The benefits and drawbacks of online learning

Whether you're a high-school teacher looking to engage your students in a more interactive way, or a corporate trainer  hired  by  a  large  company  to  design  training curricula, e-learning packs a punch when it comes to benefits  that make the creation and delivery processes easier and hassle-free.  Important benefits are outlined below:
No Boundaries, No Restrictions

Along with locational restrictions, time is one of the issues that learners and teachers both have to face in learning.   In   the   case   of   face-to-face   learning,   the location limits attendance to a group of learners who have the ability to participate in the area, and in the case of time, it limits the crowd to those who can attend at a specific time. E-learning, on the other hand, facilitates learning without having to organize when and where everyone who is interested in a course can be present.

More Fun

Designing a course in a way that makes it interactive and fun through the use of multimedia or the more recently developed methods of gamification (further discussed in later chapters) enhances not only your engagement factor, but also the relative lifetime of the course material in question

Cost Effective 

This is directed to both learners and teachers, but there is a good chance that whatever your role you had to pay exorbitant amounts of money at some point to acquire updated  versions  of  textbooks  for  school  or  college. While textbooks often become obsolete after a certain period of time, the need to constantly acquire new editions is not present in e-learning.

It Just Fits!

As companies and organizations adopt technologies to improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations, the use of the  internet becomes a necessity. As  multinational corporations expand across the globe, the chances of working with people from other countries increases, and training all those parties together is an issue that e- learning successfully addresses.

Let's blend all of that together and apply it in a real-life scenario:

In an effort to enhance the credibility of course material, oftentimes a professor will summon a field specialist to give a lecture relevant to the topic at hand. In the traditional  model  of  education,  the  professor  would have to extend an invitation to said expert, and incur the costs of his flight, stay and training With e-learning:

With e-learning the professor has the ability to host a guest lecture without having to spend much money. It can be done virtually, with cameras for both the lecturer and the students, and with the use of microphones to facilitate the same level of interaction that would be possible if the lecturer were  physically present in the room. The added benefit comes in when we are able to replay the lecture and gain even more out of it. Students that missed out can view the recording, or students that attended can watch it again to further their understanding

Concerns that arise with e-learning

Even  given  all  the  benefits  of  e-learning,  one  cannot deny there are some drawbacks. Practical skills are somewhat harder to pick up from online resources. For example, although building a wooden table is something you can easily share information about, record videos of and explain, the practical experience is essential. Pottery and car engineering are examples of skills that require hands-on experience

Isolation 

Though e-learning offers ease, flexibility and the ability to  remotely  access  a  classroom  in  the  student’s  own time, learners may feel a sense of isolation. This is because learning online is a solo act for the most part, which may give the learner the feeling that they are acting completely alone. As technology progresses and e-learning benefits from the advancements being made, learners can now engage more actively with professors or other students using tools such as video conferencing, social media, and discussion forums amongst others.

Health Related Concerns

E-learning  requires  the  use  of  a  computer  and  other such devices; this means that eyestrain, bad posture and other physical problems may affect the learner. When running an online course it’s a good practice to send out guidelines  about  correct  sitting  posture,  desk  height, and recommendations for regular breaks.