What Are the Limitations of Online Education Programs?   by Rita Esteban

in Education    (submitted 2012-01-26)

In recent years, there has been a lot of new online education companies being started, surely in attempts to take advantage of the enormous popularity of some online schools. Every time you turn the television on, or read a magazine, there is another advertisement for an online college or career program. The interest in online programs has risen significantly since many more of them have become accredited.

Yet, there still remains a lot for online schools to do to catch up to traditional colleges, especially in terms of student support services and course offerings. There are pros and cons to traditional and online education institutions, all depending on your specific learning style and the things you need to succeed. Considering the differences in learning experiences between each method, prospective students contemplating a decision should do so very carefully.

One of the main reasons why someone should not make this choice lightly is because there are a range of subjects and areas of study which a traditional college program can more effectively offer than an online college. Programs like chemistry or archeology, music and performing arts, and many other programs that require hand-on experience are very difficult, if not impossible, to teach online. Many trades and technical jobs are not really compatible with online learning, especially areas like auto repair and nursing. Without certain hands-on experiences, direct contact with tools and laboratories and other resources important to learning some subjects, students would not fully grasp all of the concepts and information that those subjects require.

In addition, there are a number of social experiences available at traditional colleges, things that could contribute to one's success as a student. You can not get the same kind of contact and dialogue, the questions and thought sharing, from online courses like you would have in traditional, in-class courses. Students often benefit from having group study sessions, but since there are no classes, and since students enrolled in a course may be anywhere in the world, this simply is not possible to do with online education programs. While a professor may put her lecture notes and videos online, the process of asking the instructor questions for clarification or giving examples becomes less efficient when this has to be done through delayed email exchanges, as opposed to face to face contact.

If someone does not have a firm discipline or work ethic, they will not attain success in college, whether that is online or on a campus somewhere. Online colleges usually are not capable of providing the counseling and tutoring and other kinds of support that students lacking in these areas could use and benefit from. See Education Online. Online colleges also do not have the clubs and organizations for different majors, resources which traditional students may use for further class support or future employment connections and networking.

Even with these limitations, there are many students who would succeed and thrive much better through online degree programs, where they would otherwise fail through traditional programs. See online degrees. In this, students should do research not only on potential colleges, but also on themselves.

About the Author

Rita Esteban