What are the benefits and drawbacks of virtual schools and virtual universities?
Virtual schools , virtual universities or e-learning are online lessons held via the internet, in which students attend their classes by just logging on.
So, are virtual lessons beneficial? Or there are some drawbacks or side effects to them?
It’s true that virtual schools or virtual universities have many advantages like the freedom of having personalized lessons anywhere, at anytime and at one’s own pace and rhythm.
Moreover, many e-learners do feel better because they no longer suffer from bustling
or bullying. They can study in more confidence and freedom because all they have to do is log on
and start texting. In addition, online schools and online universities enforce no rules to their students and are less expensive .Besides, cyber learners don’t have busy schedule thus they have more time
for their favorite pastimes. Even more ,they don’t have to carry heavy bags and uniforms
many times each day.
Nevertheless, virtual schools and virtual universities does have drawbacks .First, contrary to traditional schools, they do not have a place where students acquire not only learning skills but also social and behavioral skills which are of great importance to their emotional development.
As a result, cyber learners will be more susceptible to psychological problems like
loneliness, isolation,… .Furthermore, sitting all sessions-long with one’s eyes glued on
the computer‘s screen may cause many physical problems like eye-aches, headaches,…
Last but not least, e-learners, whose study involves a lot of sitting, will suffer from backaches,
weight and other diseases.
To sum up, virtual schools and virtual universities are only good in certain circumstances and only for certain categories of people like children who are handicapped and can’t move about or university students who have other responsibilities and can’t attend traditional universities.
