(I) Advantages of Online Training:
1. Outreach
The trainee is not required to visit the training centre so the distance between the trainees and the training centre is immaterial. The training can be imparted to trainees in far flung areas. The training courses available to urban trainees can be made available to rural trainees also.
2. Cost
The cost of setting up brick-and-mortar training centre is huge, particularly in urban places. The scope of putting this infrastructure to multiple uses is also limited. Recurring cost on salary, overheads, etc are also very high. Online training facility is comparatively cheaper and can also be utilized to deliver various types of training from the same facility. It requires less manpower than traditional training facility.
3. Availability of more time slots
As the cost of imparting training is lower, the centre can run more batches in a day for the same topic. The students can choose the batch as per the time available to them. This flexibility is very important for working individuals, students, housewives, etc.
4. Saving time and money on travelling
The trainee need not spend any money or time on travelling. This is very important factor for students living far from the training center.
5. Better comfort of learning
The trainees can enjoy the comfort available at their office or residence. Many training centers can not afford to provide such facilities e.g. AC, ambience, tea, snack, parking space, etc.
6. Easy availability of Learning Material
As most of the learning material will be in the form of softcopy, it is easily available to the students.
7. Variety of courses
Online training facility can offer a rich bouquet of training courses as the cost of launching is low and mustering the required numbers of training is easier than a traditional classroom courses.
8. Benefits of competition
Online training is a viable business activity. This has attracted established business houses as well new startups to provide online training. This has brought the benefits of competition to the trainees it terms of price, quality, services, variety, Post Training Placements, etc.
(II) Disadvantages of Online Training:
All said and done, the Online Training has following disadvantages/limitations also which could be attributed to the very nature of the concept.
1. Poor Interaction with the trainer
Though interaction on real time basis is practiced in online training but it is not so “real” as what a trainee experiences in a brick-and-mortar classroom. This inhibits the learning process, particularly for the laggards.
2. Difficult to sustaining the interest
If the trainees are not self-motivated or have a compulsion to complete the training successfully, it is difficult to retain them till the end of the training course. Self-discipline and self-motivation are the prerequisites for meaningful online training.
3. Difficulty in providing practical training
Practical training requires a lab/ workshop/ infrastructures / tools as per the nature of the course. This is not possible in most of the cases. Practical training also requires the physical presence of a trainer to demonstrate how the things are done. This is also not possible in online training.
4. Non-availability of facilities required for online training
Online training requires modern gadgets, high speed internet connectivity/ mobile connectivity. These may not be available to some section of the trainees.
5. Absence of Group Dynamics
The trainees are located at different places. They never have a feeling of a group. The trainee does not get support from his/her fellow batch mate in case of difficulty in learning. Likewise, the trainee also does not feel peer pressure to finish the assignment which otherwise he/she would have completed for fear of loosing a face in the classroom when the trainer lets him/her down in the presence of all batch mates. Lateral Learning (learning from the batch mate) does not take place.
6. Low weightage by employers
The prospective employers give low weightage to certificates acquired through online training even though the training is completed in due course and the certificate is accredited by the Government.
7. Difficulty in conducting examination
As the trainees are not physically present in the training facility, it is difficult to administer the examination test. Though the system does take the test, result is fraught with moral hazards.
8. Distractions
As the trainee is not coming to the training centre, he/she is vulnerable to various distractions e.g. friends, relatives, domestic work, family members, TV, Social Media, mobile, etc. All these hinder the learning as online learning is not so “engaging” and compulsive as a classroom learning.
Prospects of Online Training:
The market demand for skills is becoming very dynamic. As the technology and commerce is changing very fast, the employees are becoming redundant very frequently. To remain “fit for work”, not physically but skill-wise, a prudent individual, may be an employee or an employer, has to constantly upskill/re-skill themselves. This group of people cannot attend the “in class” training courses. This makes the future of online training very bright.
A few years back, Online Training was a preserve of corporate world and that too with limited use. Now it is expanding vertically and horizontally across the globe in all walks of life – starting from a kid of a primary school to an Executive of a company. Necessity is mother of invention. The invention is exploited fully and quickly without any aversion when there is a compulsion to put the invention to use. Wide spread of accepting online education in the wake of corona virus is a best example to understand the human nature when it comes to adopt the changes.
Online Training is also called eLearning or Distant Learning. It has many aspects like technology, tools, platform, pedagogy (the Science of teaching and learning), methodology, commercials, effect on traditional brick-and-mortar model of education, etc. The present blog is confined to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online training from the perspective of trainees. Though the training and the education is separate sphere of learning, most of the aspects of online training are true for online education.
Online Training of all computer courses, foreign languages for students & corporate is available at www.jamsab.com.
(The readers comments are welcome at
gnpatel@gujaratinfotech.com)
