As the COVID19 quarantine has caused many face to face universities to shut down, students who paid for a face to face spring semester want their money back. They don't believe an online education is as good as a face to face education. And parents want what they pay for--
I believe that many students prefer face to face education because A) They know very little about the benefits of online teaching. B) They want the immediate face to face interaction with both the professor and other students. C) They want to be able to do lab work directly with the professor and other students. D) They want the whole college experience of meeting other students, socializing, and living in dorms while getting away from the parents. E) If they have a question, they want to get an immediate response from the professor in real time.
Students want the immediate face to face interaction with both the professor and other students. If you have a question, the professor is right there to answer your question. You get to hear the professor's lecture live. They want to be able to ask questions of the professor and get a quick response.I remember when I was in college, we were studying Applied Linguistics. One graduate student asked, "How can we apply the theory we are learning to the classroom?" The professor then gave the student innovative ways to apply theory to the classroom.
Students want to be able to work directly with the professor and other students. When I was in college face to face, I was able to work directly with the teacher on one-on-one study projects. When I was the only student in the French Literature class on French Heroes, the French professor was able to discuss with me the traits of a hero. She taught me that anybody can be a hero.
Most of all, students like college because they get to socialize with each other. When I was in college during the first semester, we were all so happy to be away from our parents for the first time in our lives.We could go to bed when we wanted to, and we could stay up and party as long as we wanted to without curfew. As we socialized, we grew up together and formed lifelong friendships. We learned to our dismay that partying all the time resulted in poor grades, so after that first semester of partying, we did indeed understand the importance of studying!
Many students do not like online teaching because they do not know the benefits of online teaching. From an educational standpoint, a student can still interact with other students on a discussion forum to learn about the core concepts of a topic. A student can still interact with his/her professor on one on one projects and the student can still get individual attention from the professor if he needs help. If a student has a question, he can still ask the professor in real time using Zoom or Skype.
I think, frankly, many traditional students prefer the face to face college experience, not so much for the education, but for the partying, fun and social aspects of college. Online colleges replicate that social experience through social media and student clubs.
Which is better for college students in your opinion, online college education or face to face college education?
No comments:
Post a Comment