Learning In the Real or Cyber-World?

*This article is made for informative purposes, not profit and is depicted through experiences of the author.  The image used belongs to the respective copyright owners.

The Routine of Traditional Classes

This may not come up so much as a topic of debate, but on balance it would seem that the normal procedure of rushing to the classes, just seconds before the scheduled starting time for the professor to begin the lecture is what students have been enduring since middle school.  Everyone remembers the adrenaline pumping through their veins as they push through the suffocating crowds of fellow students, the ringing voices of other teachers shouting with demands for promptness and diligence from their pupils.  While it may have sounded annoying at the age of 13 to 15, it taught us how to make haste while helping to keep track of how much we truly intended to listen to our superiors.  Even in high school and college, there is the exhausting problem of vehicular malfunctions or finding a mode of transportation that hopefully does not require waiting for the City-Link bus at 6:00 AM.  In spite of the rush that consists of great punctuality, one tends to feel more at ease when sitting in a classroom, and being able to see the faces of their classmates and teachers.  More importantly, there is the benefit of speaking to the professor face-to-face rather than waiting days between emails for answers to questions.

The Experience of the Digital Class

When one first enrolls for an online class, there is the assumption that it will be a simple, breeze-through type of class where little effort is needed on the part of the students.  While there may arguable be less material than what is needed in a physical classroom, there is still the need to log in everyday, look over the syllabus posted by the professor and look through most of the subjects posted every week.  Normally, there are deadlines for certain assignments to be completed before that allotted time and once the date is past, it is too late and the link to submit it will be expired, similar to a professor vocally refusing a piece of homework after the given period.  Also, there is also the notion that while online classes give students more of a flexible method of completing work on their own time, there is one exception.  In my experience, any future assignments or quizzes in the distant following weeks are blocked until the current date is closer to the deadline, to prevent anyone from achieving further ahead than their fellow students.

Which Is Better…?

While this subject can cause argument among those in the educational department, each one definitely possesses their respective benefits and drawbacks, as was previously explained.  While is no right or wrong answer to this question, there is certainly reason for debate.  Will online classes eventually overwhelm the traditional notion of actually going to the classrooms and knowing one’s teachers and learning partners by voice and face?  Is it actually easier to keep up with classes closer to home and on one’s own daily schedule?  Considering how far we have come to depend on modern technology to make our lives simpler, there is the deliberate fact that people become busier with other mandatory tasks as they grow up and may find it difficult to attend daily classes.  Whether or not the traditional classroom will still exist in the next century or so remains a mystery.