Traditional education vs. online education

Have you ever wondered what the future of education would be like? Have you ever wondered if you are ready to use and take advantage of current technology and the one to come? I have asked myself these and many more questions about the future and about how I am going to deal with everything that involves the use of new technologies in all areas of our life, especially in the educational and labor fields.

After the current situation of pandemic, quarantine, and health emergency prevention, it seems that the future that we saw so far ahead was a few years ahead of the present. This situation led to make use of technologies and especially virtuality as the main tool to try to continue with normal work and academic life and make it as bearable as possible. After spending approximately, a year and a half of academic and work virtuality, in many cases, there are quite a few comparisons between before and now; To be more specific, in the educational field we compare traditional education vs online education. I want from my experience to present some points for and against both traditional education and online education.

First of all, I want to talk about the pros of traditional and online education. Traditional education has several points in its favor, the main one is that presence allows personal interaction with teachers and classmates, which makes a more enjoyable relationship between us and with the teaching and learning processes. This type of education helps the formation of values and intra and interpersonal skills such as empathy, companionship, respect, friendship, among many others. It promotes participation and dynamism through games and recreational activities.

Among the pros of online education is the mitigation and limitation of the use of materials and school supplies such as paper, pencil, colors, etc. It also makes the use of public or private transport unnecessary, which not only prevents pollution but also saves money and time that can be spent on other activities. On the other hand, it facilitates access to all kinds of tools, programs, and information, which speed up the execution of educational activities. And it allows flexible hours for each person.

Secondly, the negative aspects of traditional education have to do with the lack of access to technological tools. Excessive demand for time, physical resources, and money.

Among the cons of virtuality, there is the lack of discipline and autonomy of students to take ownership of their academic process, since virtuality gives free way to distraction between class schedules. In addition to that, there is the vulnerability of some population sectors that do not have access to the Internet or to the material goods that are required to study in this way. Additionally, it limits the interaction between students, thus causing more techno-dependent generations and more difficulties for social inclusion. And, finally, depending on the generation, the frequency of technological use, and the academic level, there may be limitations in learning.

In conclusion and from my personal experience, I think that both ways of teaching should be implemented, since online education expands the strategies and methods of learning and teaching thanks to its tools and applications, but we cannot ignore the humanization that traditional education allows us, so it is necessary for academia because we are social beings and not robots.

LAURA SOFÍA DONATO CORTÉS -