Online teaching is a very new addition to the history of education. Hoaxes, rumors, and fake news are very common sights on the landscape of the internet. With the liberty to post just anything and everything, the World Wide Web is no exception to have false narratives and information regarding anything possible. This is the same case on the topic of Online Education. Through this methodology of teaching, education has been made easily available and accessible to both educators as well as students. Today anyone can learn any course, from any distant topography with any good online classes app, like Teachmint. This has also widened the sphere of job opportunities for anyone who wants to teach online and make a living for themselves. With ample opportunities, online education is one of the best teaching options available today. Through this article, we will have a look at all the major myths and false narratives that have been spread on the internet in the light of online education, and bust each one of them!
1. MYTH 1: Online teaching is a time pass concept, and you don’t have to be available in the class while online lectures.
REALITY: Putting together a quality online lecture is not an easy task. It can be really time-consuming in the first go. In the same vein, you have to prepare efficient classroom study material, have conversations with your students and examine their learning, just like in traditional classroom setups. It is as intense and serious as a physical class. Therefore, the main portion for the success of an online class depends solely on a presenters’ creativity.
2. MYTH 2: Little to negligible class participation
REALITY: It is always what you make of it. A well-designed and well-organized online syllabus and course can actually boost participation from your students, who might otherwise, would not be as comfortable in sharing their ideas, viewpoints, perceptions, or thoughts in a physical classroom setup. Such students get the opportunity to express themselves and share their knowledge, without the fear of being judged.
3. MYTH 3: Online education is just an online slides-based presentation.
REALITY: This is not true at all. Although sharing online slide-based presentations really helps in comprehending lectures, but it surely does require a teacher’s interpretation as well. Without your active guidance, presentations are just running text which would only make the online lectures uninteresting for students. This can act as a supplementary tool that you can use to facilitate your skill to teach online, other than that, you cannot depend on it for the entire lecture. This would only decline the engagement factor of your students in a virtual class setup. To teach online, teachers put in a lot of effort.
4. MYTH 4: An online class is less efficient in teaching students as compared to traditional physical classroom setups.
REALITY: Learning objectives are supposed to be similar for online as well as head-to-head classes, and in whichever case, it is the assignments that prop up the learning goals. Research put forward that students are able to learn more in an online lesson when mutual learning modules, critical analysis prompts, and discussion boards are made use of in the teaching process
5. MYTH 5: Physical classrooms are more interactive as compared to online setups.
REALITY: By the means of an online class, the lecturer does not have to depend completely on what they can present. An entire world of assets that can deal with diverse learning styles is obtainable to develop student rendezvous and cultivate an interactive learning milieu. Moreover, online students may have more opportunities to slot in with and learn from each other than in a physical, traditional class.
Teaching is a complex profession and teachers put in their efforts round the clock to ensure that students learn effectively and efficiently. We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the education system and it is safe to say that it is moving in the right direction.