I write not to criticize the values of a face-to-face learning environment, but to praise the achievements and possibilities for online learning. Online learning is a great tool for people who don’t have the time to commit to a normal school experience.
I feel that online courses can be an excellent supplement for an intrinsically motivated student with loaded schedules. As defined in Roxanna Moreno’s Educational Psychology textbook, intrinsic motivation is “the motivation to be involved in learning activity for its own sake” (329). If someone wants to learn and their schedule is too rigid with other commitments to allow for a predetermined block of time to be spent in a classroom each week, an online class is an excellent option to facilitate taking a class they would have otherwise been unable to participate in. This applied to me personally this year, because in addition to the time I devote to cross country I had a lab session for one of my classes that interfered with a large chunk of time and prevented me from taking most of the classes that appealed to me. When I saw that I could take this class online I was overjoyed: it has allowed me to have a satisfactory number of credit hours and spend time working on the material without interfering with my schedule. Another group of people who would benefit to online classes instead of face-to-face learning environments are adults with full time jobs and/or kids. The additional article I read gave the perspective of a person who didn’t find the conventional school environment challenging or kept them engaged enough to warrant the time commitment to finish their degree (Vercillo). For this person, being able to study at their own pace and work independently made getting their education much easier. But an extrinsically motivated student (which Moreno defines as the motivation to be involved in learning as a means to an end, pg 329) who studies to get a good grade, approval from parents and teachers, or whatever reason would have trouble finding motivation to keep up with online courses. For them, I would strongly recommend face-to-face learning environments.
I think that the increase in performance marked in the New York Times article is a demonstration in how far online classes have come in the past decade or so, but even that article made sure to replace traditional classroom environments. Face to face classrooms allow students to have valuable social contact in the most critical development periods of a child’s life. It gives a student structure and restraint and exposure to rules and discipline. So while I think the online format is great for reaching out to people who could not otherwise participate, the face-to-face learning environment is critical, and here to stay.
Works Cited:
Moreno, R. (2010). Educational psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
New York Times Bits Blog (2009). Study finds that online education beats the classroom. Nytimes.com. Retreived from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/
Kathryn Vercillo. Are Online Classes Better? My Personal Experience. Hubpages.com. 9/23/10. http://hubpages.com/hub/My_Personal_Experience_With_Online_Classes
