5 Must Have Contemporary Key Benefits of E-Learning
The job market is changing extremely fast. There are many jobs now that did not exist five years ago. Many traditional jobs are being replaced as automation increases and technology, and artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated.
Traditional learning institutions are not keeping up with these changes, with an out-of-date curriculum that has proven itself not to meet the needs of workers today. It is often slow to adapt to the changing times, takes a lot of time and effort, and is not personalized to the needs of individual learners. For example, traditional learning institutions are teaching skills for jobs that will probably not even exist five years from now.
Do you want to differentiate yourself from the marketplace? To do so, keeping up your know-how and your qualifications is important here. With the disadvantages of traditional learning, e-learning is not only an alternative, but it should be the main staple of education and professional development. Virtual training now offers both current and aspiring professionals personalized and needs-based training that gives results.
This article will talk about 5 Contemporary Key Benefits that You Must Have and that only virtual learning can offer.
- Customization to your professional needs
Virtual training is designed to target very specific professional needs that you have. There are virtual courses for very specific skill sets. Having this ability to customize is essential. Too often, more traditional environments have a set curriculum that does not consider the needs of its learners at specific levels. However, you are probably aware of how unique your work situation and responsibilities are. Thus, having access to particular solutions is important.
For example, virtual training at the MCI Institute offers wider people skills, such as professional development courses. However, many professionals now realize the importance of updating specific software or tech skills. MCI Institute also offers virtual courses on using specific programs such as Microsoft and Adobe programs.
More traditional educational institutions rarely offer anything resembling customization. They might provide a choice of certain paths, but true customization is very rare. For example, in virtual online courses, the customization targets even how long you can take a class, when you can take a course, what material you may need, and more, all depending on your circumstances.
- The Most Up-To-Date Knowledge
Due to the nature of e-learning, much of the content that is available to be consumed is the most up-to-date information you can find. The e-learning industry is extremely competitive because of the large availability of online courses, and those courses that do not deliver results quickly lose traction and market share.
In brick-and-mortar institutions, such programs have already been set up for a long time and have the resources to keep hold of the market and drive out competition. Moreover, there is a general conception that one “needs” to go through traditional education, as many believe it offers a more authentic experience. Traditional institutions rely on this and, as a result, do not feel the same pressure to change. When change does occur, it takes a very long time to implement anything because of how deeply steeped traditional institutions are in assessment procedures like standardized testing.
Thus, the key contemporary benefit of having up-to-date knowledge that you can apply right away is extremely important, especially since the cost is not that high. While you might invest a bit upfront for the up-to-date knowledge, how this knowledge reflects the current work situation, you become more valuable in the marketplace and increase your value.
- Affordable Education and Professional Development.
Virtual learning is affordable learning. Having access to affordable professional development opportunities is essential because of some of the reasons outlined above. The only way to keep up with changing industries and the changing nature of jobs is to stay educated on time.
Tuition for virtual courses is much lower on average, eliminating any financial wall. Such affordability is achievable because courses are edited and changed to fit specific needs, and this can be done easily. For example, an entire course on Microsoft Office might cost X amount, but there might be a sub-course just for Word. Some professionals may only need the bit-sized course for Word.
Due to the nature of how content is taught, traditional institutions cannot do this as easily, as it takes human resources, e.g., teachers, to be in the classroom. Moreover, they cannot easily modify content and redistribute it again because of how instruction is delivered. Moreover, due to the expanding administrative positions in many institutions,, making any change to the course curriculum is a slow process. The traditional institution is just failing to keep up with e-learning’s ability to adapt.
Like the MCI Institute, virtual training also has very effective feedback mechanisms. They pride themselves on truly understanding professional needs and making specific courses that cater to these needs. In contrast, curricula in traditional institutions have sometimes been set for years with outdated textbooks.
- Access to a Larger and More Robust Community
Many criticisms is levied at e-learning and virtual online courses because people believe it is not as interactive. People imagine a student who studies solo in front of a computer, clicking on buttons for confirmation. Sometimes, they might watch a video of someone talking.
However, such an image could not be further from the truth. Virtual learning courses nowadays are designed to increase user engagement, and one way to do that is to build communities and support. The community you have access to is larger because there are no digital borders. Because of this, you will have access to the world’s talents and experts to guide you in developing your professional competencies.
Traditional education is limited in this sense. The community tends to be physical, even though there may be digital extensions that expand people’s networks nowadays. But virtual learning courses work to draw from top talent, no matter where they are in the world, without worrying about the physical location of the skill.
Having a larger community is invaluable not only for e-learning but again for professional purposes. It will be easier to find connections for jobs, clients, and customers and support when needed. Connections are so vital not only for your work but also for your professional reputation as a person with more connections is more valuable.
- Training for Self-Discipline
Constantly participating in virtual training, especially as a form of ongoing professional development, helps improve your self-discipline skills, something invaluable to make sure that you stand out in a market. Employers value people who work hard and can show results very quickly.
Traditional institutions focus more on lecture modes and standardized testing. This is due to the student-to-teacher ratio; teachers simply do not have time to try more innovative ways of teaching and testing.
However, online courses offer different modes of learning, a set of video courses that one can do at your own time, and a variety of projects and not just standardized testing. By going through virtual online courses, you are learning an invaluable skill of life-long learning. For example, you have to set the pace, decide what modules in what order to do, and learn to calibrate your needs to the content.
This skill is not only important for completing your learning; it is a required professional skill. Self-learning and self-discipline go hand in hand, and you will see your ability to make appropriate decisions increase. For example, by deciding how you learn and what you learn, you also gain the skill of what tasks to work on at work and what tasks might be better left for later. You will also decide what material is needed and what sort of resources might be useful for certain work tasks. That is, learning and work actually do go hand in hand and are intricately tied together. In essence, one learns for work, and one also works to learn.
These are the five key contemporary benefits of e-learning. Notice that we emphasize that these benefits are invaluable as tools. Viewing them as tools at your disposal is a helpful way to decide what sort of e-learning experience you want to have. For example, if you do realize that you only need very specific skills, you can make sure to find only affordable courses that will save you both time and money.
Virtual training will continue to outpace traditional education in the future unless traditional education can do something to transform and adapt to the times. It is also important that you start incorporating it in an ongoing manner. Think of this sort of learning as lifelong learning instead of activities you do to achieve degrees, which is what traditional institutions seem to endorse.
