Nowadays, more and more universities use technology as a means to communicate and study efficiently. Many university teachers use technological devices to communicate with their students, give them quizzes, assignments, grade them and so on. With the age of the Corona virus, it has caused schools to be closed all around the world. “Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns and social distancing, e-learning has become a vital tool to ensure the continuity of learning and education” (Mukherjee, 2020). “Education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms” (Li and Farah, 2020). By that it means that with the unmistakable ascent of e-learning, students now have to study online. “Online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay” (Li and Farah, 2020). With online learning, it is a way faster way to remember information. The purpose of this essay is to determine the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning and how we use technology to heighten learning and enrich the student experience?
“Some studies have suggested a positive impact of these devices on student learning, including increased motivation, collaboration, productivity and engagement, among others” (Carcelén and Montserrat, 2019). By that it means that students can feel more at ease to communicate through their phone rather than having face-to face conversation, and productivity can rise up as many students nowadays prefer to write their notes on their laptops/tablets rather than on a notebook. “Students are able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose” (Li and Farah, 2020). With e-learning students can record to watch and listen to lessons as many as they want. With online learning, students can study in their own time. Each student has different pace of learning thus increasing their effectiveness. It can help them emotionally if one student is feeling overwhelmed, to develop their relationship with other classmates/professors, and easy access to information online.
“E-learning is cost effective” (Arkorful and Nelly, 35). The reason is because students do not need to pay for transportation cost. And also, it can compensate for the lack of teachers as it enables more students to take part. “Through discussion boards and chats, you are able to interact with everyone online and also clear your doubts if any” (Clover 2017). If students have any problems in understanding they can easily ask questions through the chats. This is a great advantage for people who are shy to ask questions. Students have the ability to participate in their chosen degree from any place, location which facilitates people who have relocated or people which are abroad (Arkoful and Nelly, 35). During covid-19 many students have returned back to their home country.
Although E-learning has many advantages, it also has its disadvantages. “Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology struggle to participate in digital learning” (Li and Farah, 2020). This means that not everyone has access to the same resources. One of the biggest challenges about e-leaning is about equity between other students. Some students cannot afford to have a laptop/phone to take their notes online and this can discourage them to study. It might increase a further “inequality between the students with access to more advanced tools with faster speeds and the newest applications and those in lesser situations.” (Technical.ly, 2013). This means that some students may have lower internet bandwidth or no internet access or even do not have access to technology. “E-learning may also be subject to piracy, plagiarism, cheating, inadequate selection skills, and inappropriate use of copy and paste” (Arkoful and Nelly, 36). Students can easily cheat for their exam as all information is available to them online and there is no way to make sure they are not cheating. Students can easily plagiarize their assignment, homework or essays. Added to it, even accidental plagiarism is a major issue in most countries and these students can easily fail their course.
The success of online learning varies among age groups, research has found out that students are more easily distracted (Li and Lalani, 2020). Not only that students can easily distracted they might be addicted to their phone (Carcelén andd Montserrat, 201). Students are unable to multitask for example interacting with their mobile phones while studying, some studies have proved that it has relationship with this behaviour and poor academic grades (Carcelén and Montserrat, 202). By that it means that by using their phone while studying can lower their overall GPA. Felisoni and Godoi stated that “The user’s belief that he or she can efficiently pay attention to other activities such as absorb content from a lecture, complete homework or study while keeping the cell phone on standby and using it from time to time could be misleading, as students are more often tempted to game, check social medias and connect with colleagues” (187). Procrastination is also an issue here. University students tend to spend more hours on social media sites chatting, watching videos instead of doing their assignments, homework or studying. They usually do their homework on the eve or on the same day that the homework is due and therefore they might ask for a request for extensions and late submissions. This affect negatively their academic performances as their homework are either half-done or they might give a shoddy work. Felisoni and Godoi found in their researches that “Every additional 10 min spent [on average per day] using a cell phone device is related to a reduction in that student’s G-MNPS by 0.63 points” (185).
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