Some universities now offer their courses on the Internet so that people can study online.

Is this a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1: [Viewpoint: Overall positive development.]

Online education is a comparatively new trend and thousands of educational institutes have already embraced this
method to offer their courses. While some negative aspects of this development could not be ignored, the advantages of
it far outweigh the demerits.

To begin with, many universities in developed countries offer online degrees and short courses, and they have started
doing so only after proper research. The research proved that Internet-based courses are advantageous both for the
students and teachers. The intuitive and methodical lessons offered by an online course is planned by several university
teachers and technology experts and hence they maintain a rigid quality. The widespread use of the Internet makes it
handy for people to enrol in a course without considering time and distance. This trend has attracted thousands of
professionals, housewives and elderly people to continue their education or take courses of their choices. For instance,
as many as twenty-five thousand housewives in the USA complete their preferred online courses and diplomas in a
year. Attending traditional classroom-based courses were impossible for this large number of housewives and busy
professionals.

Moreover, Internet-based courses are easier to follow and someone can retake the same lessons over and over again,
unlike traditional classes. Thus many students have reported the Khan Academy, Linda, and Udemy, renowned
Internet-based online course websites, to be their preferred learning tools. Many skill-developing online courses, for
example, have assisted thousands of young people to pursue their career in technology and this has all been possible
with Internet-based learning.

The downside of this trend is the cost and lack of proper supervision by a teacher. Courses offered by prestigious
universities are often far too expensive for a poor student to bear. Teachers' guidance and motivation often play a great
role in a pupil's success and the online course cannot be a suitable substitute for the motivation teachers can offer.

To conclude, technological advancements in education, especially online education, is a great leap towards a world
without illiteracy and unemployment. Hence, this is such a positive development though it lacks a teacher's motivation
and direct supervision.

SAMPLE ANSWER 2:

It is true that online courses are becoming a common feature of university education. Although there are some
drawbacks of Internet-based learning, I would argue that there are far more benefits.

The main drawback of the trend towards online university courses is that there is less direct interaction. Students may
not have the opportunity to engage face-to-face with their teachers, and will instead have to rely on written forms of
communication. Similarly, students who study online do not come into direct contact with each other, and this could
have a negative impact on peer support, discussion and exchange of ideas. For example, whereas students on traditional
courses can attend seminars and even discuss their subjects over coffee after lessons, online learners are restricted to
chatting through website forum areas. These learners may also lack the motivation and element of competition that
face-to-face group work brings.
Despite the negatives mentioned above, I believe that online university courses are a positive development for various
reasons. Firstly, they allow learners to study in a flexible way, meaning that they can work whenever and wherever is
convenient, and they can cover the material at their own pace. Secondly, the cost of a university education can be
greatly reduced, while revenues for institutions may increase as more students can be taught. Finally, online learning
offers open access to anybody who is willing to study, regardless of age, location, ability and background. For
example, my uncle, who is 65 years old, has recently enrolled on an online MBA course in a different country, which
would have been impossible in the days before Internet-based education.

In conclusion, while I recognise the possible disadvantages of online learning, I consider it to be a positive
development overall.

SAMPLE ANSWER 3:

Distance learning through an online platform is provided for students as an option to replace traditional classroom at
many universities. In my view, such a development, although detrimental at some point, could be seen as an essential
step forward.

On the one hand, this way of learning remotely without being in regular face-to-face contact with teachers in the
classroom is negative from two aspects. First, online students cannot develop comprehensively like the way other
students who attend classes at school do. During online courses, students can barely make friends or even compete with
their peers. This is often linked to the fact that those learners seem to undervalue the significance of interaction and
rivalry with classmates in an educational environment which, actually, are great stimuli for scholastic success . Second,
participants of online learning programs tend to procrastinate and poorly allot appropriate amounts of time to complete
assignments. This form of studying requires tremendous self-discipline as well as organization and time management
skills while students usually struggle with balancing their coursework other priorities and easily get demotivated
without direct guidance from instructors.

On the other hand, online learning proves to be a great alternative although traditional universities are still widely
considered as the best way to acquire knowledge and a diploma. Access to all resources of a traditional course is
offered, which empowers learners to freely choose a wide range of different subjects, from science to economics.
Furthermore, lower costs and the widespread presence of the Internet allow unlimited numbers of participants
regardless of not only their financial background but also current living places. For example, Coursera is a website that
offers a variety of courses at reasonable prices and presents legal degrees for participants upon completion of each
course.

In conclusion, though there are some drawbacks of courses delivered on websites, I believe the aforementioned online
studying method is revolutionary in contemporary tertiary education systems.