Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Online Tutorials

Online Tutorials

Online tutorial is the process of tutoring through internet, i.e, virtual environment in which tutors and learners are separated by time and space. Online tutorials are similar to face-to-face lectures. They generally consist of information structured by the teacher in a way that will (hopefully) facilitate learning. Tutorials are often enhanced by features such as multimedia (sound, pictures, movies, and animations), links to online resources (full-text journal articles or related websites) and other areas within the course, and self-assessment tools. The tutoring may take the form of a group of learners simultaneously logged in and receiving instruction from a single tutor, also known as many-to-one tutoring. Another form of tutoring, called peer tutoring, involves peers (i.e., fellow-students) within a course or subject tutoring each other, and this may also be conducted as online tutoring over an online conferencing interface. Asynchronous online tutoring is tutoring offered in a format in which the learner submits a question and the tutor responds at a later time. The learner and the tutor need not be online at the same time. Synchronous online tutoring involves a shared interface, such that both the tutor and the learner (or a group of learners) are online at the same time.

Advantages of online tutorials:
1.      Users can proceed through a training program at their own pace and at their own place. They can also access the training at any time, receiving only as much as they need. In other words, “just in time and just enough."
2.      Collaborative and exploratory learning environments
3.      Travel cost and time savings - Learning is delivered directly to the learner instead of the other way around
4.      One of the best advantages of online classes is flexibility. A student can usually take the course any time during the day or week
5.      Course material is accessible 24-hours a day, 7 days-a-week and can be reviewed as many times as necessary
  1. Reduces travel time and travel costs for off-campus students
  2. Students can study anywhere they have access to a computer and Internet connection

Disadvantages:
1.      One of the disadvantage of online tutorials is the complete lack of supervision. While there may be deadlines and expectations from the online course instructor, there is no one there to remind him/her to do the assignments or to take the tests.
2.      A student who does not have Internet skills cannot expect to do well with an online course. A student taking an online course must have access to a computer.
3.      How does a parent or student know that the online tutor is qualified to give help, as opposed to simply giving answers to the learner?


References:

No comments:

Post a Comment