Virtual Learning or Classroom Learning: Which is the best for students?

Virtual Learning or Classroom Learning: Which is the best for students?

Professor Dr. Shaikh Aftab Anwar

With the advancement of the Internet in the 1990s, working on virtual platforms improved, and so does in the educational field. Virtual Learning Education has become very popular that has helped both professionals and the students. One is to deliver information and others for gaining an education. It has offered flexibility to the courses. The new learning platform brought significant results from distance learning. Thus students can now complete their lectures whenever and wherever they like. Now there is no bound to students to learn various subjects at a particular place and time. And thus, various educational institutes have planned to reach students cost-effectively.  

In the below article, you will learn if virtual learning education has brought ethical impacts on students or not. It is all about expanding learning and knowledge of students that are bound to books every time. It will help them to experience more with the grabbing opportunities available to them. 

Since a few years back, the internet has observed a lot of data transferred to the internet. Even many people predicted that with time, students and people would follow 50% source of information from books and texts and others through virtual online platform. The Internet has brought a significant turn in our cognitive learning process at a low cost. With time, the internet has become a dominating factor for teleconferencing, education, video lectures, and live lectures. It has improved the interactivity of the students with their teachers.

The global opportunity for the teachers is cooperation and teaching with learning. They have access to different internet tools to attract various students from different parts of the world. It’s time for them to learn, teach, and proceed. 

How digital learning promoted Educational spread?

Digital learning has made it easy for students to interact with their teachers and work practically. It has been popular among different parts of the world and improved the routine learning of the students.

A large number of teachers have shifted to an online platform for teaching, and the data says 70% of the American teachers have adopted it by 2000. 25% of the other teachers have started working on technology-based tools for the learning process. Around less than 20% of the teachers followed integrated e-learning and classroom learning for better understanding. 

Advantages of the e-learning platform

The Internet has gained maximum attention in virtual learning classes. The most important reason to carry this out was traditional in-class education. Thus it has affected both teachers and the learners very uniquely. 

With virtual classrooms, it has become easy for the students to prepare their notes on a particular topic significantly. They can create virtual notebook easily and maintain their documents. Thus the faculty can quickly view and update the content, of course.

According to the study by Jason in 2001, he said that the students view the virtual classroom with ease. It has helped them with accessible information posting on the Web and can access it for 24 hours in a day. You can go for distance learning sitting anywhere and anytime as you prefer. Thus students can view it without contact with the instructor. 

Virtual learning has helped students to work very pragmatically with the actions. Thus has brought changes in their behavior. Teachers have faced it challenging to teach students in the physical classrooms as students may go out of control. Therefore there was a great need for bringing a change in the study. Virtual studies have been the best way, and it brought a pleasant change among the people.  

The best part of virtual Learning is an intellectual and social partnership. Pupils usually use social skills when they are under a leadership role. The technology adopted in virtual learning provides the best support in a remote classroom. It is all about the development of the skills with the information and other technologies used for communication purposes. Thus virtual learning has helped students to form a better understanding with their teachers with this communication technology. 

Cost is also an advantage to virtual learning. When students sit at their homes to carry out their learning procedure, then it will surely not bring the expenses on travel, childcare, gasoline, and the most valuable is saved. Students feel motivated as quick learners to move ahead with an excellent growing and learning rate. Communication done will be cost-free through emails, messages, and texts that they can send at any time of the day. 

For teachers, virtual learning has even brought a significant advantage. Teachers will keep sending emails, texts, or messages of the instructions and the work to the group of students at once. It has become easy to deal with students and parents. It has brought transparency to the work of students in front of their parents. Thus it has reduced their load on work. Moreover, a teacher would not need to deal with the significant challenges of handwriting that students usually make fun of. 

Advantages of Physical Classroom

• Promote Organizational skills: Physical classroom helps in developing organizational skills among the students. For instance, the students learn the value of time as they have to arrive at school on time. The students can learn time management skills find it difficult to stay on top of their work. However, in virtual classrooms, students are not able to organize their time effectively. Online classrooms often result in a lack of interpersonal skill development among students. Moreover, online classes require a significant number of assignments as compared to physical classes. 
• Develop Motivational skills: Generally, virtual classrooms lack the structure found in the physical classroom. The students lack self-discipline activities and face distractions due to a lack of motivation from their teachers. However, the physical classroom encourages the students to finish their work on time. It motivates the students to finish their tasks in a limited time. 

Collaborative learning enhances self-awareness among students. It enables them to learn more effectively by discussing problems with other classmates. However, due to virtual learning, students are not able to clear their doubts and thus lack in expressing their opinions. As a result, the students fail in making robust social interactions with peers. Following are some disadvantages of the virtual classroom:

Disadvantages of virtual Classroom

Lack of communication: The students as online learners miss out on face-to-face interaction with their teachers. The virtual classroom prevents interaction between students and teachers daily. Additionally, students are not able to communicate with other classmates. 

The requisite for additional training: Some of the students do not feel confident about using digital tools. Many instructors face challenges in adopting the technology. Many online teachers have issues while organizing the study materials in the soft format. It becomes necessary for the teachers to have a faultless IT support training. Moreover, the students who encounter technical failures can face discouragement from their learning. Additionally, not every student is accessible to technology.

Infrastructural challenges: Challenges related to infrastructure are dignified as one of the notable disadvantages of virtual learning. Modern teaching tools such as 3D modeling, multimedia, animation, and many other tools are required to teach students. Not every teacher has adequate knowledge to set-up infrastructure for recording lectures and teaching students. 

Safety issues: Virtual learners often get exposed to Internet failings. They get subject to the unsuitable websites, ads, hackers, or even online predators. The privacy of teachers and students as well is at risk. Unlike the physical classrooms, students are not under the continuous observation of the teachers. 

Unwillingness to participate: Online classes are often less creative but full of instructions. The students involved in virtual classrooms lack academic and social skills, which are essential for a successful life. The physical classroom reflects the teaching style of the teacher. Additionally, it provides a chance for students to contribute to small groups and enhance their learning skills. However, the case is not similar to virtual classrooms. The students lack teamwork skills and focus only on individualized learning to succeed. 

Conclusion

As a student, you will get to see various benefits of online and virtual classes with time. This learning helps you enjoy various benefits without costing your money and valuable time. It is a big advantage to enter the online learning platform by improving job satisfaction. It is a way to advance your career in a big degree program and go on with the convenient and preferable time you can spend. No matter everything has both good and bad points, but an improvement in the bad ones can resolve many issues that you need to overcome. In the next phase, you will only find virtually classes promotion as internet advancement in enhancing day by day.

Technology has become the most indispensable part of the world. With every passing day, the new improvements and new roles are helping to build up a good student-teacher relationship. Knowledge is not only for understanding, but you can even apply it in more research work. The virtual classes are an inevitable part of this research.