With the advancement of technology, most of the education institutions are focusing on online learning under which their courses are offered through the internet platforms. However, there are criticisms of the approach because of the decline in the value as well as productivity of the workforce. It is recognized that the traditional education involving the real classroom experience is of great benefit to the students. Also, there are advantages associated with the online approach to education. The logic of this argument is that approximately 90% of the scholars have preference to the traditional approach when compared to the online learning. Given the ongoing debates about the significance of these perspectives, this paper will compare them and examine why the traditional learning is more beneficial to the learners.
The traditional way of learning involves physical attendance of lessons in person at the school. Online learning has created an environment that is virtual and where the learners can undertake the classes at their own schedule. There has been an increase in the numbers of students taking online programs to be able to meet the skills needed at the workplace. Bearing in mind that students have different learning capabilities and the increase in use of technology, online studies are inevitable. Therefore, the concern of most learning institutions is how to implement the online classes. There is need to examine how these two way of delivering education affect the student.
One of the major reasons for growth of online learning is the aspect of flexibility. The offline way of teaching requires that the consumer to be present to gain what the instructor produces unlike in online education where the learners have the ability to consume at different times. The teacher is not also required to be present when the consumption is taking place. In the modern world, teaching is like a stage play. It is possible for many people to view the play at the same time. Teaching can be made like a movie through the online education. The parallel between the plays and offline and online education has further courses. At first, the teachers market will be similar to that of the actors, under which the winner takes all the market with big payments and greater inequality at the top. Regardless of the benefits of the online learning, the traditional education is useful in specific situations.
There is a notion that teaching 30 students at the same time is expensive.This is happening for the similar reasons butlers have high cost. As they became expensive, their productivity increased but at a slow rate in comparison to that of other fields.Also, the opportunity cost of online education has increased relative to the offline education.According to Alex Tabarok, productivity of teaching, measured in, say, kilobytes transmitted from teacher to student per unit of time, hasnt increased much. The classroom experience has ineffable quality, which raises value as compared to similar material taught through the online platforms. The fields, which are experimental such as chemistry, physics, and biology, require classroom teaching with more focus to the human being. By identifying these exceptions, it is known that there is an increase in the levels of productivity when the traditional approach is used. Students can gather more knowledge and retain it if taught via the classroom experience in sciences. Also, there is no aspect of online education which can substitute the traditional learning when there practical issues or for the apprenticing the advanced levels such as masters and the doctoral levels.
People should accept that the traditional approach to learning has some value because it results to an increase in productivity regardless of its cost. Most of the online teaching originates from the TED talks, which lasts for less than an hour. However, there is no opportunity to ask questions if an individual does not understand specific concepts. With the cost ratios, it is possible for students to appreciate the low quality materials because they are not expensive, but their productivity will be lower than those taught using the traditional approach.
With the advancement of technology, most of the universities and colleges in the world are offering the masters and doctoral courses through their websites under which the learning materials are provided via the platforms. However, it is difficult to appreciate the value of the engineers, doctors and other scientists who undertook their courses through the online media because these fields are practical and need more resources such as laboratories for the students to be qualified. Also, there is an objection to the online learning because of the concerns of personalization and attention. From this analysis, it is clear that online approach is beneficial in certain circumstances and fields, specifically when the distance between the learner and the teacher is significant, and if the student is working. However, there is more productivity in the traditional education in the experimental and practical courses as opposed to the learning through the internet. Also, the fact that proves the previous studies true about the value of traditional education. However, there are issues, which are not answered by this article about how productivity is affected by online learning, the number of employees who have undergone the online courses and are not productive as well as the potential of the perspective. Therefore, there are gaps in study about the concerns above making it necessary to advance the research in future.
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