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The good things with studying online.

Ireland is a walker’s paradise. I suggest you listen to a lecture while out for a walk and it will speak to you in a different way. (Picture by John Mugumya)

Last week I wrote about the challenges of studying exclusively online.

I got some feedback that I had left out many challenges, but I wish to remind readers that unless stated, what I write here are my reflections which are not backed by any kind of research study.

This week, as promised, I will flip the coin and write about the things I like about studying online.

  1. Flexibility

The first thing I like about this mode of study as opposed to face-to-face is the flexibility this affords me. Last week I mentioned two news articles from Sweden where university enrolments went up 13% and, in the UK, where enrolments went up 3.5%. Reading those articles, you notice that many people chose to sign up to study this year because they believed they had more time to spare. Some were laid off; some were working less while others were working from home. Others maybe have decided to enrol because the pubs and nightclubs are closed.

We sometimes do not know how much time we spend socialising until the pub is shut down and suddenly, you have four hours you can utilise every evening.

When you put a professor and lecture materials online, you make it easy for many people to access them. Even if one has work to do for most of the day, they can access the lectures because almost all engagement with the professors is asynchronous and the synchronous activities are recorded for those who cannot attend the live events.

There is a timetable, you know when the lecture materials will be uploaded, but there is no pressure to access the materials immediately they are made available.

All this contrasts with face-to-face in-person study where one must attend the lectures, or they miss out.

  1. Cheaper

There have been grumblings amongst the student community at UL that the university should have reduced tuition after going all online for the academic year. That’s a story for another day. But the undeniable fact is that studying online is cheaper. It cuts out the cost of commuting to campus.

You don’t have to rent expensive student accommodation, you can study from home, the only costs are broadband and maybe computers. For me and I believe for many students, broadband and laptops are like taxes, so they’re not new costs.

  1. Adoptable

I don’t know about you but, I used to find attending lectures in person an ordeal. The lecture halls used to be cramped and the public address system always had issues. Even when classes were smaller, somehow something used to go wrong.

Either the lecturer would be late, or too fast or boring. With online study, the UL lecturers provide us with several options for accessing lecture materials. You can review presentation slides, download audio files, or watch the whole thing as a video. I normally watch the Panopto videos but what I like the most are the downloadable audio files. I have realised that for the complicated topics, it’s always helpful listening to the lecturer while out on a walk. 

When your mind is focused on just what you are listening to, the spoken word, I have come to realise, always comes alive. There is always some magic when you listen to music while out on a walk, the same with podcasts and audiobooks. I have since realised that the same magic happens when you listen to your lecturer while getting lost on a trail in the woods. Try it.

  1. Read, Review, Repeat

There will always be some complicated topics that need more than just one read-through and online study makes it very easy to read, review and repeat. As many times as you like.

I can make notes on the slides and I can pause, I can rewind and fast forward until I get it.

You can play around with the lecture material in any way you want. You can airplay it to the TV, you can even go to sleep with it on replay.

One student confessed that she found the delivery of one lecturer a bit slow-paced and on Panopto she increased the playback speed and liked it.

The fact that you are in full control makes it very easy to interact with the material.

With face-to-face in-person delivery, you either get it when the lecturer gives it to you, or it’s gone.

Till next week.

John

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