Compare and Contrast Essay on Online Versus Face-to-Face Learning

Introduction

The needs to access to higher education cause changes in the educational modalities that have evolved constantly to adapt to the requirements of modern society (Harasim, 1996). The incorporation of Information and communication technologies (ICT) to education have made it possible to change the paradigms of knowledge management of traditional schools focused on teaching towards education focused on student learning.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Online type of study allows the actors of the teaching-learning process to interact, both synchronously and asynchronously, allows access to training materials and to the evaluation activities from anywhere and in any time provided there is an internet connection. Students are able to manage their own time. Online learning, also referred to as Virtual education is considered as a modality assumed by the transnational education product of globalization. In such a way, that virtual education is seen as the result of new digital communication and information technologies and the creation of network access systems.

Four Types of Online Education

This new online paradigm displaces the classroom of classes towards the network and incorporates a set of changes in learning by developing the character of an education that intensifies its link with simulation models and networking. Virtual higher education breaks national borders and establishes a broad level of coverage through the network; then, beyond being a new pedagogical model, it is the scene of the society of access (Hannay and Newvine, 2006). From the use of technology, higher education can be classified as follows:

• Non-virtual and face-to-face education
• The non-virtual remote
• Face-to-face virtual education
• Virtual distance education.

In non-virtual (face-to-face) education all the actors are in the same place at the same time; Non-virtual education is supported mainly by the use of paper (books, magazines.) and other devices such as audio cassettes and video cassettes; face-to-face virtual education is mediated by computer, but all the actors coincide in time and place; Finally, in education virtual remote actors interact through numerical representations of the elements of the teaching and learning process, but they are in different places and times of time. This is the most modern asynchronous communication educational modality.

Teacher's Role in Face-to-Face Education

In face-to-face education, the teacher's role is the immediate function in higher education is understood as a nonverbal approach that reduces the distance between the teacher and student both physically and psychologically (Harasim, 1996). There is visual contact with students, making them adopt a relaxed physical posture, applying body languages like gestures and facial expressions improved the effect of the students towards the practices fostered in the course materials, the mastery of the issues of the course and towards the teacher. The definition of behaviors of immediate teacher are expanded, to include oral activities like talking about experiences of what has happened outside of the classroom, using good humor, calling students by their name, praising the work or student comments. the consequences of this type of behavior contribute significantly to the learning of the affected students. Under online learning, these privileges are not available as they use virtual instructors.

Undoubtedly, technological change promotes the virtualization of education as part of an emerging model of education that incorporates technology and the acquisition of different skills by part of the participants, allows organizing the necessary learning, and classifying the different demands of professionals in the world from work. In online education, information and communication technologies (ICT) are not seen any more as an instrument, but also consider as a support in the generation of a new social space, a new educational space and, therefore, a new educational method that works using educational resources that are not physical, but electronic and are responsible for promoting people gain skills and abilities in individuals.

The Evolution of Online Education

Online education is a learning mode where variables are joined as the contents and activities; the educational level; the prior knowledge of the students; the interaction and communication of the participants; and the technological platform that is used, through technological devices connected to the Internet. Under this idea of globalization and the de-emphasis of education is developing the virtual education, a modality that is based on new pedagogical concepts based on simulation models and a new role of teachers, such that so-called diversity universities are emerging with a series of pedagogical flexibilities, new technologies, and procedures, with the purpose of attending to the educational needs of visually impaired people or with different capacities, of individuals confined in social rehabilitation centers, and even, of indigenous in need of intercultural bilingual education (Hannay and Newvine, 2006). The virtual education offers the possibility of training, taking advantage of flexible schedules, for people they work or pregnant women, and they show up also as an opportunity for migrants and displaced. In short, the incorporation of perspectives on gender, disability, indigenous cultures, cultural plurality, and global relevance are the relevant elements to promote the renewal, updating, and adaptation of universities to the requirements of the Modern society.

It is necessary to have lived all of the above described to be able to locate education online where the world is today. It is unthinkable to conceive it without having experienced the efforts that countries have made in their own education systems to invest in infrastructure, equipment, and training. Now we can aspire to raise the quality of online education because it is definitely not a second-class option; Unlike, It is a great opportunity for all those people who want to acquire skills to face the demands of today's society. Online education should not be seen as a remedial option or as an alternative to face-to-face education; it should simply be differentiated because the processes that surround it are different (Neuhauser, 2002). However, the experience of the different countries allows the affirmation that the virtuosity in the higher education is not for all individuals who intend to venture into this mode of study, because although we have experienced the democratization of the Internet, not all people can carry out the learning process satisfactorily due to the absence of habits of self-discipline and self-criticism, lack of follow-up, lack of technological skills and deficiencies in the previous school trajectory, indicator of the knowledge obtained in the high school level.

Distance Education and Demographics

Distance education started as a worthless program school credit that served as a supplement to the traditional modality and since recently it has grown rapidly as a replacement for the school-university modality. A review of the literature indicated that distance students may differ demographically from students who attend a traditional campus, in addition a distance student is considered a non-traditional student The majority of students at a distance of higher education are professionals who work and who have ages between 25 and 50 years, with little time to attend traditional courses The literature also suggested among other things that women choose to study remotely more than men. Motivation, among other factors, plays an important role to select the method of distance learning.

High Dropout Rates in Online Learning

Unlike the case under the face-to-face method of learning, online learning is faced by high abandonment drop-out rates. Statistics provides annual information on the proportion of students who stop attending a title with respect to students initially enrolled. The precise definition varies from one organism to another, but its meaning is clear: students who abandon a degree, the vast majority, find many difficulties in understanding the subjects, they are poorly attended and in definitively, they feel unable to complete the studies they started. All distance courses have as a common denominator, the high dropout rate (Neuhauser, 2002). Therefore, it is important to study and analyze this rate, as well as the implementation of actions that may reduce it.

As far as the students who develop distance courses are concerned, it can be observed that a large part are workers, with ages from 25 to 50 years, with little time to attend face-to-face courses and with more participation of women than of men. Some characteristics that distinguish them are: they have the ability to work alone, what do base on results that they intend to achieve, they administer ineffective time and have a high degree of perseverance.

The instructional media, which are offered, based on the technologies of the communication, and that have distinguished themselves by their rapid changes above all in recent years, they favor tools provided by the Internet and that help to have interaction with the objects of study, with non-classroom teachers, with fellow students located at a distance, that help in the reflection of the contents and solution of situations problems in remote teams, improving understanding and application of knowledge in cases of simulated and real studies.

Reference

Harasim, L. (1996). Online education. Computer networking and scholarly communication in the twenty-first-century university, 203-214.

Hannay, M., & Newvine, T. (2006). Perceptions of distance learning: A comparison of online and traditional learning. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 1-11.

Neuhauser, C. (2002). Learning style and effectiveness of online and face-to-face instruction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 99-113.