The current global situation concerning COVID-19 has thrust us into working online from our homes. And it is not limited to working adults, the students all around the world are in a similar situation as everyone else. They are forced to study, learn, and submit their assignments using online platforms. These platforms are mainly group video calling applications that have many limitations when it comes to learning online.

While the facilities make students interested in attending the online classes, the limitations are what make them uninterested. Many factors play a vital role in making the student wants to attend and enjoy an online class.

We will use this blog to discuss different reasons behind students’ interest or disinterest in studying online.

Reason Why Students are Interested in Online Classes

As mentioned earlier, online classes provide students with different facilities that make their studying easier and faster. These facilities aren’t available with physical classes. And that is exactly what attracts students to online learning platforms. First, let’s check out all the reasons why students are interested and what motivates them to opt for online classes.

No boundaries for place

When students are learning online, the most they need is a laptop or a smartphone with an active internet connection. This allows them to learn from anywhere they want. They could be in a different country and yet attend their regular online class. This gives them the flexibility of a place that isn’t available with traditional schools.

Time Flexibility

If for some reason, a student is not able to attend the online class, he/she can access the lecture later on whenever they get time, using the online application or website. This makes sure that no student misses any important topic from the course. Teachers can either upload the complete video lecture or distribute topic notes with their students. This isn’t possible with physical traditional schools where if a student missed the class, he/she had to look for notes from their fellow students. It not only took a lot of time but the quality of work also changed as different students have different ways of taking notes that may not be understood by others. The time flexibility that online classes offer is also important for students who need to work part-time.

Easy Access to Education Material

Many times, students cannot understand difficult concepts in one go. So to be able to clearly understand the topics and concepts, students join coaching classes. Again, if the concept is not clear even after being taught at the coaching class, the student can do nothing but rote it without understanding. To promote conceptual learning by understanding the topic, it is important that students can access educational material wherever they need without paying any extra cost for it.

Online learning platforms provide students with this facility. Every lecture taken by a teacher is uploaded on such platforms along with supporting notes. Students then can access these video lectures and notes from the comfort of their surroundings wherever they are and whenever they want. These video lectures and notes are available for free, so students don’t have to pay for hefty coaching fees to study and understand. They can simply log in to their profile and retrieve the topic they need whenever and wherever they want.

Online Exams

Similar to studying, students are also able to give their exams online with the new online learning platforms. They don’t need to go to a specific place when they want to be present for their examination. Similar to studying online, students can also appear for their exams online from whichever place they are. All they need is a laptop or smartphone with an internet connection and they are ready to give the exam.

Cost-Effective

When classes and exams are taken online the educational material needed for learning is also available online which reduces the cost of buying books and other study material. Students can access their classes from the comfort of their home so the cost of transport to and from school also reduces substantially. All this cost reduction makes online learning more affordable as compared to traditional schools. When online learning provides these facilities, it is obvious for students to be attracted to the concept of online learning. Though, there are certain limitations to online classes. These limitations are often realized by students once they start using online learning platforms.

Reason Why Students are Not Interested in Online Classes

Like we said earlier, online classes have as many limitations as they have benefits, if not more. Online learning means the students have to use smart devices and the internet to attend lectures. What could go wrong? Apparently, a lot! Here is the list of limitations that decreases students’ interest in online classes.

Lack of Self-Motivation and Focus

When students are in isolation with no in-person supervision, they tend to get distracted. Especially younger children are extremely distracted when it comes to studying. In such cases, teachers cannot do much about their focus. It depends on students to be self-motivated, enough to attend, and focus on the studies.

No Personal Interaction

Students attending classes online are not able to partake in any kind of personal interaction the way they were used to during classes in regular school. This setting often becomes monotonous with only teachers speaking and students having their smart devices on mute to not create any distraction during the class. But in the end, they turn their focus onto something else.

Isolating Studying Environment

Unlike traditional schools where students were able to study along with their friends, online classes are isolating for students. Students aren’t able to stay connected with their friends and acquaintances. This also plays a major part in student’s disinterest in online classes. Studies show that students are prone to be interested more in studying online if the focus is shifted from singular learning to group or team-based learning.

Unprepared Teachers

Since the pandemic started, teachers were suddenly made to venture into the arena that they weren’t used to, online teaching. And most often than not, teachers used their traditional methods of teaching an online class. But online teaching needed new methods that complemented the online medium. This showed that the teachers were not prepared for the advanced way of teaching. Because of this, students are often confused or unclear about the topic they were taught. This led to another reason behind students’ disinterest in online classes.

Reduced Standard of Education

Often, teachers used simpler topics to teach using online teaching mediums so that students would be able to understand them easily, while the important topics were kept for later when the traditional school starts. This was a good option as it also made sure that the students who were not able to attend the online class may not miss anything substantial.

However, what most hadn’t predicted is the long span of time they have to rely on online classes. It led to teachers then taking up the topics that they previously kept aside. However, the education quality was still compromised. And students recognized it. This makes another reason why students were disinterested in online classes.

How Can We Solve This Problem?

The answer to all the above problems is the use of School Management Systems. These school ERPs are many steps ahead of any other school learning platform as they bridge the gaps between traditional and online learning. School ERP allows students to get all the facilities of online learning while overcoming its limitations.

• • School Management Systems keeps a track of students who attend the class which acts as a driver behind higher attendance of students.
  • Real-time whiteboards sharing and chat allow students to communicate with the teacher during the class without disturbing the flow. This will also bring their focus back to studying and make them feel less isolated.
  • Teachers can evaluate the students from the School ERP application. Based on their performance in the online test they can tell if the student has understood the topic or not.
  • The easy-to-use smartphone application allows teachers to learn the functions quickly. That means they can be perfectly prepared to take the class online.
  • WhatsApp and Messaging integration allows parents to stay in touch with the teachers to know the progress of their child, this way they too can supervise their children’s online studying.

Apart from all these benefits for students, parents, and teachers, school ERPs are a great help to the school administration as well. It takes care of admissions, student and employee management, teachers and staff management, Library, hostel, and inventory management, and allows them to always stay in contact with parents and teachers. Hence, school management systems are a great technological help to students whether they are teaching online or traditionally in classrooms.

EndNote

There is no doubt that online classes are a step ahead in the technological advancement of the education system in India. However, there are many limitations to it. And to overcome these shortcomings of regular online classes, using an inclusive school management system is the solution.

When you wish to make your school technologically adept, it is important to choose the right technology that eases the workload instead of using one that answers one question only to create 13 others. Check out the free trial versions to experience the comfort the school management system offers in running a school.

What interests or disinterests you in online classes? Let us know in the comments below and check out how COVID-19 has influenced the Indian education system here.