Tesla Bethel
Lantern Staff
According to Potomac, online classes are starting to steadily increase throughout the academic world with as many as 6,700,000 students enrolled in online courses, as education evolves and time goes on. However, there are some drawbacks to taking online courses. Where online courses lack, traditional education thrives.
One of the largest drawbacks of online education is a lack of communication. These are necessary skills one needs to have in order to be successful in any job field. If one does not have to learn to communicate in physical altercations and only email their instructors if they are having an issue, valuable communication tools are lost.
This also leads to a drawback in teamwork. One must learn to work as an organized group in order to get large projects done. According to Owlcation, a seminar of 85 companies were asked what they want most in potential employees, the two highest percentage answers were teamwork and communication.
Another drawback of online education is memory. When students at Butler take a math class such as college algebra, they use a website like Hawkes Learning to not only help with practice, but homework as well. Now, this can lead to an issue with memory. There are plenty of students whose lives are so busy, that sometimes homework will slip their mind leading to a drop in their grade.
Many students have a better time remembering homework if they have a physical copy and multiple reminders. According to eLearning Industry, students can wander off or get confused about assignments or deadlines. How often when you are on the computer trying to write a paper and get something done do you soon find yourself on some form of social media?
Another reason why traditional schooling is a better option would be the experience it offers. Adults always talk about their crazy college years, and when you take predominantly online courses, you miss out on so many experiences. You could miss out on clubs, fraternities, sororities and sports. The list goes on. Furthermore, you don’t get the networking you would get in a traditional classroom setting. Ever heard the saying “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” This rings true, as every job application will not only ask for your experience, but also references from teachers, prior employers and colleagues.
The last reason online learning isn’t all it’s cracked up to be is that the facilities needed to learn certain things or perform certain activities aren’t available. For instance, it would be incredibly difficult to do a biology or chemistry course online. Many of these courses require so many hours of lab work to receive credit. You can’t safely do this in your own home over the computer at least not as extensively due to the dangers of some chemicals.
Everything has its pros and cons, the same goes for online learning. However, it really depends on the person. Some people like myself do better in a traditional setting, while others struggle in a traditional setting and may find themselves more successful in an online class. Either way it is important to realize the drawbacks of a situation before pursuing it.