Essay: Online & Face-to-Face Learning In Higher Education.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online and Face-to-Face Learning

Discuss about the Benefits Along with Issues Linked To Online Together With Face-To?Face Approaches of Learning in Higher Education.

The present members of different faculties in higher institutions for education always find themselves under increasing pressures to offer online learning system. It seems prudent to consider the similarities and differences in the provided sources in the traditional face-to-face learning along with one provided entirely or almost entirely online (Davis, 2017). There has been pressure on different higher learning institutions to integrate the use of technology into courses in university that arises from several directions.  The pressure results due to differences in these two learning approaches. In the learning sector, higher education sectors operate on the purpose of not only to concentrate on transferring knowledge but to develop ideal environments as well as experiences that bring the learner to discover and build knowledge for their operations that make students be members of communities to identify and solve operational concerns (Zhan & Mei, 2013). Additionally, the issues of space allocation do not occur for online studies, thereby freeing valuable classrooms for different courses. It is evident that the use of online learning comes with various advantages over face-to-face education or instruction when it comes to process of teaching as well as learning in superior institutions. Technology usage in modern society has become the contributory factor to the new globe of education (Stowell, 2015).  The most common mistake that instructors make during online learning process remains to be their assumptions that what works best in the face-to-face learning procedure can also work effective on model of learning within online setting. These two different learning settings each have various benefits and issues that affect the operations of people involved in learning. Therefore, the principal focus of this research paperwork is to explore interests together with problems linked to online together with face-to?face approaches of learning in higher levels of education.

There is a need for every higher education stakeholder to figure out amid online along with face-to-face means of learning that suits their operations well. Higher institutions use different learning approaches to offer each room instruction and online learning attempt. Universities and colleges have been able to provide associate orientation or demo of the web programs associate adjustment or demo of the web plan to convey learners the concept of what to expect (Alebaikan, 2016). The connection between online along with in presence models of learning allows learners to remain capable of selecting the model that suits their purpose. Different learning approaches are ideal for the development of learners as there is no trend that is appropriate for one and all the learners around the global community. The learning approaches are beneficial as it helps in persistence on adapting desires of students (Helms, 2014). Furthermore, demands on the current employment are very different to those of the past decades. It is estimated that approximately thirty percent of learners presently operate at multiple sites, sometimes in remote locations.

Integrating Online and Face-to-Face Learning

Learning process is always believed to be standard section of working along with individual life. The ideas of education for attaining the job along with for attaining information should not be abandoned. Online learning continues to shift continuously, and it represents the high chance for learning (Wuellner, 2013). Therefore, online learning makes it essential for higher education sectors to discover how people learn by the use of all accessible channels of communication along with selecting the ones that match the individual’s method of sieving the data. Some benefits include the idea that online education stay to be more experienced activity. The use of online learning has allowed various traditional universities to commence to share their courses on websites at zero costs (Artino, 2010). It also presents the relaxed and comfortable approach to attain understanding in almost every field of law and accounting to departments of human resources like psychology and sociology or history. Therefore, online learning remains to be the greatest alternative to traditional universities that use face-to-face leaning especially for individuals who cannot afford the time and money to take real courses.

Replacing class time with online courses or supplementing the online programs with face-to-face are issues that are within blended learning. For higher learning to be successful, the online together with in presence models of learning need to be integrated by taking into account the objectives of learning and the affordances of every mode and deliberately connecting what happens in every manner (Qui & McDougall, 2013). Besides, the issue of infusing of communication technologies of data into the process of learning as well as teaching has happened in every section that deals learning around higher institutions of learning globally. The idea has shifted character of in person knowledge, and it has allowed fast development of mixed along with online programs among students in higher education. Moreover, the use of information communication technologies provides excellent chances but also fresh challenges for both instructors along with learners (Glogowska et al., 2011). As the number of online programs advances, it is vital that people around the education setting of higher education understand the roles as well as practices of the active online learning tutor. In most cases, face-to-face approaches of learning have various disadvantages such as students might get late to class due to poor management of time and poor systems of public transport making them to get late for classes. On the other hand online approach of learning have disadvantage that include the lack of engagement of lecturers as it is not compulsory for learners and lecturers to be present, it encourages laziness, and commitments of work make most learners to skip classes.

Communication in Online and Face-to-Face Learning

Some of the issues that connect to online long with in presence models of learning in higher education aim at bridging the gap that can occur or do occur between what the people in the society understand about student learning and what people must do as tutors. The common characteristics of these active learning strategies for learning process include the idea of learning to learn, openness in the process of education, a sense of community, developing problem-based learning techniques, and improvements of prior knowledge and experiences on the use of online along with in presence models of learning among higher levels of education (Butts, Heidom, & Mosier, 2013). The need to concentrate on the sense of community during the establishment of the ideal approach to use during learning help in offering perfect learning activities that help in encouraging cooperation (Wainwright, 2011). It boosts the cases of collaboration among different group members in higher education as a means of developing the sense of community together with the promotion of learning as the social process. Most university students that prefer to undertake online studies have indicated the preference for online assessments as they often their learning experiences to be improved through the use of online media platforms. However, the issues of favorites on the use of online learning over face-to-face learning around higher education by learners may vary for individuals with limited choice in delivery mode (Gray, 2014). The variation results since there is the presence of additional work or the commitment on family issues that might result to the restriction of the ability of education stakeholders to engage in alternative and perhaps preferred face-to-face learning modes.

The figure examines experiences of people with online model of learning that varies from none to at least ten years. Even though not each individual that responds to the investigation had experience on online learning, at least ninety-five percent had experience in integration of computing or technology of web into their face-to-face model of learning in higher level s of education.

Conclusion

It is evident from the above illustration that online learning has the essential advantage since it can expand the time as well as resources present for the objective of training. The applications of online learning in superior levels of education remain increasingly popular as well as pervasive in the higher sector of education. The faculty in universities must be ready to ensure that every learner continues to learn as much as in face-to-face courses. Therefore, faculties in higher education have the mandate of developing instructional skills that work efficiently in the online setting so that learners become satisfied, engaged, and linked with their instructors together with their peers. The development can help in elimination of cases of lack of engagement of lecturers as it is not compulsory for learners and lecturers to be present, it encourages laziness, and commitments of work make most learners to skip classes.

Recommendations for Improving Online and Face-to-Face Learning

To successfully integrate the online along with face-to-face approaches of learning there is need for every higher learning institution to start establishing strong operational goals. The start with such goals of learning help in looking at the outcomes of learning of the course carefully prior making any modality decisions. There is a need to make careful modality decisions that comprise of various factors needed to be placed in consideration when making modality decisions. These decisions include affordances of every modality that has its strengths. For instance, with the presence of online learning, an individual is capable of having the capacity to hear from every learner while limited duration in the class setting makes this unlikely. The issue of logistics in connecting online along with in person models of learning comprise of goal with modality decisions that is to maximize the effectiveness of the learning experiences but as with any design in attaining instructional arrangement. Besides, the higher education sector needs to be deliberate in the provision of ideal opportunities for interaction. Such ideas can assist learning institutions to improve on their activities of delivering services to learners. Therefore, process of perfect communication can remain to be the key factor in boosting learning processes by allowing the students to communicate in meaningful ways both in online along with in person models of learning. The other recommendation that can help in boosting operations of online together with face-to-face models of learning by being explicit in making the linkages amid the two modalities by acknowledging as well as extending the interaction in each approach. Therefore, instructors in higher learning centers that have responsibilities of delivering online courses must continuously work to enhance their teaching by practicing professional progress. These instructors might benefit from different workshops on online instruction or collaborating with some of their colleagues in higher education.

References

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