Internet has taken the world by a storm. It exists in every sphere of life. From online shopping to online banking, today we prefer internet for all our day-to-day activities. It is not just being up to date, but being hassle free too. It’s comfortable, convenient, and the best part is- it all happens in just a click! So how about some serious business involving the online route? How about studying online?

It is hard to let go of conventional methods, especially if they are deep rooted in our values. We place a lot of importance on hard book reading that it will take some time to make a switch over to ebooks completely. But the world is changing very fast and times are not far when virtual classrooms would take place of our conventional ones. But before that let’s have a quick look at online studying, which is a great option to stay up to date with everything that is available at a single click!

Advantages of Studying Online:

• ebooks are much cheaper than original text books: As you move up the grades, you need more and more reference books, apart from your regular textbooks, and these mean investment. But if you consider ebooks, many of them are just free for download or learning. Even those which are not free, cost much lesser than the conventional textbooks.
• Ebooks can’t be big and bulky: A conventional book can be very big and bulky. Many of us at times see them tearing up in parts as excessive handling loosens the binding. But such is not the case when you are studying online. You do not have to handle anything other than your computer!
• It’s very easy to search within an ebook: Searching within a book can get cumbersome at times when you amidst a flow and you do not know where a particular keyword can be. But in an ebook you just have to fins=d a keyword and it will land you at the desired portion.
• Unlimited ebooks can be referred: when dealing with conventional books, you cannot just keep on adding and piling on different books. You would have to restrict yourself somewhere. So either you would have to be happy in whatever you have at hand, or you can go and borrow some books from friends. Such is not the case with studying online. You can just type whatever you wish for and abundant data will be available for your reference!
• Participation in online forums: Online forums, their discussion boards and chats, provide public areas to students to post information and insights. Each student can view another student’s answers and can learn through the exposure to different perspectives at such virtual places. This benefits students because they can combine new opinions with their own ideas, and develop a solid foundation for learning for themselves.
• Paper wastage is less: ebooks are totally eco-friendly, no cutting trees here! Yes, there can be limitations as you would need a notebook to practice problems and others. But as compared to conventional method, the paper wastage is much lesser.
• Easy to access from anywhere: Students at times do not visit many family and social gathering as they can’t carry their plethora of books to all the places. But digitization has made it all so convenient. You can go anywhere and study from anywhere. There is such ease of access.
• Clear doubts instantly by referring to various sites: Doubts can arise anywhere, anytime. But with conventional books, you would have to wait to get home or library to clear them. But it is not so if you study online. You just have to type the keyword and you are instantly relieved on any doubt which may have troubled you!
• No need to maintain notebooks: You can have all your notes maintained properly in a folder if you study online, along with the reference material. These notes do not get misplaced and are always in a comprehensible shape! Does this happen with conventional notebooks? You can answer that yourself.
• No need to arrange/scrap ebooks: If you study online, you do not have to worry about arranging, cleaning and maintaining shelves full of big books. Same is the case when it comes to scrapping books after your exams are over. You would not have to worry about the space ebooks would take. Similarly, there is no need to scrap them.

Any change initially looks difficult but you have to give it a try to see if that change is worth adapting or not. But if you will give online studying a try, you will not stay getting unimpressed by the magnitude of options it brings! There are many advantages of studying online as compared to conventional method of studying with textbooks.

About Author:Rakesh singh is Product Development Manager at askIITians.com, India’s leading online education company. He is an MBA post-graduate from IIM Kozhikode and a B.Tech graduate from IIT Delhi.

Thank you Rakesh for: The Unsung Privileges of Studying Online

Dr. Daniel de Roulet

Prof. David C. Pecoraro