1 SCHOOL OF ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET STUDENT DETAILS Student name: HUỲNH NGỌC YẾN NHƯ UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS Unit name: Academic English Tutorial group: Lecturer or Tutor name: Student ID number: 21001064 Unit number: Tutorial day and time: AEn-T321WSB-6 Mon, Tue, Thu (8:00-11:15) Mr Gabriel Ryan ASSIGNMENT DETAILS Title: Individual essay Length Due : 1200 words date: Home campus (where you are enrolled): 02/01/2022 Date submitted: 02/01/2022 DECLARATION I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous or current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except where collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism checking) Student’s signature: Huỳnh Ngọc Yến Như Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has not been signed INDIVIDUAL ESSAY AEN-T321WSB-6 LECTURER: MR GABRIEL RYAN Some universities offer online courses as an alternative to classes delivered on campus Do you think it is a positive or negative development? Education is widely acknowledged as a vital determinant of human development in every nation However, due to the complicated COVID-19 outbreak in the context of today's world, education has been confronted with a multitude of difficulties and hardships, and practically almost all students have been forced to switch from face-to-face classes to online learning It seems to be the most plausible solution up to the present time According to Xu and Tang (2021), China's Internet users for learning account for 46,8% of the total online ones To be more specific, the number of online students had risen to 423 million by March 2020, a remarkable growth compared to 222 million from the end of 2018 As the demand for distance courses is rising, an enormous number of educational institutions have a propensity to provide e-learning as an alternative to on-campus classes There is a social controversy about whether this educational innovation should be applied or not To clarify this issue, the global market of e-learning, as well as its both-side impacts, will be indicated in the essay below Admittedly, the worldwide market of e-learning is on a sharp upward trend under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic An online course, in general, is a web-based class that can be viewed on digital devices (mobile phone, laptop, computer) through online education platforms such as Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Teams Strikingly, Coursera is an educational technology company that provides every individual with massive open online courses (MOOCs) and degrees from approximately 80 leading universities and companies In the past few years, before the emergence of COVID-19, students tend to prefer the traditional face-to-face method, so remote learning seems to be far-fetched and uncommon At that time, online courses were considered to have a dreadful stigma, being seen by various individuals as the 'poor cousin' of direct classes (Wieland & Kollias, 2020) During the crisis of epidemic, the education system has been influenced harshly when the government promulgates the lockdown policy and forces schools and universities to be closed Based on UNESCO’s statistics (2020) 186 countries have implemented nationwide closures, impinging on nearly 1.3 billion children and youth from primary to higher education To prevent negative impacts related to education in the present time, learners tend to register for distance courses rather than traditional ones in hopes of continuing their studies In the research of Chernev (2021), he reported that as of the end of 2019, the worldwide e-learning industry was valued at $187.877 billion, this figure has currently reached over $200 billion in 2020 and is predicted to rise to $376 billion by 2026 These statistics demonstrate a dramatically upward trend of remote learning, especially in the COVID-19 outbreak On the one hand, online courses bring numerous advantages for students, among them, affordability and smart education are the two outstanding Obviously, the national economy in general and individuals in particular have been severely influenced by the epidemic All enterprises and firms have been obliged to close according to government regulations to prevent community spread Parents, consequently, are unable to go to work to for a living, leading to a financial shortfall in their family while they have to afford their children's university tuition fees Since almost accredited high-quality institutions from around the world offer online courses at a lowered price Winthrop University, for example, offers a 12% discount on its summer tuition while American University suggests 10% off Students in Florida Gateway College can take two classes for the price of one (Thompson, 2020) Moreover, students' commuting costs every year are not negligible Based on the research from Santander Current Accounts, students are spending an average of £600 million per year traveling to and from university (Commane, 2013) And in this investigation, Hetal Parmar (2013), Head of Banking at Santander, supposed that the expense of enrolling in a university puts most learners under financial strain and the growing cost of transportation is expected to be a significant concern Such distance classes offer no commuting cost, which alleviates the financial burden on learners’ families Additionally, restricting humans from going out helps to diminish possible risks of being injured from car crashes, bringing about the decreasing number of traffic accidents One practical example is in the Tarragona province of Spain, the figure for traffic collisions per day dropped by 74,3% during the lockdown period (Saladié et al., 2020) Consequently, online courses consumed 87% less energy and emitted 85% less carbon dioxide compared to full-time campus-based ones (Roy et al., 2008) In general, thanks to lowered tuition fees and no commuting costs, online classes reduce the financial pressure on students' families E-learning, in other words, seems to be a ‘Smart Education' innovation that successfully improves the teaching environment via the applications of technology gadgets In contrast to printed books, e-book integration not only allows undergraduates to access an endless amount of knowledge conveniently but also improves studying productivity effectively For example, the use of print books in hospitality and tourism education is hampered by various factors such as portability, reading, storage, handling, and availability, e-books are the greatest alternatives to solve the related printed-bookchallenges above (Piramanayagam & Seal, 2020) In addition, the absolute competency of both soft and hard skills has been significantly boosted due to the presence of remote lectures It is undeniable that up-to-date technology is no longer an illusory dream in this day and age By approaching distance classes during university time, learners have a privilege to gradually get familiar with computer skills such as researching, presentation, and so on, which is one of the most crucial techniques in the 4.0 era, and also a major benefit for them in the foreseeable future According to the McKinsey analysis (Bughin et al., 2018), the requirement for employees with fundamental computer abilities will ameliorate up to 69% by 2030 Hence, it is notable that the capacity to handle proficiently digital devices is flourishingly essential, especially in competitive business environments To sum up, online courses create conditions for students to be exposed to technology equipment from an early age, giving them a significant advantage in their later lives 6 On the flip side, despite having various benefits, e-learning also has some inevitable drawbacks, such as technical issues and health hazards Not every student has an opportunity to get access to modern appliances, in reality, it appears to be challenging for learners and professors in remote areas to approach state-of-the-art digital devices The research of Virgin et al (2021) emphasized that English instructors in PalangkaRaya have struggled with a heap of troubles caused by a lack of adequate infrastructure These issues include unstable Internet connections and out-of-date computers and laptops Besides, the survey by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) reported by PTI (2020) presented that about 27% of students lack smartphones and laptops as well So, the university shift from on-campus to online classes may deprive students in rural locations and lowincome families of opportunities and rights to access education In terms of students’ health, many parents express their concern when their children stare at a screen constantly for a long time Spending thousands of hours in front of a screen, students are likely to develop bad posture, eye problems because of the blue light reflected from the computer screen, fatigue, stress, and also insomnia Anshu et al (2016) revealed the fact that participating in screen-based activities made 97% of college students more irritated Besides, in an article by Balram (2020), Dr Laura Sterni, director of the Hopkins Pediatric Sleep Center, affirmed that the more technological gadgets learners use, the more negative impacts sleep cycles have Moreover, the higher levels of depression, anxiety, and also perceived attention problems have been related to increased screen use (Katzenstein, 2020) She explained that the blue light from computer screens is able to suppress nocturnal melatonin secretion, a substance that helps humans fall asleep easily, and also change circadian rhythms This mechanism is proved to activate much more powerfully at night In conclusion, technical problems and health dangers are the two top worries of students during the online-learning period To summarize, distance learning has both-side effects, positive and negative as well Although there are minor unavoidable disadvantages of courses delivered on websites such as technical issues or health problems, it is believed that students gain more than they lose from the aforementioned online studying method since it seems to be ‘Smart education' which is a convenient solution in COVID-19 outbreak, a revolution in the contemporary education system Not only does it provide a more affordable price, but it also curbs the number of traffic accidents To maintain these positive impacts, both lecturers and learners should be self-aware and use the assistant tools logically 8 REFERENCES Anshu, Sarita, Nupur, Shreya, Avinash, & Sidharth (2016) TO STUDY THE ROLE OF ERGONOMICS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME Journal of Evidence Based Medicine and Healthcare, 3(21), 902–905 https://doi.org/10.18410/jebmh/2016/204 Balram, A (2020) How online learning can affect student health The Johns Hopkins News-Letter https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/04/how-online-learning-can-affect-student-health Bughin, J., Hazan, E., Lund, S., Dahlström, P., Wiesinger, A., & Subramaniam, A (2018) Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/skill-shift-automation-and-thefuture-of-the-workforce Chernev, B (2021) 27 Astonishing E-learning Statistics For 2020 TechJury https://techjury.net/blog/elearning-statistics/#gref Commane, R (2013) University students join the daily commute The Money Pages https://www.themoneypages.com/latest-news/university-students-join-daily-commute/ Piramanayagam, S., & Seal, P (2020) The Choice Between EBooks and Printed Books: A Study Among Hospitality and Tourism Educators and Learners Library Philosophy and Practice (EJournal) https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/3921/ PTI (2020) At least 27% students don’t have access to smartphones, laptops for online classes: NCERT survey National Herald https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/national/at-least-27students-do-not-have-access-to-smartphones-laptops-for-online-classes-ncert-survey Roy, R., Potter, S., & Yarrow, K (2008) Designing low carbon higher education systems International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(2), 116–130 https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370810856279 Saladié, Ò., Bustamante, E., & Gutiérrez, A (2020) COVID-19 lockdown and reduction of traffic accidents in Tarragona province, Spain Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 8, 100218 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100218 Thompson, E (2020) Should Colleges Offer Cheaper Tuition Due to COVID? TheBestSchools.org https://thebestschools.org/magazine/should-tuition-be-cheaper-covid/ UNESCO (2020) 1.3 billion learners are still affected by school or university closures, as educational institutions start reopening around the world, says UNESCO UNESCO https://en.unesco.org/news/13-billion-learners-are-still-affected-school-university-closureseducational-institutions Virgin, N F., Qalyubi, I., & Qamariah, Z (2021) THE CHALLENGES OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN REMOTE AREAS TOWARD ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC PROJECT (Professional Journal of English Education), 4(4), 728 https://doi.org/10.22460/project.v4i4.p728-737 10 Wieland, N., & Kollias, L (2020) Online Learning Before, During and After COVID-19: Observations Over 20 Years International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (IJAC), 13(2), 84–92 https://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jac/article/view/16779/7849 Xu, Y., & Tang, Q (2021) The reform of modern education during the COVID-19 pandemic Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1748, 042051 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1748/4/042051 ... Herald https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/national/at-least-27students-do-not-have-access-to-smartphones-laptops-for-online-classes-ncert-survey Roy, R., Potter, S., & Yarrow, K (2008) Designing... https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/skill-shift-automation-and-thefuture-of-the-workforce Chernev, B (2021) 27 Astonishing E-learning Statistics For 2020 TechJury https://techjury.net/blog/elearning-statistics/#gref... the world, says UNESCO UNESCO https://en.unesco.org/news/13-billion-learners-are-still-affected-school-university-closureseducational-institutions Virgin, N F., Qalyubi, I., & Qamariah, Z (2021)