Taking online courses can be as rewarding and educative as taking your normal classes. Yet, if you are unable to adapt to the style of learning that online schooling requires, you’d find yourself flat on your back. This is perhaps why there are lots of myths associated with online classes.
How about we dispel some of them?
This is a very popular misconception people have about online classes, and it is the foundation to having a rough year in your online classes. Many people enroll in online classes thinking they can get straight As.
Imagine the shock that registers on your face when you realize that online classes aren’t a walk in the park! As a matter of fact, these classes are quite demanding: in some ways more demanding than normal classes, and instructors expect the same quality of work that is expected from normal classes within the shortest possible amount of time. So before you enroll in online classes be ready to dedicate your time to it.
Many online classes have been accredited; contrary to popular opinion. Many institutions have included online courses as part of the curriculum for their students and since these institutions are accredited; their online classes are accredited too. Private online instructors have also gone the extra mile to get their online classes accredited; thus increasing the value of online education. This discredits that online learning programs aren’t accredited.
Online cheating used to be a major problem associated with online classes when it was still relatively new to the society and many people condemned it, but with the rise in technology and the development in online education, this problem of cheating has significantly reduced. You can now take online examinations and tests without having the opportunity to cheat, precautions ranging from browser blocking options to keystroke tracking and other methods, online classes now have even a better method of preventing malpractice than normal classes.
This common myth associated with online classes needs to be wiped out. Learning in groups and group study is a very common feature of online learning; there are lots of opportunities to interact with other students from group discussions of group projects. So it’s a misconception to think that there are no ways for interaction between people who take online classes.
In online classes people believe they have to do all the tasks themselves and that there is no way for interactions that might help with certain tasks e.g. tackling difficult assignments. Many people ask: “Can I pay someone to take my online classes or help solve my assignments?” These features are actually available because they would help you interact with other people taking online classes and also help solve some of the problems you are facing in your online education.
This is a general myth peddled about online classes. However, you don’t have to be a superstar with computers to take your classes online. You don’t necessarily have to be good at coding or any other advanced stuff, all you need is to know how to use the basic features of a computer such as MS Word and a few others. Quite easy, yeah?
Online Students Don’t Have The Opportunity To Interact With Their Instructors
This depends on the instructor. If the instructor wants to hover around in the background, give out instructions without participating in student activities; and is only interested in the results, then this myth is valuable.
Nonetheless, there are lots of instructors who take part in the activities of the online classes ranging from group discussions to giving out instructions and seeing that these instructions are followed; some instructors even organize video chats with the students.
Instead of allowing these common myths associated with online classes to hold you back from maximizing the benefits of online learning, dispel them completely from your mind. The sky’s the limit of your learning, online!
