How good are online education systems?

Preparing students today for tomorrow's workforce has a lot to do with teaching about how to use and evaluate knowledge. Online students can be better retained, experience greater course satisfaction, and learn more in less time with greater ease and confidence when an online course is linked to an Academic Support System and is designed with activities and information that assist them to become a collegial group and to learn more effectively and efficiently.

Students in online education typically acquire knowledge in a unidirectional manner first (e.g. by studying a video, reading a textbook chapter). Subsequent discussions of problems solving exercises, case studies, review questions, etc. help the students to understand better what they learned before. Electronic media like a discussion forum, chat room, voice mail, e-mail, etc. are often employed for communication.

What makes an online program strong is the quality and frequency of teacher communication. There are phone calls and e-mails that teachers use to respond to student work. There are many hours of back and forth interaction between student and teacher. Teachers judge the student's progress not based on amount of time student is logged into the system but on what the student is doing while logged on and showing the teacher with his work.

Online tutor’s roles and activities are slightly different from those required in a face-to-face class.

• They teach, motivate and direct students while maintaining high interest and achievement.

• They should be able to effectively interact with different populations of students at a variety of academic levels.

• They coach, assess and provide subject-matter expertise: they're experts but also motivators and even technical support people.

• They bring the subject up to date with online digital resources and make it much more accessible.

The core skills of a good tutor are unlikely to change with a different delivery method.

• Good organization
• Familiarity with the structure of the course
• Subject expertise
• Enthusiasm
• Ability to deploy resources effectively
• Good relationships with learners
• Ability to communicate
• Flexible approach.

Online Tutor’s give students the advantage of working with easier lessons (review) and those that are more challenging. Most children have difficulty in learning because their academic skills are not at the level that they should be. Other children may have problems with concentration, confidence, behavior, motivation, or general test-taking skills. Online education helps to overcome all these problems.

Teachers often remind students of deadlines, overdue work, and their current grades whereas online Tutors with parents assisting, schedule their own learning time and to monitor their own scores for quizzes and exams. Teachers can usually be found in their classrooms throughout the day whereas Online Tutor can be contacted anytime 24/7 via email. Response is within twenty-four hours.

We are having a degree of success with at-risk students because we don't penalize them for the time it takes them to learn and to grow. They learn that they can do the work, at their own pace. As we work with them and see their deficiencies, we teach them the skills they need to progress. Once they trust they can do it, they step up on their own to read and think about new things and try new activities. This is the benefit some of our at-risk students are getting from online education

Kim Wilzon
260 Park Street
Miami, Florida, 72341
This article on Online Education is written on behalf of Transwebtutors.com. Find Online Tutoring, Homework help, Assignment solution services for Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Accounts and all common Sciences in Transwebtutors.com