The Power Of Face To Face Education

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abdulmajeed Alruqi

Mike Cooney

ENGL111-02K-K2-201230

Face to face learning better than online learning

The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action- Herbert Spencer

Education is a very important part of our life and no one can deny importance of education in this era. No matter what happens people should continue to learn. Now the question arise Face to face education or online education? His topic has been debated for many years. People are confuse when they have to choose mode of education but I think that face to face education is best type of education because effectiveness of online education is still unclear and people do not prefer online education. (california state university stanislaus) There are majority of things that can only be learned by face to face education because only face to face education can make practical sense. In face to face education the only medium present is the communication between sender and the receiver. For thousands of years face to face education was the mode of education until online education was introduced.

It is true that now a day online education is commonly offered in the educational programs but technology does not always facilitate the right type or the good quality of information that is being exchanged or share. This means that learning potential can be limited. Face to face education is the best type of education. In group learning it is not easy for the students to ignore instructor and even if they are not listening to the instructor they can learn something from that group. Interaction is the main element that is present in the face to face education and socialism is also increased. While learning in groups students gain confidence to present their ideas openly at that time. Answers to the questions of the students are also gained at the time of group discussion.

There was an empirical study that was carried out in 1999. In this study face to face education was compared with online education. The name of study was "Comparative Analysis of Online vs. Face-to-Face Instruction" this study was presented during a conference on WWW and internet. This case study showed that there was a big difference between online learning and face to face learning. According to the authors Scott D. Johnson, Steven R. Aragon, Najumuddin Shaik and Nilda Palma-Rivas, "and it was proved that face to face learning is very effective and through face to face learning students can learn more quickly and they never forget what they learn from face to face education.

As life of people have become very busy but we cannot ignore education from our lives because education is very important to survive in this era of technology. Making mistakes and then learning from your mistakes is the way of learning. Without making mistakes and asking questions one cannot learn. Learning online only gives you an email id of the instructor but this email id excess cannot replace the real time conversation when you are learning in the group. Face to face education allows students to clear up all the misunderstandings that student has about a topic at the run time. In face to face education practices are performed which allows students to learn more quickly and allows instant feedback of the progress. Face to face education allows collaborative learning. Collaboration and face to face learning not only speeds up the process of learning and achieving our goals, but the actual process of compromising and debating issues in a group environment is invaluable training for a real-life career situation. The best type of education is online learning. (Stevens)

Conferencing and computer networking have practical application in education now a day. (Teresa M. Harrison) But we can’t doubt the power of face to face education. Learning face to face is always memorable and is remembered where as in online education there are no memorable events. For instance if we think of music we listen to: how much of this is in a concert hall or other live concert or show? The same goes for sport: how much of this do you see in a stadium rather than in an armchair? It’s perfectly adequate for many of our everyday learning activities to be online; even if these are not life-changing experiences.one can enjoy and concentrate more in face to face education. (SHEPHERD)

When a student is learning in an online education there are so many other things that are attained through face to face education this additional information includes volume, tone, body language and motivation and encouragement. While when someone is getting a non-verbal education the connection between instructor and student is completely lost when internet is not available. (GRAY, 8 Benefits of Face to Face Classroom Workshops). Traditional classroom instruction does not typically require that the learner have these things. While in face to face learning there is a class room where there is a timetable and calendar set for activities and due to these activities students remain active. The traditional classroom setting provides a set calendar for class attendance, permitting the nurse to set their timetable around those dates early in the course. (Anderson)

Learning in groups and face to face allows students to have greater scope of learning. In group education students have formal lectures and presentations that allow students to establish a good relationship with the instructor and it helps them in increasing their confidence level. Face to face education helps in increasing intelligence level of students. (David Jaques)

The experiences of students taking the same course by distance learning were compared when tutorial support was provided conventionally (using limited face-to-face sessions with some contact by telephone and email) or online (using a combination of computer-mediated conferencing and email). Study 1 was a quantitative survey using an adapted version of the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory. Study 2 was another quantitative survey using the Academic Engagement Form. Study 3 was an interview-based examination of the students’ conceptions of tutoring and tuition. In all three studies, the students receiving online tuition reported poorer experiences than those receiving face-to-face tuition. Study 3 showed that tutoring was seen not only as an academic activity but also as a highly valued pastoral activity. To make online tuition successful both tutors and students need training in how to communicate online in the absence of paralinguistic cues. (Linda Pricea*)

It is observed that whenever there is some new thing in technology the instructor or the teacher finds an easy ways to convey education. There was a media comparison that was done for the first time in 1940 by the US army. They compared the learning of basic calibration procedures that was delivered in three ways that is by a teacher (2) from a film and (3) a book. All of these of these were very simple and basic. After the learning all the participants were tested. All of the students showed same good result. It was generally seen that blended learning helps a lot and it has made education easy. The main advantage of blended learning was that it allows instructors to make use of some unique features that makes education easy and it allows students to learn in an interactive and good environment. An observation was made that in face to face education the social presence of an instructor plays a very important role in learning but using media blends lets you exploit the unique benefits of each. (Clark)

Online education is the mode of education that is demand of this era but due to the lack of interaction it is not considered as good as face to face education. Online education can be brought to the level of face to face education only if the connection and interaction between instructor and students is increased and if there are frequent group discussions. There must be free internet everywhere so that the level of interaction is increased.

On the other hand online education decreases the opportunities for social and academic interaction and integration. Online education does not provide sufficient students support. In face to face education students have classmates and school friends and teachers which assist them and help them with their learning. For teachers online education can be more difficult and more time consuming. It is also very relationally unrewarding and impersonal but when a teacher is in his class face to face education is more interacting and teacher himself enjoy in that environment. In learning process nonverbal modes of communication, relationship building and interaction may seem very small things but these things are very effective. There are many researches that tell us that degree of online education is not as much valuable as of face to face education. Studies show employers overwhelming prefer candidates with traditional degrees over online degrees. If this is the case, students who earn their degrees online are at a disadvantage when seeking employment. (Geary)

In May 2012 the company reported multiple concerns about distance learning in an article titled "Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education." Among those concerns was student integrity.

"Cheating remains a problem in both online and traditional courses," said Ithaka S+R. "Faculty have developed strategies for addressing cheating in traditional settings, but are still developing protocols to address this problem in online environments. A common problem is simply verifying that the person at the keyboard is the actual student registered for an online course." (Barth)

At the end I would like to say that there are pros and cons in booth types of education but face to face education is more reliable and superior mode of education. In face to face education students take social advantages of social interaction among other people which are from different background and have different culture. The best type of education with good quality is face to face education and learning in groups. This is the traditional type of education that has a practical sense. Other types of educations cannot match the quality of online education. There are so many advantages of face to face education that are discussed and these advantages cannot be denied.no matter how fast this era is people have to spend their time in getting educations in groups. Online education and the degrees of online educations have no value.