Classroom teaching vs Online teaching- which is better?
“Coronavirus
”-the
pandemic that changed this world upside down and one of the many sectors it
influenced largely is education. Keeping in mind the health of the students,
schools and colleges were shut down. But as the saying goes,
“The show must
go on”, and it did. Teachers and students switched to virtual education. Though
online education did exist before, it was not very prevalent. As it is an
atypical and unconventional platform of education, both students and teachers
were apprehensive to switch over to it.
Fearing to make
a transition is a natural human tendency, but sometimes it is the only
option left. So when the teachers and students had to switch to online
education worldwide, affecting around
600 million learners, it did
change their prototypical way of teaching and learning. There are both pros and
cons of online education. Today Aplomb India brings to you a comparative study
of the same.
Pros of online education:
Ø
Jennifer
Fleming
, a PHD psychologist said,
“Teaching in the
Internet Age means we must teach tomorrow’s skills today.” Online education
does not only teach a student but the teacher too! Both teachers and students
have to be tech savvy, and it’s always good to learn something new.
Ø
One
of the biggest advantage of online education is the schedule. It truly is
‘anytime, anywhere’ education
in the literal sense! The barrier of time is completely eliminated. Both the
teacher and the student can choose a mutually convenient time to meet.
Ø
‘Time
is money’
, and online education is a big saviour of time as
well as money. Studying online dodges the financial bullets that students and
teachers regularly have to bear the blunt of. Not only does it save their
transport costs by eliminating the barrier of physical availability, but also
saves their time and energy which enables them to perform in a more efficient
manner.
Ø
The students who are introverts and shy may
not find it comfortable to ask doubts in the classroom in front of everyone.
This hampers their learning. Online education eliminates this issue too by
providing an option of chatting anonymously.
But for all of its advantages,
online education is a
double-edged sword. So
it has some cons too.
Cons of online education:
Ø
The
first and foremost issue that is faced by everyone in this type of education is
connectivity. Since there is a lot of load on servers and the infrastructure is
not well developed to handle this, the system crashes. Also, not every
individual has a good internet access and losing connectivity in between a
lecture is extremely annoying and it also breaks the link of the teacher as
well as the student.
Ø
There
are a number of health problems in this type of education. Digital education
increases the screen time of an individual. Blue light emerging from the screen
penetrates all the way to the retina in the eye and can damage the
light-sensitive cells. Also, sitting in front of a desktop/ laptop for long
hours affects the posture badly. Also, no physical activity affects the health
badly.
Ø
There
is a big issue in online teaching and that is- lack of discipline and attention.
Students are easily distracted and since teachers are not physically present to
monitor them, they continue with other activities like scrolling through
Instagram or watching a web show while letting the software run in the
background.
But as the author
Donna J. Abernathy says,
“Online learning is not the next big thing. It is the now big thing.” Hence
we must learn to adapt to this too.
We cannot let a pandemic suffer our learning in any
way. I remember reading this somewhere,
“Remember
when the Titanic was sinking and the band continued to play?” Well, here, the
teachers are the band!
#AplombIndia #education #onlineteaching #covid19