Online Class vs. Traditional Class |
Posted: May 10, 2019 |
Disruptive technological advancements have caused major disruptions in many sections across the world and the education sector has not been spared by it. Statistics indicate that across the United States there are more than three million students taking full online degree courses with another six million scholars having at least one online course. The trend threatens to continue soaring with more and more advertisements on international degrees online. This may not seem like a reason to worry for anyone but the employers most of whom reckon that those scholars educated via online portals happen to be less effective in the dispensation of their assignments. To break this assertion down, traditional classes get favored over the online classes simply because the latter is blamed for the increasing skill gap. While this is the perspective of the employers, the institutions offering online degree courses, continuing to steadfastly defend their activities but in the middle of this discussion are the students left to choose their course of action as per their preferences. This research paper seeks to give the students view on the preferences between online classes and traditional classes defending the argumentative position that traditional classes are better than online ones. To begin with, the determination of this topic results from interactions with a person who enrolled for an online course last semester. After completion of the unit, she recorded that online classes happen to be superior to the traditional ones citing the cost efficiency and class attendance through recorded videos as the reason for which online classes were a preference. The arguments got me really interested in taking an online class in the coming semester but I still feel that traditional classes are superior to online ones. To demystify this riddle, I shifted the focus to researching topic and the following arguments emerged. Firstly, online classes may continue to gain popularity among scholars but then the effectiveness will remain below that of traditional classes. What this statement means is that the continuous development and advancement in technology will enhance the efficiency with which online classes get conducted. Those who get fascinated by the activities of the connected generation will also opt to take the classes at their own convenience. However, the online classes will remain behind the schedule on effectiveness. This is because the flexibility associated with them also increases the general laxity of getting an education. As a result, the students taking online classes learn less and when they graduate from the colleges, they become less effective in the delivery of duties at the workplace and hence continue expanding the balloon of those graduates that the employer's term as half-baked graduates. Secondly, there must be a reason as to why the online classes remain popular among scholars from the college level upwards and not so common among ones at the high school level as well as the primary education institutions. Obviously, one would argue that those in high school and the lower levels cannot be trusted to be responsible enough to take online classes as some have to be forced to go to attend the traditional classes. While this is really true, it is also arguably true that even the scholars in online colleges and universities may be opting for online classes due to the laziness of traveling to and from traditional classes where their absence will be noticed by the instructor and this may be followed by punishments such as missing an examination. Online classes place a high emphasis on the issue of attending classes at once convenience, which means that even if the student does not log onto the internet for the online class it may be argued that the time was not convenient. Arguably, therefore, online classes encourage absenteeism, which is discouraged by the traditional class setup. A third perspective that would be important to consider is the fact that at times the student will not understand the course materials as presented and taught by the instructor but they would understand it more if discussed with other students from the same classes. Those taking online classes may probably argue that they can always go back to the video presentations or maybe they can still organize for on-net meetings with students in the same class. You have ooptunity to ask something which you misunderstand immediately and get some tips for writing an argumentative essay, for example. What such students may not understand is that they may be taking the courses together with other classmates that are located far away, probably in another continent, and they may never get the opportunities to revisit the lessons together. As a result, the online classes steal the opportunity for the students to interact and discuss one-on-one settings, a system that is permissible and possible under the traditional class settings. To explain this concept further, there is an instance where one has heard of the issue that the instructors only give 20% of the materials with the students required to secure the rest 80%. Of the 80%, the students understand some context in a group setting and when the group meetings are not possible then the online student may only grasp the 30% granted by the teachers. Given these statements, it is evident that classroom studies provide settings in which the students can exchange ideas. One of the reasons as to why online classes have become more popular among post-secondary scholars is the argument that in traditional classroom settings the instructors interact more with the vocal students, thereby insinuating that the laid-back students are in a way neglected. This blanket criticism stands out as one of the marketing gimmicks for if it were the case, then those taking online classes would be the introverted students but there is no evidence to show that this is the case. In defense of traditional classroom settings, the instructor gets to interact more freely with the students. This allows the instructor to understand the special learning needs of the students, which means that there must be a way in which the students engage with their instructors. Looking at the other side, online classes take place through a computer screen. The instructor has no chance to interact freely with the students, and hence the work is to lecture on and on. It is more difficult to ask to follow up questions on an online class except in the case where there is a discussion board on which questions get asked now only to be answered a day or weeks later. Thus, traditional classroom settings still provide an edge over the online classes in terms of attending to the needs of the students. Some proponents of the online classroom settings argue that these classes come with a lot of flexibility. What they do not state is that the latter is largely or entirely on the time and the costs but it does not take into account different learning needs of the, with the learning needs in this context being the ways and means through which each student learns more effectively. For instance, one student learns more efficient by taking notes as the lecture goes on while another learns more if the instructor teaches through exercises that get marked as the class progresses. Still, there are those that learn by listening while others learn more through watching. That being the case, it is pretty correct that online classes cannot give the kind of flexibility that attends to students’ learning needs as simply put in this paragraph and this is just one of the major reasons why one should avoid taking online classes as much as possible. At times, traditional classroom settings will come with noise, which reduced the learning. As such, proponents of the online classes state that with online classes, noise is reduced but looking at it from another perspective, the online classes probably come with more noise than the traditional classroom settings. As a beginning point, noise in this instance to any form of disturbance or disruption that shifts attention from the core object, in this case, referring to learning. One thing that comes out clearly with this age known as the connected generation is that noise does not mainly come from actual sounds but from mobile devices such as phones and tabs. That being the case the student can still be distracted more so if the online learning portal allows the student to browse through other tabs without logging off the student. Additionally, a breakdown in the connectivity to the internet disrupts the learning and at times such noised will not be in the control of the student. As such, online programs do not necessarily lead to the elimination of noise in the class set up. The other problem with online classes is in the context of the administration of exams. In a generation where a good grade overshadows learning and acquisition of skills, the advent of online classes worsens the passing down of knowledge and skills in that the student may be granted a certificate of excellence for copying the answers from an online source or notes in a book simply because with this system. Thus, the examiner will not necessarily be able to monitor the students effectively. Arguably, the proponents of this system of learning may argue that the software will be programmed in such a way that the student gets logged out immediately he attempts to access any other part of the computer. That may work but then the student may be working with more than one computer, as a result, they can still cheat in the exams. In the context of the traditional class, on the other hand, students may be tempted to cheat in exams but then they would require having the guts to pull out notes and phones in an examination room with supervisors, and even fellow students. In conclusion, the advancement of technology will continue to boost the acceptance of online classes as new developments may come up with ways of ensuring more stringent control, administration, and supervision of the classes. The hype in the taking of online classes may also continue but until the technology gets to that level the traditional classroom settings still remain to be the best bet for the knowledge and skills thirsty scholars. The system may have its challenges, including high commuter costs and inconveniences created by inflexibility in terms of time. However, the benefits of the systems are more than its disadvantages and also the advantages of online class settings. Lastly, it is important to note that the bottom line happens to be the student’s willingness and desire to get an education and learn over and above getting good grades and that being the case; nothing can bend a strong-willed heart when it comes to going for quality education.
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