7 Major Online Learning Advantages for Engineers and technical professionals

Why Online Learning for Engineers and technical professionals is Important

Online learning is a good way to keep up with the pace of change for engineers, technicians and other technical professionals such as scientists, programmers and other technical specialists.  Both free online courses as well as premium online courses that come with certification are important.

Here, we will see some online learning advantages for technical professionals.

Background

Abhisam has been a leading provider of technical elearning courses for engineers for the past 17 years. Even before anybody had heard of online learning or MOOCs, before online learning platforms like Kajabi or online portals like Udemy existed, Abhisam courses were being used by major industrial corporations in training their workforce. Since then several new courses have been launched and the older ones have been upgraded to keep pace with changing international standards.

Taking Online Courses to obtain skills

To take these online courses, simply register at the Abhisam Learning Portal here and start with some of our free online courses such as the free Hazardous Area Training Course, free Lockout Tagout training course and free RFID training course.

You can then move on to upgrade yourself with more advanced online courses, such as for example premium courses such as the Hazardous Area Classification course or the Hazardous Area Instrumentation course, the LOTO Professional course, or the RFID Professional or the Industrial Cybersecurity Professional course.

Taking these online training courses enable you to earn professional certifications and electronic badges, without having to physically attend a college or university or any classroom. These certification and badges  can be displayed online on places such as LinkedIn and Instagram, to let your network know about your skills and achievements.

What are the Advantages of Online Technical Education?

Technology in all fields, including education, is changing pretty rapidly. It not just Computer Science or “tech” fields that are seeing exponential changes, it is in every field related to Science and Technology. Luckily, the same technology that powers the Internet and mobile computing domains, can be easily used to upgrade  knowledge and skills.  It’s also an amazing way to enhance careers, without having to enroll in course for which you have to  physical visit a college campus. By taking online classes, they can stay in focus with what’s happening in the industry and keep their skills up-to-date.

Online learning has been on the rise for professionals across all industries, but it seems like engineers and technical professionals are one of the largest beneficiaries.

Online learning advantages

We will see here the 7 major online learning advantages for engineers and other technical professionals.

Online professional technical education has many advantages over traditional in person classroom education that is imparted in colleges and universities. The most important advantages are that it is more affordable, flexible, accessible, asynchronous, adaptable, interesting and safe. Here’s what we mean by these terms:

1. Affordable

Online technical and engineering courses are cheaper than their traditional counterparts, as the tuition fees are typically a fraction of what you would otherwise pay to attend an in person classroom style course, with added costs of travel, stay and meals. The costs of traditional college degree programs have skyrocketed,  where many times it does not make sense to invest in an expensive vanity degree, because the payback period is very long. If you take a student loan to get that additional degree, then be aware that it may take many years to get that debt off your back. So why not take many online learning courses for a fraction of the cost of an additional degree?

2. Flexible

An online education can be tailored to one’s own schedule and needs; this is particularly useful for learners who would like to work while studying, or have other commitments outside of their studies. Students find it easier to balance their social and academic lives with an online course because they can study at any time from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Geography becomes history.

Secondly in the traditional college or university education system, you have to enroll yourself in a standard degree course, or a diploma course, where the subjects are predefined for you. That was a good system in the good old days, when edtech did not exist. Now employers’ focus is more on what particular skill or knowledge that you can bring immediately to the job, rather than some vague degree that says “Electrical Engineering” for example.

Employers are very demanding and specific these days. Rather than having a person with a plain vanilla Electrical Engineering degree, they may want somebody who has taken a course in something like say Variable Frequency Drives and can specify, select and install them, or somebody who knows how RFID technology works, or someone who can do Hazardous Area Classification, because the client wants to get this work done starting yesterday. These subjects are not generally taught in college or university classes, as a part of any standard Electrical Engineering degree but can be easily taken online.Even if some of the areas are covered, they are more theoretical, rather than based on real world work experience.

A traditional college degree program  will help you graduate and it may get you in the door as an employee, but will not be enough to retain you.

3. Accessible

Online Engineering Education and other technical courses are easily accessible from a variety of devices such as PCs, tablets, iPads and smartphones. You can do one part of a module on your PC at home and then continue taking the other part on the phone when you are outside traveling or waiting in line somewhere, like an airport for example.

Abhisam elearning courses

4. Asynchronous

The online course can be done asynchronously, which means the professor or trainer need not sync their timings with that of their students. If using a lecture format they can record it and the students can play it later or in case of courses such as Abhisam courses, the courses themselves are software programs with simulations, so these can be done any time. Even the exams are asynchronously taken, so there is no concept of all students having to attend the course exam at the same time. Every student can attend it whenever it is convenient for them. This has multiple advantages, like some students are “morning” time persons, who have sharp brain power early in the morning only, where as some night owls may find taking an exam at night time is better.

5. Adaptable

If the knowledge changes or new standards get adopted, then the training program content can be changed easily and fast. Newer learners will automatically get the updated version. It is not necessary to wait while new books are being printed (like used to happen in the good old days when the content had to be changed). Secondly the course itself can have multiple paths. Depending on the existing knowledge of the students, they can skip some modules based on their test scores or do some different modules based on dynamic learning paths. Thus every learner can have a unique experience.

6. Interesting

Traditional learning meant either poring over thick books or listening to boring lectures. Modern online learning makes it possible to have multimedia rich learning, with gamified learning and simulations. This makes it much more visually appealing and interesting as compared to reading a book or attending a class. No compulsion of tolerating boring teachers and waste your time listening to them, just because you have to take the course.

7. Safe

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become risky to travel unnecessarily or be in large crowds of people. So even while learning, the entire cohort of learners can be socially distanced and in physically far away places, while taking the same online course.

Online learning has been a savior, in that you can stay alone in your room or office or other workplace and still learn. As long as you have good online connectivity, it does not matter where you are.

More Information about online learning courses

Would you like more information on how you can take advantage of online learning programs for yourself as an individual, or your company? Get in touch with us today to know more.