Online education is a recent phenomenon which was made possible with the boom in the internet technology, especially with the internet of things, it has shaken the traditional business of delivering education, this is especially true in Hong Kong, where the internet penetration is more than 90%, and more students have access to stable internet connection, which has led to the rise of online education.
People are familiar with traditional type of education, traditional education is classified as education that has been offered for the last 50 years in schools and universities, which generally involves students attending classroom in person.
But how does online education fares against traditional education, is the real question, but before we answer that question, one has to define what online education is?
Online education is a recent term that uses technology to deliver education, and does it remotely i.e. without the physical presence of the tutor/teacher and the student. However, it must be noted that online education affects universities, schools, skills enhancements organizations in an exclusive manner. An e-learning/online university would be quite different from an e-learning/online tutoring organization and thus cannot be classed under the same umbrella of “online education”.
Let’s see how online education impacts the university education sector!
A study by Higher Education Policy Institute in Hong Kong published during the coronavirus period on the perception of online university education in Hong Kong among students didn’t show promising results.
Many students reported being dissatisfied and 60% of the students citing “a lack of discipline” as the major cause of their dissatisfaction.
It could be said that perhaps, the online university education in Hong Kong is still in its nascent phase and need a bit of tinkering to get it perfect. However, the present result of online university education in Hong Kong has been disappointing.
Therefore it seems that students in Hong Kong have a more favourable opinion of traditional university education rather than online university education.
Now let’s see if it’s the same case with online tutoring or not!
Traditional tutoring has always been popular in Hong Kong since 1980s, a study undertaken by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups indicates that over 50 % of secondary schools students, and about 22.1 % of primary students (level 3 or lower) were enrolled in tutoring organization. Which shows that a large number of school going children do partake the services of tutors.
Also, the school system in Hong Kong is quite diverse, there are public and private school systems, and in the private school system British school system is quite popular as well, such international schools (English Medium) are quite popular among the affluent segment of the society because they offer a better quality of education and consequently demand both traditional tutors and online English tutors in Hong Kong is increasing.
However, traditional tutors are currently suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, as illustrated by the South Morning China Post news article that students in Hong Kong have flocked towards online tutoring organizations, and the traditional brick and mortar tutoring centres are facing bankruptcy!
With such developments, maths, science and online English tutors in Hong Kong have been provided a better opportunity to earn with online/E-learning platforms and by the looks of it the tutors are also welcoming these new changes as more and more are joining the folds of these organizations (as indicated by the SCMP news article).
So it is quite clear that in online education, the form of online tutoring is quite popular in Hong Kong, we have mentioned below some of the factors that are helping in making online tutoring popular among the students and even the tutors!
1. Ease of Access
Online tutoring does not compel the student to be physically present at a particular location. Therefore it does not burden the student with preparation and travelling to a particular location and, so it does provide convenience to the students in getting tutoring services.
2. Better Technology
Due to the advancement in technology, online tutoring has become even more attractive to students; some of the technologies that are being used are electronic tablets and pencils and cloud storage documents such as Google Docs. These technologies have enabled a more attractive and engaging environment for eLearning. These technologies have further increased the value and effectiveness of online education.
3. Cost- Effective
Another attractive feature of online tutoring is the comparatively lower cost of online tutoring as compared to traditional tutoring, however it must be noted that lower cost of online education is not achieved by slashing quality of education but rather due to tutors being able to save on travelling costs, as well as being able to better plan their schedules, and with internet becoming more affordable.
4. Better Range of Choice
Students when taking online tutoring as opposed to traditional tutoring have a greater option of teachers, at their disposal, which provides them with a sense of empowerment, and the student/guardian can easily change teachers if they are not satisfied with them.
In conclusion, we can see that:
