On-line education is an effective way to get the necessary knowledge and to obtain the online certificate of degree. It is also the easiest way to get some additional education in case you want to be qualified at the upper level. Online education offers more possibilities in time flexibility and communication. Such kind of education was developed for the employed adults that do not have enough time to be engaged in full-time education. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the matters of time management and andragogic approach to on-line education, to find out its communicative aspect, and to assess whether it is reasonable to evaluate the level of readiness of the introduction of the education through the internet for the adult generation.
While studying online, an adult faces many difficulties and opportunities in terms of time management. On the one hand, for adult educators through the internet, it is always easier to study, especially when are employed. Hence, they could work out their own schedule of training according to the working timetable. On the other hand, a student should define a fixed degree of time flexibility so that the trainer could have an exact idea about the period of completing the term papers of dissertations. In this case, the problem is that there might appear a divergence of paper submission deadlines. Considering the team virtual projects, time management must be accorded with other trainees (Kidd 2009). Hence, some additional skills are required for the online projects that require a good command of some specific software that is the only means for creating some team presentations. For example, it is necessary to know how to work with PowerPoint or Microsoft Project. Anyway, a matter of time is one of the most challenging issues for adult learners since they are limited by time. Analysis shows that the most effective time management for working parents learning on-line must be more flexible and exclude the days off since that time is mostly devoted to the decision of family problems. In contrast with traditional education, it is less time consuming since for adult it is difficult to drive to the campus do not justify the quality of training. Instead, online education gives more space for scheduling thus giving freedom of choice.
Then, virtual education for adults is self-motivated in most cases since it is directed at the professional development of advanced training. Regarding this, adult learners are inclined to use the andragogical approach in studying which implies self-directness and independence. In addition, such kind of training develops professional skills arising out of life situations and experience. Another significant reason of self-motivation is the internal curiosity and eagerness for self-improvement. For working people that have families but have no time to study, online learning is the only way out (Gibbons0 2004), which is especially true when the trainee is an adult. In other words, grown-ups will feel much more comfortable when learning remotely since especially for those who are bound by families. In addition, some adults will not feel at ease if they are considered as mere students but not as persons with shaped personalities, which is one more ground to learn online.
Motivation to continue the education may also consist in adult aspiration to get more opportunities for career development. Access to the internet gives such a possibility even for those countries that have no accredited online courses. Anyway, such a training course provides extra information that would affiliate the career promotion.
The main drawback of online education is the lack of live communication that is of great value for such professions when face-to-face communication is crucial. Regarding this, on-line communication is the best alternative for it. Hence, internet conversation maybe even more intense than face-to-face communication. To put it in other words, online learning challenges as far as cultural and social issues are concerned. The problem is aggravated when there is a great controversy in cultural and ethical norms that further affect relationships in the real world (Schoenholtz-Read 2009). Virtual conversation encourages the creation of virtual communities that implies more data-consuming information. But as for ethical aspects arising during the conversation, it should be stressed that the online method is more appropriate in this situation. Virtual relationships give the possibility to blur the boundaries between the formal and informal conversation but it does not presuppose the identification of the type of personality. The online community can face adversity while taking an important decision that might cause some misunderstanding and uncertainness. On the other hand, sometimes cooperation through the internet is the only way to achieve some results.
Learning online could also be difficult for the older generation because of a lack of experience in working with computers and software. In that, adults may face some difficulties succeeded by the impossibility to obtain the degree. Moreover, to study technology, a person requires some spare time, which is hard to find for the employer. Therefore, to be successful in e-studying, it is necessary to integrate into the process of technological advancement and to keep pace time and with the latest news in this sphere. In addition, to achieve the comfort level in the technology sphere it would be desirable to have some additional courses if possible.
As for me, I am working as a teacher and therefore I face daily communication with people. To achieve the higher result in my profession and I have entered online courses. Since I am computer user-friendly, it makes no difficult to successfully engages in on-line education.
Next, after consideration of the issues of time management, it should be stressed that online education provides more chances to work out my own timetable so that I have sufficient time for my work and family. In addition, my strong belief is that since e-communication implies more challenges and difficulties because of cultural and social diversity, this kind of conversation will only contribute to my communicative skills and will make me more adjustable to contradicting situations. Concerning the aspect of self-motivation, I am persuaded that virtual courses fit my requirements perfectly since it satisfies my needs of self-improvement and facilitates my career promotion. Consequently, I was also convinced that the conventional learning paradigm is out of fashion and is not so efficient as the andragogical approach since it has more advantages taking into consideration the rapid development of the technology. This new approach based on self-motivation and self-realization greatly encourages working people to learn further. In addition, such a method of training is more appropriate for the employed people since they have more possibilities to face experience.
Reference
Kidd, T.T. 2009 Online Education and Adult Learning: New trends for Teaching Practices. Idea Group Inc, US.
Gibbons, H. S., Wenthworth, G, T., 2004 ‘Androgogical and Pedagogical Training Differences for Online Instructors’ Brenau University, Georgia.
Schoenholtz-Reed, J., Rudestam, K. E. 2009 Handbook of Online learning, SAGE, US.