Some universities offer online courses as an alternative to classes delivered on campus. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

On the other hand, this innovative teaching method, in the absence of regular face-to-face contact, has caused two repercussions. Firstly, it imposes a challenge for teachers to strictly manage and control the whole class because of the distance. Thus, many students make the most of this loophole to skip classes, miss the assignment deadlines or do personal things during the session, all of which are detrimental to their overall scholastic performances. Secondly, offline courses offer students opportunities to have conversations and directly exchange ideas with their peers, which participants of online classes may find hard to follow. Personal interaction tremendously increases productivity in a classroom and boosts their motivation to study and explore, not to mention students be well-read about human behavior and comprehensively improve their communication skills.

Despite the above arguments, online coursework has long been a far more beneficial form of taking lessons than traditional classes. Undoubtedly, studying online with available technological devices allows students to actively access a huge library of data on the spot, which is great stimuli for their inquisitiveness and self-study. Additionally, having online courses means that students need to take the initiative in their daily schedule to balance their studies with other priorities. This way of delivering lessons is a diametrically great chance for obtaining essential soft skills such as time management, planning, and organization skills, which are of paramount importance to their future career path. Furthermore, lower costs and the widespread presence of the Internet allow an unlimited number of students to attend, regardless of either poor financial backgrounds or disadvantaged current location, and somehow bring about a sense of "equal education" to contemporary society.