Online vs Face-to-Face Education

Along with the technological advancement, there has been an immense leap in the education system of this generation. Like the ancient days, it is not only confined to a four walled class room. Students these days can have access to quality education from any part of the world. Despite sharing some common attributes, a conventional face-to-face education is remarkably different than an online education. Both kinds of teaching would require an advisor to guide the students and an examination system to evaluate the performance. They would only differ on the grounds of their rendezvous point for the class, learning process, and the means of communication.

Firstly, I would like to discuss the way the classes are scheduled in both the scenarios. The traditional classroom system would require to book a specific room and restrict the number of students based on the available resources. It would also require the faculty and the students to have a fixed rendezvous point. In this way, interested students who want to avail themselves a good education from distant places would be at a loss. These days many people want to pursue higher education like the executive MBA while continuing with their full-time jobs. For the students of this category, the online education system would be their savior. Moreover, online classes provide learning access to unlimited students. It also facilitates time flexibility to complete a course for the students. Some students who want to work with their own pace can easily work without peer pressure. The conventional classroom would avail a mentor to have good eyes on his/her students. Usually all the students won’t be proactive in the class. It is very difficult for a teacher to make the pupil attentive through internet sessions.

Secondly, the way of learning is one of the biggest factors that classifies these kinds of education system. Traditional classrooms would require the usage of materials like boards, markers, chalks, books, etc. But for online classes people would require a computer or any other device that can have access to internet. In the on-campus class one has to depend on hard copies of the book and have to visit libraries quite often. But in the online-classes the reading material is easily accessed through the internet. With the advent of faster communication systems, the real-time interaction between the faculty and the students is quite easy these days. Use of visuals and animation aids to teach a complex topic in a simpler way is pretty much common to both of these ways of learning. Collectively, the learning method through online system have an advantage over the conventional system in most of the ground.

Thirdly, the means of communication also distinguishes both these methods. In face-to-face teaching, teachers can directly interact with the student and can understand their weaknesses and strengths. In online sessions, pupil can also discuss either through emails or any other discussion forums. A student cannot clarify their doubts immediately and sometimes even clearly. So in the online system, a good number of students get education, but some of them cannot get quality education that a traditional class room set-up can only provide.

Amidst all these pros and cons of both the methods of teaching, I would prefer the co-existence of both these education systems. In this way, students from underdeveloped countries who have less access to quality education can benefit from good education through online class. And some people who are not focused on studies can develop interest through traditional classrooms, with face-to-face interactions with the mentors.