Internet as a technology can be considered at its crest these days. Numerous applications including schooling and learning methodology have been a giant beneficiary of Internet. Internet-assisted learning is being adopted in almost every institution, ranging from play schools to post-doctoral studies.
Such has been the influence that many people strongly predict online courses to replace traditional face-to-face learning in the classroom in near future. Several studies have been made to foretell if this is a healthy trend, or will hamper the all round growth of our future students but nothing conclusively can be inferred at this point. The author proposes for the readers to decide for themselves based on a few major factors we will discuss.
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Environment:
One key difference between the classroom-based study and online program is the environment. While the classroom is filled with things which shape the learning environment and form a self-sustained ecosystem, an online study has no such ecosystem. To further categorize the classroom ecosystem we have people as well as inanimate objects like a white-board or projector, an online program simply consists of objects of learning but the actual people like the teacher or fellow students are missing.
Human factor:
The proponents of classroom-based study reckon that humans being social creatures, grasp the concepts being taught better in the presence of a teacher and fellow students. Online programs try to minimize this drawback of non-availability of a person through videos based tutorials the effectiveness of which is still not proven.
Pace of learning:
The biggest advantage that comes in online based learning is the control which the student has. One can go over a concept again and again or slow down the rate at which the knowledge is being imparted based on his ability to learn. Such control is present in the classrooms but to a very limited extent as the learning wagon is steered by the instructor and not the student.
Diversions:
This point favors a lot to traditional classroom study. Because the student is at the controls of learning, it is easy to lose focus and diverge. In classroom-based programs, instructor in a way, keeps the students attentive and swiftly brings the class back to main agenda in case of digressions. This improves the overall effectiveness of learning. A recent study warns on dwindling attention spans of individuals and if this is kept in mind an instructor as a leader of the pack channelizing our minds would be a better bet than online learning.
Effective use of time:
Online learning usually does not require one to commute to a place. Learning can conveniently be achieved at any place like home. This definitely can save some valuable time. If the student stays far away from school or college this factor can be substantial as is the case with almost all the major cities where travel times can be as high as two to three hours per day.
