Online Education Forum - Assignment Example

As evident, from the year 2007 to 2008, a notable 17 % increase in online enrollment shows the significance of online platforms as an essential environment for current and future learning processes. Despite the potentials of an online environment, most educators have dismissed the usefulness of an asynchronous platform stating that the lack of face-to-face interaction actually lessens the learning process.

In essence, it gives leeway for students who are less reluctant or less objective to withdraw from the learning process. While this is true, it is important to note that the learning process should not be educator or instructor-oriented but learner-oriented. In this sense, the online platform provides and enhances such an approach in a number of ways. It demands student participation and discipline in the learning process and hence promoting a learner-oriented environment as opposed to the current instructor-dominated approach.

  Comer & Lenaghan (2012) notes that this approach is value-added in terms of comments and the original examples that are used in the process. Comer & Lenaghan (2012) also points to other research done on the same issue that electronic communication allows students to be more revealing and more participate in a typical classroom setting. Notably, other researchers point to the fact that online discussion is, in fact, more successful as compared to the traditional face to the face learning process.

Online discussion fosters ideas and interaction more intensely from a diverse viewpoint as compared to the face-to-face learning process. More so, students tend to be more participative and put more insightful thoughts on an online environment as compared to the traditional learning environment. Being present in an online environment means that students actually participate through their contribution, this is not the case in a traditional learning environment as students can be physically present yet not participate at all in the learning process.