During the lifelong learning process the virtual classroom plays a huge role in providing a wonderful opportunity for students and adults to strive for knowledge and achievement in new competencies. In this article we will focus on the benefits of virtual classroom training for students.
Virtual classroom training is the education method of the 21st century. In this global world online education gives us the freedom to choose and adapt our learning styles to fit our lifestyle.
During the last fifty years, constant scientific and technological innovation has had profound effects on how learning is understood. Learning is no longer limited by a place and time to acquire knowledge (in a school) and a place and time to apply this acquired knowledge (the workplace). Instead, learning is seen as something that takes place on an ongoing basis from our daily interactions with others and with the world around us. It is flexible and can take various forms such as formal education, informal training, or self-directed learning.
Lifelong learning is the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal development, but also self-sustainability, competitiveness, and employability.
It is exactly in this process of lifelong learning that the virtual classroom plays its role of providing a wonderful opportunity for students and adults to strive for knowledge and achievement in new competencies.
In this article we will focus on the benefits of virtual classroom training for students.
What are they?
Freedom – Virtual classroom training allows students to choose when, where, and how they will take a desired course. You can take your virtual classes at home, at work, or during your vacation. Also, you are free to decide on when you will take a class. You can choose whether you would like to take a class that offers a certificate or not. You can take an online course just for pleasure, to open your mind, and to learn something new in a field in which you have interest.
Creativity – In the virtual classroom students have many different tasks and opportunities to choose from in the learning process, so we can agree that virtual learning develops student creativity.
Innovation – Using new technologies in virtual classroom training allows students to be innovative and to learn new software solutions. Studying in an online environment enables students from all over the world to work together in one place – the virtual classroom. This prepares them for real professional life. Currently, many international companies connect their employees from different locations through their cloud operating systems.
Community building – Being part of a virtual classroom course enables students to join a community of people who share the same interests. The virtual classroom is a space where you can make new contacts and can interact with your peers. This environment teaches students to work on projects together, encourages them to be part of a team, and to cooperate with people that they are meeting for the first time.
Soft-skills development – Achieving your goals is obviously very important, but how you achieve them is just as or even more critical. Are you an individual or a team player? In the workplace it is more important for an employee to not only have the technical and theoretical knowledge for a certain job, but also to be a soft-skilled professional who is patient, empathetic, open-minded, dialogical, and who enjoys and understands the process of working with others as a team. All of these abilities can be developed through virtual learning.
Better access to expertise – Virtual classroom training provides students with access to people of all types and experience levels. Taking online classes with a person you admire will inspire you and encourage you in your future projects.
Cost-effectiveness – Virtual classroom training is affordable and saves time and money. All learning materials are available online and there are no costs for hardcopies or textbooks. As a virtual student you won’t have to pay travel and accommodation costs to attend a certain lecture at your preferred university. Instead, you will take it from the comfort of your own home. Through the virtual environment you will have access to an immense amount of online study resources.
Pure joy and fun – Taking a virtual classroom session is easy and fun. Students virtually meet and connect with their peers. The teaching methods in the virtual classroom are very diverse: videos, projects, texts, papers, presentations, etc. As students have many choices in the virtual classroom, they can adapt their experience to their learning style.
Bonus points in your CV – Certificates from additional virtual training classes will impress your next employer. It shows your pursuit for self-development and improvement.
In conclusion
As Josh Waitzkin says: “The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.”
So, dear students, step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourselves. Virtual classroom training is one of the ways through which you will boost your development. Jump into the deep end and enjoy the results.
