On-campus education vs. online education! Is one better than the other? Can one completely replace the other? Indeed, it seems that online education is the way of the future. Educational institutions, corporations, and government organizations offer various electronic teaching forms. However, can a computer truly replace a teacher and a blackboard?
How people learn
Each individual has a form of learning that suits them best. Some individuals achieve fantastic results in courses taught online. However, most people drop out of 100% computer-led courses. In staff training, educational institutions and companies must recognize that there is no ideal way to teach many individuals. So, they must design programs that best suit the group’s needs.
People learn to use multiple senses. This involves learning through both theoretical components of a course and social interaction with instructors and other students. Students learn from each other’s mistakes and successes, not just from what instructors tell them.
Each student has an ideal learning pace. Instructors are, therefore, challenged to design courses that move forward so that students with a slower learning pace do not get left behind while not moving so slowly that students with a faster learning pace get bored.
Online Education
In the age of high-speed information transfer, online education is becoming a popular and cheap means for delivering teaching to individuals outside the classroom and, in some cases, worldwide. Teaching can be via CD, websites, or real-time online facilities such as webcasts, webinars, and virtual classrooms. However, different online education methods each have advantages and disadvantages.
Online education is still a relatively new concept and, in many respects, is still in the teething stages. As such, various problems arise across different online education environments. For example:
1. Lack of immediate feedback in asynchronous learning environments: While some online education environments, such as webcasts, webinars, and virtual classrooms, operate live with an instructor’s addition, most do not. Although having the advantage of being self-paced, teaching that is delivered through a CD or website provides no immediate feedback from a live instructor.
2. The instructor must prepare more: In the instructor’s education environment, instructors can not simply stand before a whiteboard and deliver a class. Lessons must be prepared beforehand, as notes and instructions may accompany the teaching.
The instructor would often instruct the students on the concepts and technology used to deliver that teaching. This increases the skill levels needed for online education instructors, placing greater demand on educational institutions.
Staffing levels may also be higher for courses run in an online education environment, requiring, for example:
The Instructor – Instructorach both course content and be skilled in the use of technologies involved
The Facilitator – to assist the instructor inInstructInstructort, but may do so remotely.
Help Desk – to assist instructors, facilitators, and students in using software and hardware to deliver the course.
3. Not all people are comfortable with online education: Education is no longer sought only by the world’s youth. With an increased trend towards adult and continuing education, courses must be designed for students over a larger age range and students from different and varied backgrounds. It isn’t easy, however, to create online education environments suitable for everyone.
4. Increased potential for frustration, anxiety, and confusion: In an online education environment, many parts make up the system that can fail. Server failures may prevent online courses from operating. Software-based teaching applications may require other specific components to use. Computer viruses may infect software necessary to run online education environments. If these systems are complex, students may choose the ease of On-campus education rather than taking the additional time and effort required to master online education systems.
5. The Digital Divide: Many people living in remote areas and developing countries cannot access computers, making online education virtually impossible. For this reason, online education can only be targeted at the people lucky enough to take advantage of the technology involved. Similarly, offering live teaching worldwide means that different time zones and nationalities increase the demand for multi-skilled instructors.
In addition to these, several legal issues are associated with maintaining an online education environment. For example, intellectual property laws, particularly those relating to copyright, may or may not fully cover electronically created intellectual property. Information on a website is not necessarily considered a public domain despite being available to everyone. However, the Australian Copyright Act was amended in 2001 to ensure that copyright owners of electronic materials, including online education environments, could continue to provide their works commercially.
On-Campus Education
Still, the most common form of instruction is traditional classroom-style learning. These instructor-led environments are more personal than online education environments and allow immediate feedback to and from students and teachers alike. However, the classroom allows for less flexibility than courses run in online education environments.
Instructors in modern classroom environments can still use several electronic teaching tools while maintaining the atmosphere associated with the traditional classroom environment. For example, PowerPoint slides can be utilized instead of a whiteboard or blackboard. Handouts can be distributed via course websites before the event. However, on the day, students can still participate actively in the lesson.
Like online education environments, On-campus education has certain drawbacks, the most common of which is the classroom itself. It requires a group of people who, in a university, could reach a few hundred people in size to simultaneously gather in the same place. This requires enormous time and financial commitment from the students and the educational institution.
However, it is this sort of environment that is most familiar to students across the world. People of all ages can access a classroom environment, feeling comfortable with how a classroom-run course is carried out. Older students who may not be comfortable using information technology are not required to navigate through possibly complex online education environments, making On-campus education the most accessible form of teaching.
On-campus education has one advantage that 100% electronically delivered courses can not offer – social interaction. Learning comes from observing what is written on a page or presented in a slide show and what is observed in others. Most students are naturally curious and will want to ask their instructors questions. The classroom environment allows students to clarify what is being taught with their instructors and other students.
So, Which is Better?
No style of instruction will best suit every student. Studies have shown (Can online education replace On-campus education) that courses, where online education complements On-campus education, have proved more effective than courses delivered entirely using only one method. These courses take advantage of online education materials and a live instructor, producing higher results than students in either 100% online education or classroom environment courses. Students benefit from the classroom environment’s immediate feedback and social interaction and the convenience of self-paced online education modules that can be undertaken when they best suit the student.
It seems that online education environments will never completely replace on-campus education. There is no “one size fits all” teaching method. Teaching styles will continue to adapt to find the way that best fits the learning group. Using a mix of online education environments and classroom sessions, educational institutions, corporations, and government organizations can ensure that training is convenient and effective for instructors and students.
