The face-to-face learning approach is what many find to be the most effective way to share knowledge and skills, and interact with teachers and peers. However, in recent years we have seen the process of online learning popularize extensively. Especially with the rise of Covid-19 when the world was forced to go into a lockdown and there were very limited options left to stay connected. And though e-platforms were a huge boon and made us realise that online education is a very feasible alternative, most still favour face-to-face learning. This is mostly due to challenges such as digital illiteracy and technophobia.
Although governments, schools and universities around the world are in favour of this development, it’s important for us to do our research in getting to know the real strengths and weaknesses of this shift before we embrace it completely. So here’s a SWOT analysis of online learning for you!
SWOT Analysis of Online Learning
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT is an analysis of all the strong and weak points of an idea, concept or project. Along with the opportunities, that is, the positive situations that harness changes in the market and threats; the negatives that hinder growth.
Analysing SWOT helps you get a more clear picture of how the present and future looks like of any plan. If the strengths and opportunities are more than the weakness and threats then it is a risk worth taking.
Strengths of Online Education
- Increased level of flexibility. Learn from anywhere that has an internet connection.
- Courses are accessible 24×7.
- Wide range of course options.
- A chance to interact with people from around the world/ country.
- Increased individual attention. If you choose the right online teaching/ learning platform it gets even easier to connect one-on-one.
- The ability to work and learn at the same time.
- More time in hand for both the students and faculty to work on themselves and upskill.
Weaknesses of Online Education
- Lack of discipline and management.
- Creates a sense of isolation.
- Increased chance of procrastination, plagiarism, and fraud.
- F2F enables better student evaluation.
- Getting tech-savvy requires time and effort.
Opportunities for Online Education
- Most learners today take up at least one online course.
- 77% of academic leaders state that learning outcomes in online education are the same or superior to that of face-to-face education.
- Easy access to enrollment throughout the year.
- Technology provides new and existing ways of learning.
- Opportunity to stay academically engaged for retired faculty.
- Enhances regional and local educational opportunities.
- Expansion of technology in all sectors.2
Threats of Online Education
- Parents may be unwilling to pay when faced with expensive private university tuition.
- Faculty have the fear of not being the key source of information.
- Increased cost to create and maintain the database.
- Strong market competition.
- Difficulty in engaging with one another, especially in big-sized classes.
Conclusion
Since the strengths and opportunities outtake the weakness and threats, it does seem like something worth venturing into. And the increasing popularity of the same makes it clear that online education is perhaps the future.
Moreover, according to KPMG India and Google, online education in India has some major drivers that amp its popularity, which are:
- the phenomenal growth in Internet and smartphone penetration
- low cost of online education
- digital-friendly government policies and
- increased demand by working professionals for continuing education.
The best part is online education only requires you to have a good internet connection, mobile/ laptop/ computer, and a learning management system. And a good online teaching app can help both students and teachers ease their tasks.
While almost everyone has a mobile or laptop today, the internet is available almost everywhere, and there are multiple courses to choose from, all one has to make sure of is to choose the right online coaching app!