Online education offers flexibility and accessibility. People can attend lectures from every corner of the world. This can promote educational equality worldwide, since a student from a third-world country, such as Iran can have access to the best university lecturers as a student from a developed country, including Canada. In addition, pre-recorded lectures can be beneficial for people who want to juggle work and study. This is because they can watch such materials at their own pace in their free time.
This trend offers economic benefits. It can reduce the cost for students, due to the fact that they do not need to commute to university. This can also reduce their carbon footprint, which is an environmental benefit. Furthermore, this can remove a financial burden from the government, since the need to subsidise food at university canteens is reduced.
During crises such as wars and pandemics, such education can be beneficial. During such crises, students and lecturers cannot go to university in person. Consequently, students cannot study until the problem is solved. This can take even years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted for 3 years. If online education did not exist, students could not attend lectures.
In conclusion, in my opinion, online education offered by universities is a positive development. This is because that online education offers flexibility, accessibility, and can reduce the cost of education. In addition, this type of education is helpful in crises.