Zachary Lyman
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The time I saved by utilizing online and blended classes has allowed me to enroll in extracurricular courses, take internships, and make more investments towards my future.
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– Zachary Lyman
Online education is changing the world. The internet offers unprecedented accessibility. Online and blended classes allow anyone to learn anything through their opportunities, affordability, and lack of boundaries. Many subjects are not available in conventional schools. Whenever I find a unique or specific interest, such as electronic circuitry or aviation science, I go to the internet to find a course. Even if the subject is taught in school, students may have trouble receiving the information from a particular teacher. Not only does the internet offer a class in almost any subject, there are multiple teachers offering the same class. Different teaching styles allow students to find a tutor who engages and intrigues them. Whenever I search for an online class, I try to find courses which are not time sensitive, have videos of lectures, and automatically grade tests. The advantages of these criteria are that I am able to replay points for review, work at my own pace, and after I take a test, I can receive feedback immediately, while the subject matter is fresh in my mind.
Another beauty of online learning is the mitigation of expenses. Without classrooms, papers, or travel, students have fewer costs to cover. In fact, many prewritten online courses are completely free! If you still need to interact with others however, blended classes are available. A classroom is used as little as only one day out of the week. After meeting for a lecture, the rest of the coursework is done over the internet. Although blended classes are usually not free, they still greatly reduce the cost of learning. One of my favorite blended classes was an American Government course. Every Monday the teacher gave a lecture in a rented room. Students were given the opportunity to express their ideas and ask questions. The class also devoted time to the portion of our group projects which required an in person meeting. The rest of the work could be done at home over group chats. We were given daily assignments for the rest of the week, which could be completed and submitted online. One day a week was sufficient time to ask the teacher any questions I had about the course, and I did not need to pay for gas to drive to a daily class.
Above all, online classes allow students to learn wherever they are. I personally live on a ranch in rural Texas. The nearest city where I can take classes is 45 minutes away. Being able to study from home gives me the opportunity to spend more time studying and less time commuting. I used to be enrolled in a school far away from home with a conventional daily schedule. At one point, I sat down and did the math to determine just how much time I was wasting in the car every week. It was not worth the drive! After this realization, I talked to my parents and asked to be homeschooled. I began taking classes online wherever possible and enrolling in classes that only met once or twice a week rather than daily.
The time I saved by utilizing online and blended classes has allowed me to enroll in extracurricular courses, take internships, and make more investments towards my future. Online and blended learning has a lot to offer, and the potential to make an incredible impact on our society. Education is the foundation of society. It is the means by which we better ourselves and our posterity. With online tools, education is becoming more effective and available to a wider audience.