As many schools begin to offer in-person classes again and move slightly away from the era of online education, it is important to look at the differences between the two types of learning. Although not all classes may not be offered both in-person and online, some are, so when deciding which format of class to take, you must consider the pros and cons of each. As someone who had been in the classroom before the Covid-19 pandemic began and who has been doing online courses since, I have come up with some of my thoughts on both styles of classes.
In-person classes can bring a social aspect to school that most online courses fail to have. When you’re physically in a classroom, you can see and interact with fellow classmates, professors and teaching assistants. Engaging in this form of communication can help to build relationships that you may miss out on while taking online classes. Personally, I found that when I had in-person classes, I talked to more classmates and made more friends than I have online.
I also found it easier to talk to professors or teaching assistants when in person because I had been seeing them face to face multiple times a week. With online courses, I find it difficult to build these same relationships since most of the time I don’t see any of my classmates. Sometimes I don’t even know what my professors look like if it’s a fully online course with no recorded lectures or Zoom classes.
Although in-person classes may allow you to build more relationships, they aren’t as flexible as online courses. With online courses, if you miss your scheduled Zoom time, most instructors will upload the recording for you to watch later. If the course is completely online, you can complete the lessons at your own pace. Having this flexibility is nice because you don’t have to worry about missing a class if you need to. If you‘re sick and feeling under the weather, it is a lot easier to log into your courses online, be in the comfort of your own home and bed. You also do not need to worry about being able to come to campus when having online courses since you can do them from virtually anywhere. This can be beneficial if you aren’t living on or near campus or if you want to go home or away for a few days.
When courses are in person, you must make sure you are always on campus during your scheduled class time. This isn’t necessarily hard to do, but if you miss a class for whatever reason, you can’t go back and listen to the lecture the way you would be able to do with online courses. There is no pause or play button to stop the lectures in case you missed something, and if you miss the class, it is up to you to get the notes since most of the time the lectures are not posted afterwards.
Both online and in-person learning have their fair share of positive and negative aspects. Choosing between the two can be very difficult and comes down to the preference of the individual learner. If you don’t have access to the technology and Wi-Fi needed for online learning, then being in person will be a lot easier. If you are looking for schooling that is more flexible to your schedule, then online classes may be more suitable for you. Taking a mix of online and in-person courses may also be a good option. It gives you the ability to build good relationships and have more hands-on learning in the classroom, but also has some of that flexibility that comes with online courses!