1.3 Limitations of online learning
1. Inability to Focus on screens
For many students, one of the biggest challenges of online learning is the struggle with focusing on the screen for long periods of time. With online learning, there is also a greater chance for students to be easily distracted by social media or other sites. Therefore, it is imperative for the teachers to keep their online classes crisp, engaging, and interactive to help students stay focused on the lesson.15
2. Online student feedback is limited In traditional classrooms, teachers can give students immediate face-to-face feedback. Students who are experiencing problems in the curriculum can resolve them quickly and directly either during the lecture or during the dedicated office hours. Personalized feedback has a positive impact on students, as it makes learning processes easier, richer, and more significant, all the while raising the motivation levels of the students. 16 3. Technology issues Another key challenge of online classes is internet connectivity. While internet penetration has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, however in smaller cities and town, a consistent connection with a decent speed is a problem. Without a consistent internet connection for students or teachers there can be a lack of continuity in the learning for the a student. inequities in accessing technology or learning computer skills, or even a lack of physical space for this teaching/learning process. E-learning is dependent on technology, the Internet, and various devices that not all potential beneficiaries can access17
4. Sense of isolation Students can learn a lot from being in the company of their peers. However, in an online class, there is minimal physical interactions that students and teachers. This often results in a sense of isolation for the students. In this situation, it is imperative that the school allow for other forms of communication between the students, peers and teachers. This can include online messages, emails and video conferencing that will allow for face-to-face interaction and reduce the sense of isolation. Building strong self-motivation and disciplinary skills is key to succeeding in an online learning environment. Additionally, face-to-face communication with professors can be substituted with online communication, and peer-to-peer activities should be promoted between online students similarly as it would be in traditional classrooms. 18 5. Teacher training Online learning demands the teachers to be technology-friendly and have a basic understanding of using digital forms of learning. However, this is not the case always. Very often, the teachers have a very basic understanding of technology. Sometimes, they don’t even have the necessary resources and tools to conducts online classes. 19 5. E-Learning is limited to certain disciplines All educational disciplines are not created equal, and not all study fields can be effectively used in e-learning. For now, at least. E-Learning tends to be more suitable for social science and humanities, rather than scientific fields such as medical science and engineering which require a certain degree of hands-on practical experience. 20 6. Online learning is inaccessible to the computer illiterate population 96% of Americans own mobile devices, and around 73% of Americans own a personal computer. Therefore, it would be easy to argue that online education is easily accessible to most people. However, these statistics don’t paint the whole picture. Despite the booming growth in technological capabilities, the rates of computer literacy are still far from perfect. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average percentage of computer illiterate people hovers around 25%, meaning that a quarter of the population will have major trouble in accessing E-Learning as an educational method.21 7. Lack of accreditation & quality assurance in online education If E-Learning is to be considered as effective and authentic as traditional learning, it must be ensured that all online schools are qualified and accredited. Unfortunately, at the current point in time, there are still a vast number of online learning platforms which are unaccredited and where all the materials are quality checked by no one besides the instructors themselves. As such, poor quality assurance and a lack of accredited online learning providers continue to weaken the legitimacy of online education.22 B