The Disadvantages of E-Learning

Effect of e-learning

Technology has now become a part of our lives and has helped us improve it to a great extent but the fact that technology also has a lot of disadvantages cannot be ignored at all. Where the advantages have made our lives easier, it has at the same time caused disturbance and problem for us as well. It also affects efficiency and speed and may even promote laziness. Some of the noticeable disadvantages of e-learning are as follows. 

Disadvantages of e-learning

• Dependence on technology
  In today’s time, the dependence on technology is a disadvantage. Students become a lot of dependent on technology and at times when there are problems related to technology arises the learning process can eventually be affected and can prove to be useless. Problems like a poor internet connection or if the machine stops working can hinder this process of learning. Then, the indulgence of so much technology proves to be useless and the efforts go waste.
• Isolation
  While technology can prove to be beneficial and can help students learn from the convenience of their homes, at the same time, it can also cause isolation and lead to other problems. These other problems can point towards mental health issues that the students might begin to face later.
• Lack of participation
  At least during proper classes, the student is physically present and is part of the class where they pay attention and participate in the activity and the discussion that is usually taking place. When technology is entered into this process and e-learning starts promoting the receiving of education from the comfort of their homes, the students do not particularly pay attention in their class or even discuss their problems that they might be facing while doing some work. This can affect their learning behaviour and there can be a chance that they learn nothing out of it. 
• Not effective for all students
  While some might be comfortable using technology to get an education, there will be a huge group of those as well who might not be interested and might not be benefiting from it. They might need to interact with different individuals from their class or even the teacher. This two-way communication might be more useful for them instead of the e-learning process that they might be going through with.

Keeping these disadvantages in mind, it can easily be said that e-learning is not always beneficial for all and can have both advantages and disadvantages at the same time.

An Introduction to The Russell Group Universities

What are the Russell Group Universities?

The Russell Group Universities are a group of twenty-four universities that self-selected themselves and formed this group. This group only includes public research universities present in United Kingdom only. The main objective to create this group was to be able to represent the interest of different universities to the government. Another one was to ensure that all these universities contained the ideal conditions which would help all the students to find equal opportunities and flourish both academically and socially in the society. These universities feel immense pride in being part of this group and that they have been playing an important role in the success of their country. 

The Russell Group Website

There is an official website of the Russell Group as well where they provide all the details of the universities and of all the research work that is going on in all these twenty-four universities. There is information on different conferences, the new and huge impacts that these universities are making on the world along with the achievements of its student body and of the faculty as well. In addition to all of this, the website also contains videos and all the details to the admission related queries. The website is fully aimed to help the current and the prospective students which can benefit from it and can later be a part of one of these prestigious universities. 

The website also contains information on different regulations that have been passed regarding the Russell Group and regarding the various policies passed with regards to research, education, economy, access and inclusion and European Union. There are policy documents, publications present along with different case studies that can prove to be useful and help different individuals in deciding the impact that it would have on the people of the country and how they could benefit from all of the following changes; new and old. 

Universities in the Russell Group

As mentioned earlier there are around twenty-four universities. The names of these universities are University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, University of Glasgow, Imperial College London, Kings College London, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen Mary, Sheffield, Southampton, Queen’s University Belfast, Warwick, York and University College London. 

-Joy Hamm

The Trend of Education Consultancies?

The Old Trend

A decade ago students belonging from different institutions and different phases of life used to get higher education from the universities present in their cities. The ones having an extreme urge to proving themselves amongst their peers and family opted for universities outside of their home towns but stayed within the country. The need and the desire to go and study abroad were not commonly found among individuals and the number going abroad to study was very less. It was probably because of the lack of exposure in the world or the lack of knowledge of different universities abroad and countries abroad that kept them here. The absence of telephones, emails or any other sources of communicating also discouraged parents from willing to send their children abroad to get the education and encouraged them to study near them. The education system of the institutions, especially universities in the home country was outstanding and like mentioned before, the need to go to an institute outside the residing country seemed out of question but as the exposure of all sorts increased so did the decade-old trend.

 

The New Trend

The new level of exposure promoted the idea of getting an education from far-flung areas, usually from different countries. With the passage of time and the increase in competition in the education sector, the educational institutes began getting rated according to the kind of education they provided along with the facilities and the percentage of their students achieving job right after their graduation. This was the time when the business of education consultancy was set up and the trend of education consultancy increased and then began growing rapidly.

Education Consultancies

Education Consultancy includes consultants that are usually self-employed providing solution in a specific field or area. They tend to work as both; immigration counsellors and academic counsellors providing complete guidance without any prior knowledge, degree or experience to several individuals. As a result, there are a lot of education consultancies now present that do not provide quality service and are only interested in earning huge amounts of money. These consultancies fool people by putting up banners and billboards promising scholarships and admissions abroad without telling the basic requirements and narrating the real story which includes the expenditure of huge sums of money as well. Although this has become a business which needs to be stopped the continuous attraction of people towards this business has made it very difficult to stop them from committing the crime that they are so confidently committing.