Traditional Learning vs. Online Learning: Differences, advantages and disadvantages

These days online courses/training have become extremely popular, as more and more institutes and companies are offering courses online. However, despite the popularity of online education, vast groups of people consciously stay away from such methods, mostly due to misconception. At the same time, despite the rising popularity of online courses, traditional (classroom) training is fighting back and trying to adopt newer means of retaining learners’ interest. There are always two sides of a coin. For some individuals, online training is more appropriate, while for others classroom training is the preferred delivery method.

Let us compare the two methods.

Online Learning

People take professional level courses usually to increase their qualifications and enhance their career opportunities in their jobs. For example, to get promotion in higher level and higher paid jobs; in management related professional degrees, diplomas are helpful. However many employees may be exhausted after their work and don’t want to attend regular classes. So, naturally, an online class is more convenient for them, as it saves valuable time, money, and energy.

The best thing about online learning is that individuals can take a course from the comfort of their office or home. Even with a busy schedule, one can find some spare time to take a course or study for it.

In online classes, the learner is not directly interacting with the faculty. So in case of having any questions, they may find it difficult to ask their online instructor, as communication is often very impersonal. However, these courses often offer alternatives to live query resolution like online forums, emails, and chatrooms. Using these alternatives can be helpful for individuals to get their queries answered.

People often think that interacting with a trainer live is the best way to learn, as it is interactive and allows for two-way communication. For such types of people, synchronous online courses will be more appropriate.

Another way to acquire knowledge through an online medium is by searching on different search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Although this helps by reducing the amount of books one has to read, there may be too many sources of information one has to read, and choose the relevant ones, which can result in information overload.

Thus online learning may be more suitable for grownups who are continuing their education while they’re working in their regular jobs.

Traditional Learning

Traditional classes are more suitable for young children, teenagers, and young adolescents who are yet to join the workforce. Regular attendance in classes helps them interact with other individuals of their own age, be better disciplined, follow a regular schedule, and improve their physical fitness and mental alertness.

Classroom learning helps students and teachers know each other in a better manner. This allows teachers to know the students and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses better, act as mentors, and guide students in their career possibilities.

In a traditional classroom, students can directly share their views and clarify their own queries with the teacher, thus getting their questions answered right away.

Most of the time books and classroom notes are very useful for studying and passing exams. Understanding the Question & Answer pattern, and with suggestions provided by experienced teachers, students can find it more helpful to learn than when using generalized online notes and suggestions available on the internet.

Also, classroom learning is more helpful due to a continuous interaction between students and teachers, as it helps students to get rid of their fears regarding exams, which can rarely happen with online guidance.

Lastly, interactions with good teachers help motivate students to achieve higher marks.