Online V/s Offline Education

When giving a thought to online education, some questions which comes to our mind is - What exactly is the difference between online and on-campus education? Which of the two is better? Can any one of the two replace the other? While online education is indeed the future of learning, the serious question to ponder upon is whether a computer can truly replace a teacher?

Online education

This is the era of computers, internet, mails and high-tech devices. Online education is the best, cheap and popular method of information transfer in the form of lessons to individuals. The teaching process can be through any mode i.e. via websites, through webcasts, webinars, CDs or virtual classrooms. All the above mentioned methods can have their own pros and cons. Some cons of Online Education are discussed below:

Most of educational environments like virtual classrooms and webinars operate with the help of an instructor but the others do not. As a result, there is a serious lack of immediate feedback from the instructor. Instructors are to prepare themselves fully before class as online education lessons must be prepared along with notes ahead of time. It is necessary for the instructor to fully understand the concepts of lessons and the technology that is being used here. A facilitator should also be there to assist the instructor. A help desk should be made available 24x7 for instructors, students and also for facilitators.

The education is not confined to only students or children, it can be an aged person, a middle aged lady or a child, the need to design online education is to design all courses in such a way that it can be suitable for any person of the society with different age-range and from different backgrounds.

On-Campus Education

From the past many years, classroom teaching is one of the most preferred forms of learning. This type of teaching allows one to have immediate feedback from the teachers, but it suffers from less flexibility than that in online education.

Instructors of the classroom teaching also use the modern methods like power point instead of whiteboard. The handouts of the courses are made available on the websites. Still student can actively participate in the class because of the physical presence. There are some drawbacks of classroom teaching. To maintain and run such a big decorum is a tough task where all students assemble and learn at the same place. Handling such large classrooms is not an easy job. A lot of financial commitment becomes necessary to carry out the same.

Which is better?

Online education can never completely substitute on-campus education. Because teaching styles change from time to time depending upon the requirements a mixture of both is being adopted by many institutions, corporations and organizations. The main purpose is to deliver the training in the best and the most efficient way. The method of teaching can never become “one size fits all”. To conclude, both are good in their own ways and preference is done on the basis of choice.