The advancement of technology has made a lot of things that are previously impossible, possible. It has made communication and information very accessible for everyone. Technology continues to shape and change the dynamics of our everyday life. Now it is already possible to attend online universities and get your degree online. Many traditional universities worldwide are now open to share their courses online.

The number of adult learners who choose to enroll on online universities and classes has rapidly grown over the last decade. This alternative option of pursuing education, such as online learning, makes a lot of sense for working students. It allows adult learners who have day jobs, family, and other responsibilities to attend classes at their most convenient time and saves them travel time and costs. Location, transportation and time are the limitations on learning, especially if you are working, married and have children. You have to allot portion of your time to attend a fixed schedule of class in the traditional classroom setting. By removing these limitations and the requirements of being physically present in classroom, online learners can participate in an online class at a time, and for a duration that fits his schedules.

Another advantage of online learning is the access to materials and information related to learning. The internet houses thousands and thousands of reliable and up-to-date materials that you can access for a cheaper prices or even free. Educational materials online are not just limited to reading materials, it also includes videos, audio lectures, audio books, and other formats. This allows information on highly specialized subjects to be accessed by more people. Learners can access this materials wherever they are, and whenever they want. This gives the learner the freedom to schedule his study time. Also, with the internet it is easy for students to exchange materials and help one another especially now also all has access to free communication applications.

With easy access to almost unlimited information and contents, students can utilize various supplementary resources in various medium available online to help them better understand difficult subjects. News articles, scholarly articles and expert opinions that help elucidate difficult subjects. Also, online students can easily get help from experts online when dealing with advance courses. For example, an online learner majoring in economics has the option of getting economics help online, instead of physically meeting a friend, a classmate or a tutor to study.

However, online learning also have some disadvantages. Most experts are of the opinion that online classes will only be effective for highly motivated and responsible students. The internet, although a great tool for learning, is a double-edged sword. The unlimited access to information, and websites can be a distraction. Especially with the popularity of social media, online learners might have a problem in allocating and dividing their time between studying and browsing through their social media profiles. Because of the easier access to contents online, online learners might find their focused derailed to something that is not relevant to their course of study. They might be tempted to watch movies online, or chat with friends to the detriment of their studies. Another knock on online learning materials is their accuracy. The student must first learn how to identify reliable sources from unreliable once. However, once the student get an idea on online authority and credibility, it will be easier to filter out inaccurate sources.

But, perhaps the greatest drawback of online learning is the significantly large number of dropouts. Despite the steady progress in the delivery of online courses, high dropout rates have been of concern for many online educational institutions. According to study, more than half of adult learners enrolled in a corporate program did not finish the course. This is consistent with the notion that online classes produces more dropouts that the traditional face-to-face classroom. This can be attributed to the fact since online learning is only an alternative, the students can stop any time and can always comeback to it any time they want.

Online learning is a still at very young stage, but is already a promising avenue for alternative education. It offers huge opportunities for learning, given the easy access to a vast amount of knowledge and information. New and innovative models of teaching suited for online settings are already being develop. However, just like in the tradition classroom setting, the teachers still play a vital role for the success of online learning. The role of teachers is to make sure that the teaching method they are using takes into account of learners' needs and ensures that they are effectively monitored, supported and assessed. Online learning has a lot of advantages, but it must not be viewed are a permanent substitute to the traditional classroom learning because barriers and limitations of the online classroom can easily detract from student learning.