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AI is emerging from a niche field to a crucial component of technology while fulfilling every industry’s demand, beginning from healthcare to finance, due to its capabilities and applications. As AI technology is being developed by human efforts and intelligence, the advanced mechanisms require expertise, including effective education and training. Individuals who aspire to pursue their career in this field can have two options to gain knowledge, online learning and in-person learning. This article delves into the details of both the ways of AI, outlining their importance, including their pros and cons.
Online AI learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and skills in the sphere of artificial intelligence through the internet. It enables students to receive courses, tutorials, and other study materials from around the world on this topic, usually through websites, apps, or learning management systems. You can acquire AI courses online through various platforms such as edX, Coursera, fast.ai, DeepLearning.AI, and many more. Below are mentioned the pros and cons of this mode of learning.
1. Efficiency: Using online learning gives tutors an easy, simplified way of teaching students. The tools in online learning can be easily incorporated into the teacher's ways of teaching. This can be done through the use of various tools found in online learning, such as videos, PDFs, and podcasts. Using online learning can help teachers to become better teachers by taking their lesson plans beyond the traditional textbooks to online material.
2. Accessibility of Place and Time: Online courses allow learners to attend lectures from any geographical location that best suits them. It also allows the universities to reach out to an extensive network of learners instead of sticking to one given location. Moreover, online courses or lectures can be saved or archived for future use by students or teachers. This facilitates access to study material by students and teachers as and when required.
3. Affordability: Online courses reduce financial costs. They are more cost-effective than offline courses. This is possible as online learning reduces the costs of transportation, study material, and real estate. Online courses create a paperless learning format, which is ultimately more pocket-friendly and also benefits the environment.
4. Enhanced Student Attendance: As online courses can be taken from the choice location; fewer learners are registered for missing classes.
1. Inability To Focus on Screens: One of the major issues online students come across is that they feel strain and pain in continuously staring at their screens. Online classes also offer ample scope for distraction to the students in the form of online websites and social media, like Instagram and Facebook. So, it is the duty and job of the instructors to keep the online classes crisp, interesting, and full of engagement to keep the students interested and focused on the lesson at hand.
2. Technology Problems: Internet connectivity can at times become an issue with online courses. While the utilization of internet connectivity and its provision has increased in the recent past, getting uninterrupted connections in smaller cities and towns is still quite a problem. In the absence of a stable internet connection for the tutors and students, there can be problems with continuing the courses. Furthermore, it can create major issues for the entire online education system.
3. Sense Of Isolation: Students do not get to communicate with their classmates and teachers physically while attending online classes. This might leave them with the feeling of being alone. The school should provide opportunities for students to communicate through messages, emails, and video calls so that they can prioritize each other's presence, feel at one, and not feel lonely.
4. Teacher Training: The online mode of teaching requires the trainers to have some basic knowledge regarding computers and the use of technology for online education. However, this cannot always be ensured. Tutors mostly have a mild grasp of computer systems and the technology involved. They mostly lack the minimum resources and tools that can help in taking classes online. In such a situation, the schools should focus on the training of teachers regarding the latest updates in technology, making them capable of conducting online classes easily.
In-person AI learning is a mode in which students physically attend classes, workshops, or any training taken in a classroom or lab environment. Such learning opportunities are mostly offered through universities, colleges, technical schools, and training centers. In this respect, in-person education in AI offers face-to-face interaction with instructors, hands-on experience using AI tools, and collaboration with peers in real time. Here are some of the pros and cons of this mode of learning.
1. Less Distraction: Research shows that students at this university prefer offline classes to online ones due to better understanding and interaction. It is quite difficult for any student to sit in front of the screen and not get easily distracted. To deal with this situation, teachers keep the length of videos at par within 10-15 minutes. The offline classes, however, can go much longer than this, and therefore the student can engage in it much more effectively, improving the learning process.
2. Interaction with Peers: Offline education provides a huge advantage of interaction between teacher and students and further promotes learning outside the four walls of lecture classrooms. Interactions include raising questions over any topic and pursuing exploration and knowledge. These interactive sessions promote a better attention span among students. Indeed, students who access online social networking for fewer hours have comparatively greater attention levels.
3. Improves Student Competition: Conducting offline classes develops a suitable atmosphere that enables interaction among students to create an environment of healthy competition, which in turn improves learning. Research indicates that an organized classroom competition has a profound positive effect on students, ultimately improving the results of learning and raising self-esteem with increased confidence.
4. Facilitates Classroom Communication: Quite often, students get isolated and communicate less in online classes. Students’ interaction is an essential element of their learning with productive results, and this interaction is not only limited to student-to-student interaction; rather the equally important teacher-student interaction plays a vital role in the process of learning.
1. Traveling Expenses: The offline classes are limited to specific institutes, which means that every student has to travel individually to the institutes. These result in extra hours along with travel expenses. The time used in traveling can be utilized more productively for self-study. In the case of online classes, the schedule can be personal, and more time can be managed for effective studies.
2. Fixed Schedule: Offline classes are always conducted on fixed schedules that leave very little room for flexibility. Surprisingly, a few cases of dropouts have been reported, particularly in the case of working students who are employed either part-time or full-time, that is, 20 hours a week. This anomaly could be due to the inability of such employed students to adjust to the work schedule with fixed class timings. It has been revealed in studies that attendance percentage differs between the two, with online courses commanding a 72% attendance rate compared to only 62% in the case of offline courses.
3. Extended Schedules: At times, the Offline classes can stretch for the entire day, which becomes a hassle in managing working hours. The break-up of the class can be directed to different timings, thus conflicting with the working schedules. Moreover, campuses located at other places create a hassle for the student to travel from their homes to the campuses for classes.
4. Expensive: As mentioned earlier, traditional offline education is quite an expensive mode of study. Added to the tuition fees are the boarding charges and campus travel expenses that learners bear. Several people find the offline mode of education quite impracticable due to this factor. Online courses are much cheaper. Even the cheapest universities charge something like $4000 as a tuition fee. Other expenses are excluded from this estimate.
If one considers the aspects of online and in-person learning about AI in 2024, these formats have different pros and cons, so it largely depends on individual needs, preferences, and circumstances.
Online learning offers flexibility, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness like no other. It provides one with an opportunity for top-tier education from any part of the globe, so this is great for people who have to balance studies with work or other commitments. This includes learning at one's pace and a lot of available resources. However, online learning requires self-discipline and good internet connectivity, and at times may make a person feel isolated due to lack of physical interaction.
Learning in class is more systematic and interesting. Face-to-face interaction with the faculty and classmates helps in getting a better grip on AI concepts. Practical experience in labs and workshops is sometimes quite necessary to master certain complex technologies. In-class learning is great for excellent networking opportunities, very important for the development of one's career. Yet, this method is associated with higher costs and geographic and time constraints, while it has less flexibility.
Ultimately, one has to learn AI either online or in person; the choice depends on individual needs. For flexibility, affordability, and setting a learning pace for oneself, the online alternative is most probably the better choice. On the other hand, direct interrelating, hands-on experience, and studying in a more structured environment are some of the reasons people may want to choose in-person learning.
Mastering the potential of AI will require both online and in-person training to arm a new generation of professionals with the proper education and skills to stay competitive in this dynamic field. One can take advantage of the ease offered by online education or the depth of in-person training; what matters is to stay committed to lifelong learning, and adapting to the rapidly changing landscape of artificial intelligence.
