Band 9 essay sample | Is online learning a positive development?

IELTS Essay topic

Some universities offer online courses as an alternative to classes delivered on campus. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Sample essay

Nowadays a lot of people are debating whether online classes can be an alternative to regular classes. In my opinion, they can. I personally believe that the advancement in technology has made it possible to make some revolutionary changes to the education system. Online learning is one of them.

The biggest advantage of online classes is that they are convenient. They allow students to learn at their pace and at a time convenient for them. Regular classes, on the other hand, have fixed hours. If you have a full time job or a young child or aged parents to take care of, you cannot attend them. Online classes are actually a boon for people who have other commitments that prevent them from attending classes delivered on the campus.

In this day and age, learning has become a never-ending process. People are constantly upgrading their skills to improve their career prospects. They are enrolling in new courses in the middle of their career. If universities didn’t offer the option of online learning, most of them would be in a fix because few people can afford to quit their job to learn a new skill. Online courses also allow students to obtain foreign degrees without having to leave their country. For example, students in India can join online courses offered by foreign universities and obtain coveted degrees sitting at home.

Perhaps the biggest argument against online courses is the lack of quality control. But this has changed over the years because of advancements in technology. Now that several internationally acclaimed universities have also started offering online classes, their credibility has also increased.

To conclude, in my opinion, online classes are a positive development and a nice alternative to regular classes conducted on campus.