We are happy today to announce the winner of our recent $100 Scholarship to help pay for online courses: Congratulations to Goodness Mbhele!
Thank you to everyone who applied to the scholarship and for their essays about online learning. Below you will find the winning essay “Learning Online” from Goodness, and in the coming days we will share more great essays from other scholarship applicants.
Learning online
by Goodness Mbhele
While classrooms and lecturers are the epitome of learning institutions, this however is not the only way a person can further their skills or pursue a high earning career.
A trend sweeps the stage of education best described as online learning. This cost effective, accessible and flexible tool allows the student to chase his or her dream without the commitment of the classroom. As the pandemic shocked the world with its widespread infection rates scholars were forced to put on hold their studies and educational institutions scrabbled about on how to handle the stream of enquiries students had about their studies.
Universities and colleges were left with no option but to utilize distance learning. Although this slowed down the concerns of learners it did not solve the problem of unavailable lecturers and systems crashing. This is where online learning bridges the gap.
The cost of education is a huge concern amongst upcoming learners and parents. People looking to further their skills are searching for alternatives that aid them in fulfilling their desires of obtaining better qualification at a cost that best suits their pockets but also allows them to continue to study without having to leave their homes. The mother who is trying to juggle parenthood and work but still wishes to achieve her dreams of becoming an artist can learn at a pace that accommodates her busy schedule.
This is where flexibility comes in, students and prospectives can set their own pace, where they can choose whether to study full-time or part-time without the pressure that conventional learning institutions impose. With the aid of a professional guidance counsellor the learner can more easily balance their jobs, daily life and family commitments.
The other magical word that any learner loves to hear is “accessibility,” not only to their modules but lecturers and lessons. There’s nothing more frustrating than having difficulty understanding a certain topic or subject and having no one to help you through it at a time where you need it most. But online learning offers an incentive of being able to ask your lecturer directly where you are lacking through virtual classrooms and allows you to be able to have a one-one lesson without the noisy distractions that can often happen in a physical classroom. A student of online courses even has the ability to access videos of previous lectures given if he or she was not available to attend a virtual class at the set time.
Now imagine sitting on that favourite couch you like, sipping a hot cup of coffee, tea or whichever beverage tickles your bud, the kids are still at school or it’s your day off from work and there’s nothing more you’d like to do but catch up on some lesson you missed.
You’re binging on the latest classroom chats and you receive a text from your travel agent that your flight is booked for a trip to Thailand because you cashed up on wisdom and listened to your gut that told you to save up on study costs by learning online. Indeed you can have your cake and eat it.
If you are looking for online courses, check out Elektev which searches several top online course sites at once to help you find the best course for you.