From Traditional Classes to Online Classes in Future
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From Traditional Classes to Online Classes
Thesis statement
“Online classes will take over the traditional face to face classes in the near future”
Introduction
The quest for knowledge and the increasing population, together with the advancement in technology means that the infrastructure available cannot easily accommodate the number that seeks education. There is also the question of cost, which plays a major role in acquisition of education. In addition, the convenience that is brought by freedom of time and geographical region mean that more and more students will opt for online classes which are more flexible in terms of timing and place.
The advantages that online classes have over the traditional face-to-face learning will be explored. I will try to prove that online learning is a justifiable route to take for the stakeholders in education. I will try to point out the advantages that online classes have over traditional classes. In this paper, I will show that online classes are more efficient than traditional classes. They offer greater flexibility in terms of accessibility, place and time and allow students to participate in the learning process. I will therefore prove that the movement towards online learning is worthwhile.
Why online classes
The move towards online classes is first justified by the flexibility of the courses. One can take classes at their own convenience in terms of place and time. They allow easy juggling of academic programs and personal issues, thereby making them more convenient. Bathe (805) argues that students have presented these positive issues about online learning: flexibility, increased access to materials, efficiency of the courses, and ability to participate openly without embarrassment. The rationale for online learning is that one chooses the pace to learn. It is therefore possible to handle other personal issues simultaneously with learning. For instance, one can easily take a course from the convenience of their home thanks to online learning. One only needs a computer and reliable internet connection.
This means household chores; family matters and other issues of life can be easily handled without them creating a risk of foregoing furtherance of one’s education. For instance, homemakers, or rather generally women who have to handle home and family issues can take online classes and further their education. Research shows that the advantage online learning has for female participants is closely related to the home and family. Most women cite children, family and other household chores as the main reason for going for online learning. Even male students can still cite this as a reason for their choice of online learning.
Focusing on distance adult learning, O’Lawrence (47) reported, “Flexibility and self-tailored learning were identified by the participants as benefits of online learning. Flexibility of time and place were important for these participants, as well as the ability to learn according to their own pace in the comfort of their environment.” However, this flexibility can also be a great undoing of online classes. This is because online classes require students who are more disciplined. With the freedom that is offered by online classes in terms of time and place, students who require supervision may find it hard to complete their tasks and thus their courses if they do not exercise greater discipline. Bathe (805) cited discipline as one of the disadvantages students presented as a disadvantage of online learning. According to O’Lawrence (49), “the most significant drawback to online learning… was the lack of self-discipline and the inability to manage their time.”
Online learning offers greater accessibility to education than face to face traditional learning. Students can easily learn from institutions abroad without necessarily having to travel to those places. This implies that one can virtually take a course from anywhere in the world provided technology is available and efficient. Castment (nd) says, “Study via internet makes more knowledge more easily obtainable for more students than ever before.” Bathe (805) also cites accessibility to learning materials as an advantage to online learning. This means that online learning makes what was earlier a privilege of the few accessible to many. This implies that the tag “global village” can now be applied to pedagogical issues. This is because university courses from the so-called prestigious universities that could not be accessed by people from countries that are far from the geographical locations of these universities can be accessed online without necessarily having to travel there.
Another advantage of online learning is that it allows students to participate freely in the learning process without being subjected to undue embarrassment that might arise from face to face learning. This implies that students who shy off from discussions can now freely participate. A student said about online learning, “all students get equal voice. Sometimes in traditional classroom, you have one or two students who tend to dominate the classroom discussion and others who say nothing. In this online forum, everyone is required to talk to each other. I really get a lot from reading what others have to say.” (Anderson, 34).
Online classes have also changed relationships between students and their instructors. This has meant that professors are not the sole sources of knowledge but students gain a lot from one another. There is more information sharing among students through discussions. There is also frequent feedback from instructors making education more interactive, among the students themselves and between the instructor and the student. However, there are those that see online learning wanting in terms of integrity. They feel that online learning encourages cheating more than face to face traditional learning. Bailey and Bailey (33) say academic leaders have misgivings about online classes due to lack of course comparability, more opportunities to cheat in online classes, and greater attraction to students whose goal is to cheat. Youngberg argues that online learning cannot replace college since, “it is too easy to cheat.” According to Miller, “Trends toward an increase in online learning courses suggest the need for more research on differing levels of cheating and other acts of academic disintegrate as compared to face-to-face classes.” He argues that student feel that it was easier to cheat in online classes than face-to-face classes.
Another point against online classes is technological glitches. Technology sometimes does not work especially when one needs it most. Bathe (805) puts technological difficulties as one of the disadvantages of online learning. Technological failure could mean that learning cannot take place. Since most learning takes place over the internet, it means that reliable and fast network is necessary for any meaningful interaction between the instructor and the student to take place. Discussions cannot take place without reliable network. This implies that if there is a network problem, there might be danger of not getting immediate feedback from the student and the instructor.
CONCLUSION
There is more in favor of online learning than against. In these days of technological advancement, online learning will result into a major shift in pedagogy. More than ever before, more people will quest their thirst for knowledge thanks to the availability of internet connectivity. The shift to online learning is inevitable and I believe even those courses that require physical facilities like a laboratory will find a way of going online. The growing populations mean that more space and facilities are required for them to access education. Thanks to online classes, these facilities may no longer be necessary. Any place can be made a class and learners can conveniently take instructions just with the access of a computer and internet connection. This implies that the cost of providing education will be minimized a great deal.
My take therefore is that everyone should realize the benefits of online learning and do something to improve its offering. Governments should invest more on infrastructure that enables learning to take place online and be able to provide their citizens with cheap if not free connectivity to internet. This is because whether we like it or not, online learning is going to take central stage in offering educational needs to the world population. We should not also forget the fact that online learning is making the reality of global village more practical than it has ever been. Sharing of ideas among students globally has meant that experiences are being shared and thus a common platform to solving problems is made possible through online learning.