According to the results of the public consultation of the 2020 European Union Education and Training data, almost 60% of the surveyed families had not used distance and online learning before the health crisis.

In addition, 95% believe that the pandemic represents a point of no return for the use of technology in education and training, more than 60% of respondents believe that their digital skills have improved during the crisis, and more than 50% plan to continue with online training. For all this, we believe it is necessary to analyze what are all the advantages and disadvantages of studying online.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of taking free courses? Thanks to new technologies, today we can choose a resource for training from home. Today we tell you why and why not to online resources.

New technologies have created the possibility of doing something that was previously unthinkable: the opportunity to access training without the need to be present. Something that has become fashionable in recent years and with quite good results. Technological advances make lifestyles change, companies must adapt to a totally unknown environment such as the digital world. As jobs are changing, it is no longer necessary to attend a physical job but can easily work from home, the so-called telecommuting.

And is that all the comments so far have been mostly favorable. Doing something from home without having to move can be an advantage or a disadvantage and today we want to tell you why.

I started taking a free online course in which all we had to do was read the 15 topics of the course, watch a video per topic, and a SlideShare presentation to complement the training. Interesting at first, boring at the end. From my point of view, there is no more motivation than what you have. I remember the English classes in Ireland: you met people, different points of view were given, topics were raised to debate that one cannot do alone at home. It may be an important and comfortable resource, but we completely lose the ability to relate to others and especially the fact of being able to learn something new from other people and from you.

What are the advantages of taking free online courses?

Most people opt for distance learning courses for convenience. There are certain benefits of free online training, something that years ago was unthinkable and that we can do today.

You are not going to leave your home to access quality training. For that, UNED was created, an institution dedicated to those who want to receive academic training at a distance. Without any type of mobility, you can perfectly do everything from home, which is something that many people value when it comes to moving around.

You can do a free distance course from the beach. It’s summer, why not? Being through the computer you can be taking a course from anywhere in the world, either on the beach or in Malabo. This is another advantage when taking a distance course.

Schedule flexibility when it comes to hard work. They say that telecommuting is working, the fact of working from home makes employees happier thanks to the flexibility of entering and leaving work. The same happens when you do a distance course. You choose when to do it and you are the one who sets the schedules.

You will save time when it comes to moving, either by public transport or parking your car. You will have some extra time to be able to invest it in the course itself.

Continuous training, that is, if we want to do three courses instead of one, let’s think if they were face-to-face and coincide at the same time. It would be practically impossible. However, by not being face-to-face, we have the possibility of obtaining continuous training and we set the limit ourselves. There are many offers on the Internet, but while looking for free courses, I came across Shoppok. Free seminars and webinars are what you need to start your online learning journey.

Cons of free online courses

Not everything is as beautiful as it is painted and we find certain disadvantages when it comes to taking distance courses that we may not think about before signing up.

Guaranteed distraction when getting to work. When you are in a face-to-face class it is almost impossible to be distracted, however, imagine the number of things to do at home to be paying attention to an online course.

It requires self-discipline as well as almost anything, but in this case, you must be the one who sets the limits, schedules, and efforts. Something similar to being self-taught with a few resources to be able to obtain quality training.

No interaction with other colleagues. As I said before, the English classes I attended made me reinforce the language but also meet people with whom I maintain contact today. Taking a distance course means not having any interaction and therefore loneliness on the part of the student. Social values ​​are not transmitted nor is there constant communication between the tutor and the student.

It requires the handling of new technologies. Distance education will require us to adapt to new resources, programs, applications, or platforms to be able to access documents and files. Unlike traditional training, it requires dealing with a minimal level of computer science.

Making a balance of the pros and cons we find that neither everything is bad nor everything is good. It is a matter of adapting to the needs of each one, the time available, and the desire to continue training constantly. What do you think of this type of distance course?

Last but not the least, free courses are always incomplete. You have to pay a premium price in order to access quality training materials and resources.

Where education is going

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a great educational revolution. Not only in terms of the influence of technology, but also in terms of the learning methodology.

We have moved from a standardized system focused on the teacher, content, and memorization to a personalized model focused on the student, practical learning, and teamwork.

At The Globe Formación we believe in the new education 5.0, in which face-to-face and online education must collaborate with one another with a single objective: to provide students with an effective, continuous, and updated education.

Conclusion

Online courses are a novelty in the educational world. But are they going to replace traditional education? Do not.

Online free courses are not made for all people or studies. Traditional education will exist anyway, but online education will become more and more present in our daily lives.