After reviewing the negative effects of an online classroom, I compiled a personal list of positive effects that can occur when learning in an online environment:
- Accelerated learning, or learn at your own pace
- Ability to expedite your learning in half, or you can go at your own pace/time
- May become more empowered, independent and vocal
- Students that aren't vocal in a traditional classroom, may feel more comfortable online
- Cost
- As mentioned by Curtis, free credible university credits are available for anyone around the world to use
- Students don't need to go into student debt to learn
- Easy to access anywhere, anytime
- As long as you have internet access, you have the ability to access your virtual classroom from anywhere in the world
- Ability to communicate with people around the world
- You can learn different views, opinions, and culture from other countries
For even more information on how there are positive effects of an online classroom, here is an article that discusses positive effects of internet use for a child which I found very interesting.
I liked reading this Kelsey, because I like seeing the positives as much as seeing the negatives so as not to have a skewed or biased vision of using Social Media for online learning. I was trying to find one point that I thought stood out above the others but they are all equally true! I believe, in many cases, that these 5 positives outweigh the negatives, except for possibly the question of credibility of online degrees. Certainly the cost and ability to accelerate alone make online learning worthwhile. Please take a look at this link, which is an article that reinforces the points you made in a little bit more detail :)
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