Education is one of the oldest assets that started with the first human being. Since the beginning of human life, education has taken many forms which are geared toward bestowing knowledge to the young generation. In the recent past, a few centuries back, formal education has been introduced to most parts of the globe. This was contrary to the common traditional way of passing knowledge and information, which often involved gathering in the fields where the youth were told about new technologies and subjects. The introduction of formal education seemed to be having many advantages over the old type of education. Its general assessment of these advantages made it easy for people in the most developing continents and countries to embrace it. (Bean, 1999):
In the present day, there has been a drastic and dramatic change in the overall procedure and system of education. This has been brought by several factors such as advancement in technology as well as improved infrastru8ctiure and communication means. Due to technology, online learning has been possible. This form of learning, when well scrutinized, it seems to be easy as compared to classroom learning.
The commitment of this online education has enabled many candidates to obtain their education on their home grounds. Thus considering its advantages, online education is one of the most convenient ways of learning for those disadvantaged individuals due to distance. It cuts down the cost of traveling, buying books, and building classrooms. The cost which the parents can not avoid is tuition fees. This also cut down on rent costs where the students are boarders. Throughout many states, there is a growing consciousness that the cost of senior education is like a runaway freight coach. Hence, there is a need to get rid of unnecessary costs of bus fare and accommodation.
Online has an additional advantage to students. Students are exposed to exploit the new technologies; hence they are able to access easily all the needed learning material as well as examinations and results. Internet technology which is widely used by online schools, provides easy access to school facilities. This has acted as a way of easy information transfer between the students and the administration staff and tutors. This cuts down the institute’s operational cost by employing fewer numbers of staff officials and the cost of accessing other material from different institutions.. (Connick, 1997)
On the other hand, online education poses one great social disadvantage. The fact that learning takes place through the internet creates a clear indication that there are not intimate social relationships among the individuals making up the school community. They are just limited to chat sessions which may not be so often. This makes it difficult to understand some of the problems that are affecting students’ performance and does not provide the way forward of solving such problems.
Also, another problem that is associated with online learning is that technology is bound to change. The fast-changing technology creates barriers that hinder the transfer of valuable education. For instance, when a student is given an online exam, homework, or any other tests to do, it is very hard to supervise this student; thus, the answers given back to the examiner may not be right from his candidate. It should not be forgotten that there those science subjects which involve practical and research work. Teaching such courses online means limited learning materials because chemicals for chemists and devices that are required for physics practicals can not be e-mailed to the student.
This, in turn, renders ineffectiveness in the teaching methodologies and deteriorating research projects results. Most parents incur a lot of costs as many students who are mentally pre-mature spent too much money on unnecessary chat sessions on the internet. (Cardenas, 1998)
Classroom education provides a good environment for learning to those students who can attend school daily. The setting of this environment gives students the benefit of interaction. This promotes social development as well as an open exchange of ideas as opposed to the online environment. Although there is a good environment, the cost per student need is estimated to be more than $ 100 000. It is estimated that construction costs are $100,000 a classroom, at $90 per square foot. Academic building maintenance and replacement costs come in at $20 a year per square foot, $2000 per student, $10 per credit hour, and $4000 per course. (Albrecht, 1997)
Numerous students help in the contribution of valuable ideas, which built a strong team and group work. When there work together with their lecturers, they are able to get first-hand information. This also allows free exchange of ideas with no communication barriers. Students can clearly hear the comments made by other students. When they do so, those who are online have to pay for the services provided by the internet providers. (Burgen, 1996.)
While we look at a glance of the classroom education, the students can fully benefit from free communication means as it is the only face-to-face which costs nothing. Research discloses that the cost of online education is frequently the same as classroom education. However, most of us have a sense of what a classroom education school should cost. It looks like a white lie to say costs are the same because the maintenance of the electronics that are used in online education is very high. Their initial cost of purchase is not at the limits of poor citizens. Tuition costs in these schools are fairly well standard for the rich, documented, and standardized by credit hour.
Generally, it can be seen that neither classroom education nor online is more effective than the other. It is therefore advisable to combine both of these two methods in order to have better-taught elite without devaluation of the education set standards. (Evans, 1994).
Reference:
Bean, R. (1999): Lights, Camera, And Instruction: Library Instruction via Interactive Television: Central Michigan University Press.
Nipp, D. (1998): Innovative Use of the Home Page for Library Instruction. Research Strategies Burgen, A. (1996.): Goals and Purposes of Higher Education in the 21st Century: Kingsley Publisher.
Evans, T. (1994): Understanding Learners in Open and Distance Education.
Galbraith, M. W. (1998): Adult Learning Methods: A Guide for Effective Instruction: Krieger Publishing Company.
Rossman, M. (1995): Facilitating Distance Education: Journal Issue.
Whyte, S. (1996): spanning the Distance.
Albrecht, R. (1997): “The Western Governors University: A New Learning System for the 20th Century.
Cardenas, K. (1998): Saving Small Foreign Language Programs.
Connick, G. (1997): Issues and Trends to Take Us into the Twenty-First Century.