book sales are starting to grow at a more rapid pace. E-books are by far the quickest-growing segment of the otherwise sluggish, recession-plagued publishing business. In 2010 e-book sales jumped 164%, to $441 million. "The acceleration has been quick and dramatic, and in some ways the uptake may get faster if physical outlets for books, like Borders stores, disappear faster than expected," says Michael Cader, founder and editor of trade e-newsletter Publishers Lunch. But now, the worse is, Borders stores; the second largest bookstore chain in the country has declared bankruptcy. The question arose as to whether the popularity of e-books has caused its demise. People must face the new environment where e-book will be the best reference in future. Expert engineer only started to develop a digital strategy last recent year. Moreover, internet has become the most prominent knowledge store. There is no doubt to fight this statement.

Many benefits that student can get from practising online education. Students can attend a course at anytime and from anywhere. This means that parents can attend to their children, then sit down to class; working students can attend classes no matter what their work timetable might be, folks that travel for business or pleasure can attend class from anyplace in the world that has internet access and also they can define their own pace in learning (e-learning, pg 110). Every student has their own way of learning that works best for them. Some learn visually others do more beneficial when they learn by doing. Course material is accessible 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So, it actually offers flexibility for students who have other commitment in their life (Littlefield, 2005). Students have the ability to read and reread lectures, discussions, explanations and comments. Often spoken material in the classroom passes students by because of a number of misdirection, missed classes, fatigue or tedium. Moreover, transportation cost can be reduced because students can access internet where ever there are as long as the students can find the wireless spot or already owned a broadband. In an online environment, attendance to class is only evident if the student actually participates in classroom discussion. Using the internet to attend class, research information and communication with other students teach skills in using technologies that will be critical to the workers in the 21st century business community that works with fellows globally and across time zones. Participating online is much less intimidating than in the classroom. In a traditional class room, the conversation could have gone way past the point where the student wants to comment and shared the information with a wide audience (e-learning, pg 100). In addition, online institutions often offer chat rooms for informal conversation between students, where student bios and non class discussions can take place, there appears to be an increased attaching and camaraderie over traditional class environments. The online environment makes teachers more reachable. Students can talk openly with their teachers through social technology tools such as online chats, email and in newsgroup discussions, without waiting for office hours that may not be convenient (Pearson, pg 1) This option for communication provides increased contact between teachers and students. Online course growth allows for a broad spectrum of content. Students can access the school's library from their PC's for research articles, e-book content and other material without concerns that the material is already checked out. Students frequently feel that they can actually listen to the comments made by other students. This is because everyone gets a chance to contribute, students are less bothered with those that over contribute and can ask for clarification of any comments that are unclear. Over 75% of colleges and universities in the United State offer online degree programs, with online degrees as respected as on the ground degrees .Online classrooms also facilitate team learning by supplying chat rooms and newsgroups for meetings and joint work. This eliminates the problems of mismatched timetables, finding a meeting location and distributing work for review between meetings. Students often comment that online learning lets them attend class when fully awake and attend in increases of convenient time block, rather than fixed 2 or 4 hour stretches once or twice a week. As there are no geographic barriers to online learning, students can find diversity of course material that may not be available to them where they live or work. This is especially true for professional training such as medical charging training or purchasing training and for students in remote rural areas that cannot support college or vocational training centres.

As we all know, nothing comes without a disadvantage. If something gives you benefits and comfort, it must somewhere have something that is not that beneficial and can be a little bit hurting. Everything has a cost to it. So does online education. The most important thing required to student online is a computer and internet connection. However people in regional and far flung areas still don’t have access to this commodity. It is quiet expensive for them to purchase a computer. In one place where online education helps students from different areas meet and study together, there on the same time it creates a difficulty where a student cannot consult or discuss a technical problem occurred to him as he may not find anyone from his area. Another major disadvantage I'd count is the lack of interaction (Lakie, 2005). Even though students interact with their tutors through online learning systems, however one still cannot hear questions and discussions of other students at the time of lecture delivery. However nothing is totally free from disadvantages. Online education also has some. It now depends on the student how he manages everything. Online course designers can sometimes wrongly anticipate computer technology advances. This leads to courses being developed for implementation on computers which were expected to become available in the future, but which did not become available .The cost of an online degree is not always very low as thought by students. Some degrees may cost much more than if they were taken traditionally due to the cost of the multimedia accessories and materials involved in the syllabus. These costs may even leave behind the costs of accommodation and travel in local education.

In conclusion, online education can bring new hope in our educational system. So, it should be implemented in our educational system to full fill people needed in new era, accept the change in knowledge resource which is e-book and get the benefits from the latest method of education. In order to create a developed country, our country should apply the best technology in the educational system. Online education can give positive impact in our educational system because it can increase students’ skill in latest technology. Nowadays, many universities used online in their educational system. According to Malay News “Asia e University (AeU) has consolidated its reputation as an acclaimed online distance learning (ODL) institution in less than three years and was recently awarded the Best Brand in Corporate Branding in the Brand Laureate SMEs Chapter Awards 2010”. This shows that there is an award to university which is using online education. Moreover, online learning also can give good income if it has been conducted correctly. People who get the internet facilities agree to use online education while people who do not get the internet facilities think that it is harder for them to use online education. Although online education has some disadvantages, but it provides a lot of benefits.

REFERENCES

BOOK

Chadha, G. & Kumail, S.M.N (2003). e-learning. New York: Tata McGraw Hill.

JURNAL

Pearson, Columbia University Announce Partnership to Design Innovative Online Learning Program using Social Technology: Columbia Students to Benefit from Social Learning Environment. (29 March). PR Newswire. p. 1-3. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID: 2304638761).

NEWSPAPAER

Asia e University Carves A Name In Education. (2011, January 14). The Malay News, section 1, p. 12.

WEBSITES

Alexander, M. (2001, April 21). e Education. Retrieved March 11, 2011, from http://www.e-education.com /business/article/00.html #ixzz1IQrplSkR

article_3464_22.html?ktrack=kcplink

Littlefield, J. (2005, February 23). Online Education. Retrieved March 10, 2011, from http://distancelearn.about.com/od/distancelearning101/tp/10-Reasons-to-Choose-Online-Education.htm