Online Learning – The Best Advice I got!

As a parent of two daughters trying best to give my children the best of education in an environment under so much change is obviously overwhelming especially with online learning. On one end, I don’t want to interfere with the school’s way of doing things and the responsibility they bear. My interference in the long-run may do more damage than good – there is of course a reason why I am not a teacher – that’s not my profession and I am terrible at it.

On the other end, a combination of globalization, ease of communication with relative and friends, and accessibility together with low cost of technology for online learning has created an uneasiness where I cannot help but compare myself against my fellow parents in other countries – be it UK, USA or India. As with other “ailments” – this uneasiness has too been given a name – atelophobia – “the fear of not being doing enough.”

With this in mind – is there truly a middle ground? Can we better manage our impulse to do more without compromising our child’s learning? Like everything in life – the best way to make a decision is to seek expert advice – ask your child’s teacher as they KNOW best how to supplement your child’s education. This could be native language, dance, art, or music classes.

Great Candidates for Online Learning

• Native Language
• Cultural / Religious
• Music / Art

Once you have agreed with your child’s teacher on which courses to take online and how frequently – what is online learning and can it bring value to your child’s education? Online learning can take many forms: live instructor (tutor) led session – synchronous learning; a recorded self-paced session – asynchronous learning; and hybrid sessions. To see the difference – please checkout this article from The Best Schools which also discusses the advantages and disadvantages.

When most parents hear the word online learning, they can’t quite envision it, but when students hear the word online tutoring, they are intrigued. Online learning allows a tutor and student to communicate from computer to computer. Most online tutoring sessions take place inside an online classroom.

Many online learning services offer a whiteboard so words can be written or drawn with the mouse and keyboard. Online tutoring classrooms also offer . This means both the student and tutor can speak through the computer as long as both have a microphone and speakers.

Once the parent understands the concept of online tutoring, they are often times amazed. Their child can ask any question and the tutor is able to walk the student through the entire problem solving process and help the student to solve each problem. This one on one communication is what most students need to overcome learning obstacles.

In the classroom, most students are left behind if they don’t ask specific questions to help them understand what they are learning. Once a student starts falling behind, tutoring must be provided to prevent failing grades. Often times a personal face to face tutor intimidates students and still might not help.

Online tutoring allows any student to get the one on one attention they need without the intimidation factor. Students feel comfortable learning online and the fact that each lesson can be printed is a wonderful study tool.

If you never tried online tutoring, I suggest you give it a try and allow your child to learn online. The cost is usually less than a private tutor and you won’t have to drive and worry about scheduling issues. Your child can learn from any computer as long as there is an internet connection.

On a personal note, my daughter has been taking online learning for Guitar and Yoga for 4 months – it helped identify key strengths and areas we would supplement face-to-face learning with.