Classroom Learning Vs E-Learning

Technology has taken us so ahead in our life that almost everything is available to us at a tap of finger on our smart phone. Education is not an exception to this. We are now in the era of E-Learning. The process of learning is now accessible over internet. All you need is a PC/tablet/smart phone with good internet connection and you’re good to go. Also, many E-Learning providers give away courses that can run independently without requiring internet connection. However, the new age learning process over the web is yet to cover a major portion in India and world alike.

Some say that E-Learning cannot match the classic classroom teaching process. We believe it is not the case. Both of the teaching modes are good at their own place. However, with E-Learning we can bring about certain advantageous differences over the regular classroom learning process which will be beneficial for the learners.

So, how exactly is E-Learning different from that of classroom teaching process..? In this post, we will discuss the basic difference between E-Learning and classroom learning based on four important factors such as time, freedom to study a course of own choice, degree of understanding and cost effectiveness.

Time-Independency

Remember those school days of childhood where we did not want to get up early morning for school, but we had to anyway. Then take an hour or two finish our routine chores and head to school. It happens today as well. A lot of time say almost 2 to 3 hours is lost in getting ready and reaching the school/college. If we actually calculate from the time we leave our bed in the morning to the 1st period at the institute begins, it takes almost 3 to 5 hours till actual studying begins.

But if we look at E-Learning, it provides us with abundance of time. You don’t have to go anywhere. Simply get-up, get ready and head to your PC/tablet and begin your course for the day. E-Learning saves a lot of that time, which you lose in the process of travelling and all other things.

On a brighter side, this also positively affects the child’s creativity and helps develop his creative interests. Study will not be a time bound and burdensome process. Alongside studies, the student also gets to develop his hobbies and perform non-curricular creative activities with the additional spare time he gets. Awesome isn’t it..? E-Learning helps maintain the balance between academic and non-academic sides of a learner.

Accessibility of Topic

This is that one factor which actually links the learning process with the interest of the learner in gathering knowledge. Accessibility can simply be referred to as the freedom of selecting which subject the learner wants to read.

Usually, in a classroom scenario, let it be school, college or university there is the system of periods where a subject is allotted a fixed timeslot. However, in the E-Learning approach there are no such rules. There are courses right in front of you. Choose your favourite subject and get going.

Top E-Learning providers today bring out courses which follow the same approach as of classroom. There are fixed modules as per requirement of the subject. A student is free to learn any subject as per his wish. Let’s say a guy preparing for JEE likes Physics. So, he can begin his day by studying Physics.

The process of learning majorly depends upon how the concerned learner is able to invoke his own interest and actually gets involved in the process rather than just superficially skimming the lesson.

Accessibility in E-learning also enables a learner to give exam at his own convenience. You can give your exam at a cybercafé which is nearer to your house. There is no need to travel a long distance to any crowded examination centre. That does not mean one can skip the exam or do any cheating. There are strict anti-cheating methods incorporated by E-Learning tools that may disqualify the examinee. Like we said, technology has advanced a lot and accessibility factor makes a huge difference between regular classroom teaching and E-Learning facility.

Ease of Understanding

Mugging up used to be the trend back in the days where, a student may understand a topic or not, but he has to by heart it anyway and reflect the same on the examination answer paper. However, E-Learning is here to break the norm. It incorporates a steady outflow of knowledge to the learner. In this way, the learner can keep up with the new topic while practically executing it via assignments and exams. The understanding will never be affected.

Often we have students who may not be confident enough to ask and clarify their own doubts among hundreds of other students in the classroom. With E-Learning courses we have plenty of animations and simple breakdown of difficult subjects, so that a student can easily grasp it.

Also, E-Learning tools provide dedicated doubt clearing sections. A learner can also demand for separate one-to-one doubt clearing session with a teacher/mentor. A lot of E-Learning software provides these features. It will be one-to-one session and a student can confidently clarify his doubts.

Cost

One of the most important factors in education is cost. Usually, we refer to the cost of education as fees. Now in a regular school/college education the fee is divided into many categories which sums up to a hefty amount in millions. Educational institutions charge a high amount of fee for the education as well as for other things such as transportation, hostel, mess, examination fees etc.

Many families do not have the luxury to afford modern day education. Yet, they make sure their children get the right education. Here E-Learning can come to their rescue. With any E-Learning tool, you get plenty of course materials for various subjects. The price you pay is usually a onetime subscription amount. This figure is fairly low as compared to what one has to pay annually to an institution as fees.

Additionally, E-Learning also makes education accessible to everyone. Every human being holds a basic right to get education in their life. So, you can observe how E-Learning is doing much more than just imparting education over the air. It brings all those advantages and ease which will help in the growth of a student (of any domain) in a creative and affordable way. A learner avails all of the above from E-Learning tools, while maintaining the discipline and traits of a regular classroom environment.

So, these are some basic yet important difference between the E-Learning and classroom learning. Both the form of education is important. However, change is vital for growth, and we believe E-Learning is that change which will shape up the future of education in India at a global level.