How to Overcome Barriers in Education with Webinars

Time and space are considerations that have always figured in teaching and learning environments. Careful time management is key to optimize discussions and pedagogical interventions. Designing a space that allows for effective learning and teaching is more than just assigning a physical space, but, rather identifying one that eases the process of exchange between learners and teachers.

There is a need to identify the best time for instruction and healthy doses of interaction between teachers and students in a manner that carefully considers disparities in learning abilities, varying paces in grasping lessons and ideas, and differences in the learning situations of students.

Breaking Barriers in Education

Time and space considerations are likewise figuring in the ability of students to sustain education. Geographic distances between learning institutions and the learners’ ‘home base’ often create a barrier for a growing number of learners and potential students, especially those who are juggling their studies and their own professions, in their quest for quality and sustained education.

Meanwhile, our social environment is undeniably growing more and more fast paced owing to developments in technology and electronic media, and traditional education in a classroom setting is struggling to catch and sustain the attention of learners. Traditional education venues, unfortunately, have found some difficulties in hooking up learners to their coursework.

Students are becoming more diverse in their learning situations. Many people, young and old alike, meanwhile, have found in the Internet a space to satiate interests and energies for learning, a place where they could have rapid interaction and almost instantaneous knowledge building and development. For these reasons, academic institutions are faced with the question: how could education departments offer a quality learning experience that marries time and space considerations with the almost limitless bounds and appeal of the Internet?

As it may be a matter of sinking or swimming with the tide, academic institutions are increasingly keeping afloat with the aid of webinars.

How Webinars Benefit Education

Webinars are fast proving to be the genius just lurking around the corner waiting to be unleashed as a super learning machine. Sure, it does not require a PhD to make use of technology and organize a webinar, but your academic institution’s brilliant bunch of PhD holders can share their knowledge and inspire a number of learners anywhere in the country, or even across the globe, through the use of webinars. The need to compete with limited teaching slots in the face of dwindling school enrollment and classroom attendance could be a thing of the past. What could remain on its path is a healthy learning environment between teachers and students happening through webinars and distance learning.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

Scientific inquiries into modes of learning indicate that teaching methods determine the effectiveness of traditional model of classroom education where teachers have face-to-face interaction with students and could provide them with timely and helpful feedback. It is for this reason that distance learning through the use of webinars is made effective by ensuring mixed modes of synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Facilitation

At certain times, students could be required to log on to their e-classroom all at the same to watch and listen to real-time lectures and presentation from a remote location, share ideas with their teachers and course mates and answer sets of questions to measure their learning responses.

To enhance learning, webinars could also be simultaneously recorded or new webinars could be uploaded as supplemental teaching and course materials to be accessed at students’ own time and pace. This becomes invaluable, especially, as compared to the traditional classroom, where many students scramble to quickly scribble notes during lectures, which can result in the loss of focus and the absorption of the information being conveyed.

Webinars can even be organized and custom made to target specific students who have specific needs or encounter specific learning difficulties to help them keep up with group lessons or general course work.

Cost Effectivenes

Webinars are organized to make optimal use of available time and space for both teachers and learners. Geographical distances and available time differences are effectively bridged to provide a space for learning.

Owing to this effective management of the resources of students, teachers and academic institutions, webinars are highly cost effective. Visiting lecturers from other academic institutions anywhere in the world can also be asked to participate in webinars and there wouldn’t be any need to pay for their travel costs.

Conclusion

Education departments can vastly benefit from webinars to ensure that academic institutions provide the best opportunities for learning and knowledge exchange. Webinars could simulate traditional classrooms and further improve on its time and space limitations. In the end, education departments can realize that with webinars, nothing is simulated, just pure and effective learning experience.