Online Education System- Challenges and Opportunities

earning is a complex process where student’s motivation, teacher, learning material and several other aspects interact with each other. Nowadays the traditional classroom teaching has changed more and more into a virtual environment where different issues about learning has to be taken into account. The basic learning concepts remain the same wherever the studying place is. The students have to be motivated in the learning situation and the material has to be easily at hand. Learning has dramatically changed over recent decades when technical revolution has brought different opportunities to learn via the Internet. Constructivist learning theory is nowadays “the theory” in learning. It emphasizes the learner’s experiences in the learning process. Despite that, the studying is still very teacher centered also in the academic level with traditional lessons and practices. This makes students passive. The impression on teaching has changed from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. There the student’s role as active learner is emphasized. The learning results depend on students and teacher’s activeness and interest in the subject. Student’s activeness in the learning process can be activated with alternative learning methods such as group works, discussions and questionnaires. People differ from each other in the way they prefer to learn. Some like to read things whereas others want to listen. Whatever the best way is it changes between situations and people use multiple learning styles. People differ from each other in learning styles but also in other areas incorporating learning. Some of these areas are motivation, self-confidence and learning speed. The purpose of this paper was to make a review on learning styles and how they are taken into account in OLE (Online Learning Environment). An assessment tool was developed in the form of a questionnaire to get information about students’ interest and knowledge on learning styles. The questionnaire was tested in action when it was addressed to students. One aim of this thesis was to develop questionnaires for students about their studying habits and preferences. The surveys were with Moodle’s tools. This was studied because of the interest in knowing better students’ backgrounds and how they prefer to learn. The aim was to produce surveys for students which could be addressed at the beginning and end of a course. Maintaining standard of education in more than a million schools worldwide, offering training programs to teachers, and keeping good balance with education system worldwide is a big challenge. Schools vary in size and resources and are forced compromise in the all round development opportunities they must provide to students. Having infrastructural constraints and social issues, it becomes harder to make education accessible to all segments of the society (women, minorities, poor). The cost of education is very high even for the people and places where it is accessible. E.g. the competitive pressure on students & parents forces them to opt for private tuitions & trainings to supplement the school education. The ethnic diversity poses challenges to implement consistent education worldwide. There are many languages spoken throughout the world and makes it difficult to offer education tailored to specific social segment. Educating women in some societies is a big issue. Children of poorfamilies are forced to work and miss out the learning opportunities. Illiterate adults have very limited opportunities to get educated at later age in their lives.