Education Part 1

Early forms of electronic education began back in the 1960’s when professors experimented using computers to teach children subjects such as mathematics and literature. Since then, many more teaching programmes have been developed. Different types of online education also exist such as education websites and online examination programmes.

Revision websites

One of the main forms of online education are exam revision materials and preparation. Revision websites such as BBC Bitesize and My Maths are popular examples of websites students can revise from. Most subjects are available for all stages of education and school. Furthermore, certain topics of a subject can be chosen and completed. Each topic features information and revision notes which students can revise from. The online tests available from each topic are a unique feature of revision websites. Once they have read the information pages, students can take the test and immediately receive their test score.

This instant feedback of the test is another feature of the revision websites. The feedback and test score allows students to analyse their performance. If a most of the answers were incorrect, the student would know that they need to revise the topic again. If their revision was successful, then the student can remember the correct methods of answering the question in the exam. This is why the instant feedback and online tests are important to both the students and the website.

An example of instant online feedback from my maths.

There are also both advantages and disadvantages to revision websites. One advantage of online revision would be location. As long as the student would have internet access, they could revise from anywhere at any time, therefore making revision more convenient. Online revision can also fit into any time of the day whereas revision from textbooks and written notes take time to prepare. Another advantage of online revision is the teacher access. On some revision sites such as My Maths, teachers can set work for students and grade them. Working with the teacher on revision can help some students and make revision a lot easier for them.

However, there are also disadvantages to online revision compared to using books and notes. The main disadvantage would be distractions. Being online, a student revising may be tempted into visiting other websites instead of revision. When using a textbook, there is less temptation to do something else other than revision. Another disadvantage of online revision is that using a text book can be more practical for some students. Revision websites require internet access which is not available everywhere yet.

Facebook is a common example of an online revision distraction.







Exam board websites

Most exam boards have websites which students can visit for educational purposes. On these websites, students can find past papers, grade boundaries and examination dates are all available. This is helpful for students so that they can find out more about their exams.

Online Assessments

Along with other form of online education, online assessments were created to help improve the performance of students. Different types of assessment tasks are available for students to complete. The teacher can set an online assessment for the students to complete by a deadline. The students complete this assessment electronically and sent it back to the teacher via the computer. Instant feedback can also be given. This is one advantage of online assessments. Another advantage of online assessments are the range of types available. For example, students can complete individual assessments or work in a group instead. However, students can copy work from other students or online sources without permission. This is known as plagiarism. Another disadvantage of online assessments is that some work could potentially be lost due to technical faults within the system, meaning that time could be wasted.

Sites such as Wikipedia are online sources. This means that students can access and copy information from them when completing online assessments.

Online Exams

Like other forms of online education, online exams are similar to their non-electronic component. Online exams can also be set by a teacher for students to complete. A range of different topics and subjects are available in exam form and the students complete them as they would a normal exam. One advantage of online examinations are that they are quicker to mark than normal exams. Another advantage of online exams is that the number of questions and the time allowed can be set according to the situation. This would be very useful for teachers. However, cheating is harder to spot than in real exams. This would unfairly boost the grade of cheating students and therefore, giving them an unfair advantage. Another disadvantage of online exams would be slow connection or other technical faults are weaknesses that real exams would not have to face.

An example of an online exam taking place.

Examples of Online Research

Since the 90’s, the internet has grown to include a total of 232 million websites. Among these many websites, two of these are ideal sources of information and research. The first website, Wikipedia is a free site which has millions of pages for each subject and topic imaginable. One advantage of Wikipedia is that it is the perfect source of research for classwork/homework. However, many students misuse the site for plagiarism reasons. This can also question the trustworthiness of Wikipedia due to the fact anyone can edit an article.

The other website for research is YouTube. Because YouTube has millions of videos for almost everything, there are reasonable amounts of research and educational videos online. However, in most schools, YouTube is classified as an unsuitable website to student learning. Although this could be because many students would also misuse YouTube to watch videos not related to work.

There are also a number of forums built especially for students. These forums allow students in similar situations in education to discuss a certain issue or topic. Topics can range from examinations to a section of a subject. This is considered to be an advantage for student forums. Another advantage of student forums would be that students can answer common questions for each other. However, one disadvantage of student forums would be spamming and ‘Trolling’ are likely unless the forum is moderated.  TES and The Student Room are two examples of popular student forums.

The logo for The Student Room, a forum dedicated to daily school life and issues.