An Essay on The Classroom vs Online Classes

There are more advantages of taking classes in the classroom compared to taking them online; such as being able to physically meet with the teacher, asking for feedback and seeing their reaction.

The traditional way of taking class, which is called the classroom environment, has become a lot easier to manage time because you are going to class everyday if not a little less. Students have more time to meet with their peers and teacher and more time for homework to be done in the classroom with the help of peers and your teacher. Many students learn best though the face to face interaction or the hands on approach that is provided by teachers and peers while attending classes in the classroom environment. Online classes might be effective for some students however many students learn by doing, seeing, and being able to interact with the teacher and their peers.

The social constructivist approach is based on the assumption that individuals learn to construct their knowledge and meanings through interaction with others. It holds that knowledge is not presented to the individuals, but emerges from active dialogue where people create their own learning paths and knowledge. According to the constructivist approach, learners communicate their knowledge to others who provide feedback. (Alkharusi, Hussain, Ali Kazem, and Ali Al-MusawaQaboosi par. 10).

With online courses colleges and universities haves made tremendous impact on the instruction and student learning. Distance education opportunities have brought the classroom from the university or college settings to the home, allowing students the privilege of pursuing college degrees without the inconvenience of actually traveling to campus to take the course.

Thousands of students are earning their degree with little or no traditional participation and no interaction with the teacher or their peers. Students who learn by hands on or best thought the face to face interaction lose all this when they take classes online since you can’t physical meet with you teacher or peers. Some students also lack the technological skills needed to take online classes which causes some students to struggle. Taking classes online is a lot cheaper than taking them in the classroom because of the cost of gas to travel to classes and other financial expenses like baby sister, food and drinks and book bag. Some students have a hard time getting internet access and a computer since the cost of getting a computer is so expense.

Group assignments in the classroom environment have a more set schedule with more time for the project to do in classroom. This is a lot easier, because you can only physically meet with each other and be able to talk face to face with each other compared to trying to do the group assignment online, which could be challenging because of scheduling conflicts.

The weekly schedule you have in the classroom environment all depends on the college you attend and the teacher. At Iowa Central Community College, the weekly schedule was set up with at least six to seven classes which were each two hours long and only met with the teacher two to three times a week. With four to six hours a week of class time this allowed for a lot of stuff to be taught in the 15 weeks we had in the first semester. Right now the accelerated classes I am taking, only last 8 weeks compared to the normal 15 weeks in a semester.

The traditional way of taking classroom classes lets you have a total time of at least 60 hours of face to face as to where the 8 weeks allows for only 32 hours of class. There are set schedules in the classroom environment, but if the teacher feels their students do not understand the concept they can change the schedule or adapt the teaching.

In the classroom environment the teacher can see who is putting the effort in the group assignment and give the correct credit to the students who do the work and effort. This allows for the students that don’t put in effort get the grade they deserve. Meeting your teacher and peers face to face allows for better understanding of feedback, which you receive from your teacher and peers on assignments and allows you to better improve your assignment before the final copy has to be turn in to the teacher.

Group Assignments in online classes are a lot hard to plan and takes a lot of more time to figure out when everyone can work on the project together or just to figure out on whom does what part. When you have to email each other or using another program to communicate to each other and figure out how to plan between everyone schedules.

Some colleges and universities used Blackboard or similar systems, which provides a structured format for teachers to post announcements, assignments, course documents, faculty credentials and course notes for easy student access. This helps with students taking the classes online to be better prepared but it is able used with the classroom environment to. This even helps more with the traditional way of taking classes because it allows the students to seek feedback from the teacher in person and have a schedule, which they can view from anywhere if they have internet and a computer.

Individual Assignments

In the traditional classroom environment the individual assignments can sometimes be hard and you need help from the teacher

Assessment of student’s learning and student’s activities has been said that it takes up half of the teacher’s professional time in the classroom, which is one of the many job responsibilities of a teacher.

Tests

Taking tests in the classroom environment sometimes become a little overwhelming but it’s also the best way to take the test since you have the ability to ask the teacher questions about the test and be able to physical meet with other students and the teacher.

Many teachers let the students in the classroom review the day before the test in class and also before taking the class to allow the students the best grade they can get from studying.

Online classes some teachers don’t require a test in their classes since it’s online and the teacher knows the students will use their books. Instead they have them do more papers or homework assignments which shows the teacher they are doing their work. Online classes lets the students take responsibility for their own leaning more than traditional instructional approaches but some students have a hard time learning if they are not being pushed to study for the tests and do the homework.( Brockway)

There are more advantages of taking classes in the classroom compared to taking them online; such as being able to physically meet with the teacher, asking for feedback and seeing their reaction.

As for myself taking classes in the traditional way of taking classes allows the students a better improve on their studies and provides them with more feedback from the teacher and allows better communication with peers and your teacher. With the integration of Blackboard, it allows the students to better schedule their days and plan ahead.