Comparison of Traditional and Online Classes
With the development of the Internet technology, Internet is becoming an important part of modern life. Therefore, many people have been taking online classes. According to the research of the U.S. Department of Education, there were more than 12.5 million students who took online classes in the fall of 2012. In past years, when people needed to learn a new skill, they usually take traditional classes. Traditional classes and online classes are two kinds of learning; they both offer the same education and the high quality of learning. However, some aspects are totally different, especially interaction, quality, and time.
First of all, interaction is one of the most essential differences between traditional and online classes. Social interaction is a key aspect of a college experience. In traditional classes, all students study together. When problems come out, it is easy for students to ask the instructor immediately. In traditional classes, student can meet new people and make friends easily. For example, I always communicate and work with my classmates in the library or cafeteria, and I build a good relationship with different people. In contrast, online feedback may be slower than traditional feedback. When students get stuck on the online information, they probably will ask their professors for help, but they may not get the feedback right away. In my experiences, the instructor may need two days to respond their questions. According to the article “The Trouble With Online College” in the New York Times, the author reports a research that states the instructor and students have little interaction in online classes. In online classes, although students will interact with their classmates and instructor through email, chat rooms or live chat, but the socialization is limited in online classes. For instance, I have taken online classes this quarter; I communicate with my professor by email, but not so often unless I have some problems.
In addition, quality is another essential difference between traditional and online classes. It is for sure that the reason why students take classes is to learn new skills and find a good job. Employers hire more traditional students than online students because of the quality. In campus-based classes, instructors teach students by using textbooks and their will explain those materials meticulously. For instance, I asked my math professor about a difficult problem last week, so he helped me to solve it and make sure I understand the solution clearly. In traditional classes, there are almost no plagiarism. As for support, my friend told me about a story. While he took a quiz, his professor was watching all the students, some people did not have a chance to plagiarize. Compare with traditional classes, instructors just give students some documents and e-books. Therefore, students need to study by their own. Although the instructor will answer students problem, but they can not make sure whether students understand it or not. When students do not want to do some homework, they probably go google the answer. For example, one friend of me is lazy, he just cope the homework answer from some website, and turn it in as his own work.
Besides interaction and quality, time is also an important difference between