By Anastasia Cottone, Staff Writer
In a world where everything is digital, should we abandon the idea of face-to-face learning?
At most universities, including St. Bonaventure, certain courses can be made available to students via the web. These courses typically contain fewer students than traditional classes, making it possible for the professor to spend more time on each student.
Online classes also, perhaps, make it easier for some students to receive higher grades due to the fact there is no class meeting; therefore, there are no consequences for not going to class. Students are able to interact with each other via the class website, where they can find and submit assignments and participate in forums.
However, often times these classes are not executed in a way that is effective for learning. Having participated in a few online courses myself, I can say with confidence that I do not believe they are the best way to learn, especially at a collegiate level.
In my experience with online courses, they have been the least educational courses that I have participated in. With all of the traditional courses that I have taken at the same time as online courses, I found it difficult to even remember that I had an extra class to tend to – most likely because I was not required to ever meet with the class, making it a challenge to remember.
Another issue with online courses is that they are not as interactive as traditional courses. The lack of going to class, talking with a professor and interacting with other students makes it more difficult to learn.
Students feed off their professors’ and classmates’ feedback, so when those aspects are not present, almost no learning is being achieved. Sometimes, in my experience, a professor will word assignments and tasks in a way that is confusing to students. Due to an inability to clarify with the professor right then and there, assignments are often misunderstood – resulting in lower grades for some students.
In modern society, almost everything can be done online. School should be a place where students are required to physically go to class and establish connections. While online courses are helpful to people who do not live on campus or have different reasons for not being able to physically attend classes, those of us who are on campus should not have online courses made available to us.
We’re here, on campus, so we should be able to go to class, interact and form relationships with our professors and classmates. The idea of an online course is a good one, but when it comes to execution, I believe it is harder to carry out than expected. Interaction between students and professors is key to a good education.
