We are on the steamit, perhaps, one of the fastest growing sites in the entire web. And in this regard, I wanted to ask about the effectiveness of online education. Even if you skim through the comments of the most relevant topics, you will see a polar spread of ratings from "very useful" to "sorry for the time and money spent." And this is not a particular example. Absolutely similar reviews you can find about the online courses of programming MIT or Harvard on the Edx portal, but hardly anyone doubts the quality of their education.
So let's take a sober look at things and try to answer the global question: "What are the advantages and disadvantages of online courses in comparison with full-time education?"
Pros
Convenient schedule. You can choose a convenient time for classes, but even if you do not always have time, you can attend the lecture in the morning or at dinner.
Number of programs. Full-time courses are guilty of the fact that sets for specific courses occur every few months, and the choice of courses themselves is usually severely limited. Online courses are deprived of such a problem, waiting for no more than a month, and diversity at least at the initial stage is quite large.
Accessibility to materials 24/7. One of the main advantages of online learning is that you can go back to the materials you have visited anywhere and anytime to fill in the gaps or remember the topic. With full-time education you can focus only on your own records and third-party literature.
No need to go somewhere. If you do not live in a big city, then you can not find full-time programming courses. If you live in a big city, you risk spending hours on transport only. Online courses are a way out of both situations.
Multimedia format. Perhaps on face-to-face courses you will get a flash drive with materials or DVD, but still it will not replace convenience, when you have your favorite computer in front of you, where you can quickly search for additional information and mark a useful bookmark in the browser.
Variety of choices. Plus, you can quickly learn the discipline you are interested in within one online service, at your service are hundreds of other platforms ready to teach you the same, but for another program and for other money. You just have to study the reviews, weigh the pros and cons of the minus, and choose.
Convenient mode of training. In face-to-face courses, you are limited in time, you need to observe a certain tempo of notes, and tasks for execution are selected in such a way that they can be executed until the timer expires. In online courses, this phenomenon is much less pronounced, so the pace of your own learning is much easier to set up.
Lack of social problems. It does not matter if you are 10 years old or 70, from South Korea or Belarus, you have programming experience or not - we are all equal here.
Cons
Absence of a social component. The downside of the lack of personal communication is the zero-gaining benefits of collective learning. In the format of large groups it is very difficult to ask all the questions of interest, to consult with a neighbor, to create an effective group for working on a common project.
Limited courses. The ultimate goal of any courses is material benefit, but online is more interested in reducing the program of individual courses and increasing turnover. It's not about greed, it's a simple geographic-populist principle: face-to-face courses simply can not physically count on an audience of even a thousand people every month, while online training risks alienating potential customers if they postpone paid classes for several months.
Motivation. When teaching online, it is very difficult to maintain the maximum degree of motivation, because you are always in a hothouse environment: no one requires anything from you, you do not need to read additional materials and even attend classes. Ultimately, how easy it is to blame everything on the ineffectiveness of the courses.
There are no social programs. If you do not have a job, you can apply to the labor exchange and you will be paid by any community programmer courses. The universities provide discounts for various social groups. In online training, you can maximally count on seasonal discounts, which may be tied to your social status.
Lack of value for the employer. If the diploma of the university or at least the end of the courses attached to it, you can convince the employer of your competence, then the certificate of the end of the online courses is unlikely to be taken seriously by someone. The reason is similar - the demand from the client here is very low, and even about the individual verification of knowledge, and it does not go.
The mass approach. When you attend courses in person, the teacher somehow can evaluate both the whole group and you personally. Based on this, adjust the further approach or issue an individual homework. In online learning this can not be purely physical, here self-identification lies solely on you.
It is important to understand that any form of education has its pros and cons, and online courses are no exception. Therefore, if you avoid an integrated approach, neither full-time, nor online courses, nor even an individual coach will help you to get a lucky ticket to the world of professional programming.