d. And then comes the ‘biggie’: Is Online Learning Better than face-to-face Learning in terms of Learner Outcomes?
The question of which method is better for learning, and teaching, is the elephant in the room!! I think that is a question that will continue to be debated, but I also believe it’s not something that will ever be proven 100% more effective one way or the other. There are too many variables that will come into play with this. The main one being the student. I at the ripe age of 18 years old, with my high school diploma in hand would not have done well at all in an online-only environment. I was way too undisciplined to put in the time, energy, effort for that. Being forced into attending a classroom made a huge
…show more content…
Every class at an institution can always be a tad bit different depending on the audience.
One more piece of the puzzle to consider, and this one I would put in the pro column for online learning, is environment…and more specifically, distance. Distance learning has enabled me to get a Master 's degree. It’s a dream of mine to attend UA, but now that I have a career and family it’s not practical to move them to Tuscaloosa for this. I believe there are other people who are further away than myself who are attending this class as well!! The online learning world has opened the possibility for students to attend college no matter where they are located. That is absolutely a benefit. It also allowed many of us to have real life jobs and attend school as well.
Disability can also play a role in whether an online or face-to-face course is the better option for an individual. A student with chronic health issues may not be able to attend class consistently but would have more leeway in completing assignments online in their own time. Students with mobility issues may struggle to get across a large campus in the ten minutes between classes, which is not an issue in an online environment. Of course, in a synchronous online course, a technical malfunction can be disastrous, but an asynchronous course allows time for the student to fix the issue or find an alternative, as long as
Everyone has their own learning styles. Going to school online might not be cut out for a person that needs to be face to face with an instructor. Or a person that has to have on hands training might not want to attend an online campus. It’s a tough decision when you have to make this decision on how you want to continue with your education. An education is an education, so it’s better to have one than not to have one at all. So it all really boils down to you making that decision based on how you interpret your learning skills. For me, online is what fit in my current life style. It’s convenient, comfortable, and less expensive. The
The Internet has dramatically changed the world today as much as the Industrial Revolution changed the world two centuries ago. It revolutionized many fields such as education. Many educational institutions offer online courses providing time, distance, and place advantages for learners who work full time or live miles away from their schools. Rachel Farhi, an editor of The Daily Cougar, in her article “Online education innovators should be wary,” states that distance learning classes give students from disadvantaged areas opportunities to learn knowledge through reducing the cost. On the other hand, online courses bring some disadvantages, such as no social interaction, academic dishonesty, and procrastination. David Smith, an editor of The Daily Nebraskan, in his article “Reliance on online materials hinders learning potential for students,” claims that web-based learning cannot be a substitute for on-campus classes because e-learning decreases students’ learning pressure and motivation. Once students have less pressure to study, their academic performance may be negatively influenced. It is more likely that online education decreases students’ learning effectiveness and quality, even though it provides convenience and cost efficiency for them. After reading the two articles, I do not think that online education is as good as traditional education. Smith is absolutely right that online education is not as effective as regular classroom
Online classes are best for people who feel they can produce better work in an isolated environment with no instructor or classmates directly in front of them. This also benefits more for people with full time jobs or other commitments that would prevent them from going to the classroom. Now the downside to this is that you have more temptation to be distracted from doing your work. Since you do practically all your assignments online, it's real easy to go right onto social media sites such as Facebook and see what everyone else is doing. If you plan on doing an online based program, you have to have a lot of self-control and will power to keep from going onto other sites not related to your
If you have the drive to succeed, you can get just as much out of the online education as you can from a normal classroom.
This is something major to consider when selecting the type of class the student will be taking. If a student works and/or has a family they might find it hard to go to school and sit in a classroom once or twice a week. On the other hand a recent high school graduate probably could go to school multiple days a week like they did in high school and it would not ever be an issue. Students that have other responsibilities would benefit from online classrooms. The beauty of online classes is you work at your own pace. Yes there are due dates when work is due but you are not tied down to a desk for the duration of a class. You can stop and start a lecture or save your work and complete it later on. In a regular class you have to be there a certain day a week for a certain amount of hours to the entire semester, if life gets in the way you have to miss class. Some things can not be made up at a later date and this could affect your GPA. Some students are shyer than other students and like that they can work in the comfort of their own home and not have to go to a brick and mortar class. Being afraid of fellow students responses online discussion boards would make it easier to give and receive feedback. They might have never done this in a traditional setting. However, other students like having the immediate
Online education is helping many students get a better education. This can be for many reasons. Some reasons could include things like a more flexible schedule. Of course their are some that believe that online schools are not a good option because they do not offer students face to face time with teachers, but online schools can be a great way to educate the children of tomorrow because it allows for students in rural areas to get the same education as somebody in the city and the flexible nature of online school allows students to have more time to be with their family, friends and to do the activities they love.
There are many advantages to taking online classes rather than traditional college classes. One cause of students taking online classes is that they are much easier to fit into busy schedules. Online classes give students options to plan their classes and study times around the rest of their day. For instance, if a student has a job the material is always available no matter what time of the day it is. This allows the student to complete his or her class work at any time needed. Another advantage of having materials available online at all times is that students never have to schedule special trips to the library to complete assignments. Most online degrees do not require electives which means you can take the minimum amount of classes you need and still have time for other activities. The flexibility of
In order for students to be able to take college courses online, they need some type of way to organize themselves and push themselves finish their work since their teachers really can’t (Bird). In a physical classroom, teachers are able to move around and be able to answers questions right then and there, but with online schooling students would have to wait a while to get a response from their teachers if they have questions (“Key”). The dropout rate for online schooling in very high, mostly because students don’t know how to prioritize their school schedule and don’t know how to be self motivated (Bejarano). Learning independently is very challenging, and students may become discouraged when they have to face challenges with learning online by themselves (Bejarano). Online learning would not be a good option for students that can’t self motivate and can’t focus
There are others, like myself, who feel that online learning is better. The supporters of this back their claim by stating that online classes can be more beneficial for teachers and students. For example, fewer distractions in a classroom like other students disrupting class. Students can come into class late after the teacher has already started class and cause a disruption or talk during the class. With online classes the student can control their environment. Also, a teacher can provide in writing just the basic information a student needs for an assignment. This way there is less of a chance for the student to get confused on the assignment when the topic
Unlike traditional classes, online classes allow for more flexibility. For instance, the student talked about in paragraph two that works from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday and has to take care of children, would still be able to go to work and not loose quite as much precious family time if the student chooses online classes. This student could make the decision to study on lunch break or after the children are asleep. The lack of classmates can be just as much a blessing as having them sometimes. Every once in a while classmates can be a distraction and cause another student not to hear something that the instructor said. For this reason online classes are a great option since a student taking online classes can simply study away from other
Social interactions also differ between the two types of education. On a campus, students attend a class, with instructors and classmates. This fosters more collaboration on projects. Many times students are not required to actively participate in class room discussions. In the online setting students are required to participate in the discussions, even though he or she does not see classmates face to face. Students can learn from your fellow class mates as well as the instructor and materials. Generally the students that perform best doing online classes are those who are able to work and learn independently.
The positive of online classes is being able to access the class in any free time. Most online classes though, require work to be turned in on certain days and times. Which makes it harder for students to remember when assignments need to be done. The pleasure of the instructor reading/lecturing the textbook material out loud won’t be there. It
To launch off, there will always be people who argue that it’s harder for students to work with an online school.“Online schooling will always have it's critics.” (Barker); regardless, this doesn’t mean that it’s a terrible-death at every corner-curriculum. Similar to any movie, many people will enjoy or love it well others ferociously abhor it-there is no in-between. Furthermore, online school is an effective system through the easy access (teachers are online, other sources for help, it can be mobile, etc.) for it's students as well as the seemingly unlimited sources of knowledge. Since it is taught online, the teachers have more data to work with that public school’s do not. This gives the teachers a chance
The traditional face-to-face learning nowadays seems to lose its credibility over online courses and the question whether face-to-face learning is better is reaching its climax. Every single day thousands of people start taking online courses in order to save time. This global trend threatens face-to-face learning and makes a lot of people worried about the future of education overall. In this modern world where technology has taken over people’s everyday lives, face-to-face learning is a far better option than staring at a screen for the sake of education.
Most students find courses online better than in-class learning. Now even some schools are saying yes to online learning! It is a big money saver because the school or college will not have to employ thousands of