Education is the process of imparting and receiving systematic instruction. It is an enlightening experience, which plays an important role in everyone’s lives. Schools, colleges, universities, and other academic institutions prepare you for your career ahead and help shape your personal and professional degrees of development.
Education instills basic-to-advanced knowledge in the students for a number of years, and while it stops after some time, the act of learning goes on indefinitely.
In the past, education was limited to the four walls of a classroom. Today, it has become virtual. Being virtual means that it has transcended the orthodox modalities and taken on a much more flexible form.
In other words, now, you can acquire education from the comfort and safety of your home, which is necessitated by the ongoing pandemic, anyway. All you need is an internet-connected device like a laptop and a stable internet connection for this purpose. Click for more info on such a solid internet connection that enables you to continue your academic learning online.
The internet has successfully penetrated each and every aspect of society, whether it is healthcare, agriculture, or industry. It has also made quite an impact on the field of education, as the last year’s trend of remote learning indicated. But, is its access good for students? You’ll have to read on to find out.
A Wealth of Information & Educational Resources
Students no longer have to scout libraries and old academic reserves for looking up information pertaining to their studies. They can simply enter the search query on Google any time of any day and get access to hundreds of academic articles and blogs related to their coursework within seconds.
Many schools and colleges have even set up websites of their own, which list all the possible references and study-related materials that students can dive into whenever they want. This is the kind of convenience, which the internet has provided to students worldwide.
Availability of Practice Tests & Mock Exams
Taking exams means crossing a minefield. You have to prepare for them elaborately and give your best shot in order to avert failure and to snatch the highest grade. Where before students had to engage in self-tests and resort to other mechanisms as means of preparation, they have the perfect practicing arsenal at their disposal, all thanks to the internet.
Yes, with the exams coming up, students don’t have to be at a loss anymore, because now, they can download practice test sheets and mock papers from educational websites like UES Education or ETS for free. They can also get these tests checked by pedagogical authorities as well to see how they score and which points they need to improve on, in order to ace the final exam.
On-the-Go Classrooms & Flexible Lessons
Not only that, the internet has removed the time and space restrictions, which hitherto complicated the acquisition of education. Students don’t have to commute to their academic institutions at a pre-defined time.
Instead, they can take virtual classes from their instructors on the go. All they have to do is download the standard videoconferencing applications on their smart devices and continue their academic trajectory in a much more flexible manner.
These applications provide a set of handy tools to students, which allow them to take their academic learning above and beyond the scope of a physical classroom. For instance, they can record and save virtual lessons on Skype, and play the recordings again and again to catch a point they might’ve overlooked in real-time.
Encouragement of Class Participation & Opinion Building
Class participation is a vital part of the educational experience. It teaches students to articulate their opinions, ideas, and thoughts boldly, and partake in essential discourses, thus creating a constructive learning environment.
While it increases the self-esteem of many students, the sheer “openness” of class participation is not for everyone. Some students are naturally shy and indisposed to speak out.
This is where internet connectivity does its magic. Distance learning gives shy students an anonymous advantage and they feel empowered to participate in the discussions from behind their technological screens, post their opinions, debate with their peers in the chat forum, and raise important questions in the online classroom.
Seamless Communication & Peer Collaboration
One of the most interesting aspects of classroom life is a group project, which incites creativity and a sense of collaboration among the students – the fundamental skills needed for surviving in the later years. The internet liberates students even in this regard. How?
By enabling them to effortlessly interact with their peers via email, chat messengers, social media, and whatnot, and work on the projects together. With the gates to the World Wide Web open for them 24/7, students can inculcate the latest research and technological tools into their group assignments and impress their instructors to no end.
Opportunities for Self-Learning & Self-Improvement
The virtual world of the internet is not limited to strict educational resources. It is a bottomless repository of information and knowledge, which exceeds the boundaries of academia.
Students can learn about anything and everything, from the latest developments in AI to Python programming, filing taxes to understanding business trends, touring Google Earth to walking down the memory lane back to the period of Renaissance, etc.
They can find free or paid online courses taught by instructors from Harvard, Stanford, and other Ivy League institutions, which they might not be able to afford in real life. This is how the internet presents countless opportunities to students for self-learning, self-improvement, and self-development, as long as they keep the spark of curiosity ignited.
Chance of Saving & Earning Money Online
For a student, expenses are a major burden. They take loans to complete their educational journeys and spend the greater years of their prime in paying them back.
The internet and its virtual model of education help students save money on accommodation, travel, and other expenses. What’s more, it also allows them to earn money online in a number of ways, ranging from freelancing to blogging.
The Final Verdict
Considering the aforementioned educational benefits of the internet, we can safely say that internet access is surely good for students. Not just good, it is a necessity for them to progress in a rapidly evolving world.
