Online Learning versus Traditional Learning - Essay Example

Assessment in some cases is done online whilst in other cases, students go to a place to sit examinations under supervised conditions. Personally, I find out that online learning is convenient. It enables people to learn at any location and at anytime. This convenience is borne out of the fact that all what a person needs is access to the Internet and from there, the person can access all course materials at the convenience of his home or on his laptop anywhere in the world. This is a convenience that is not available to people who study in campuses where they are required to put aside other things and attend lectures to meet the requirements for graduation.

Dosckocil (2008) states that online learning is very popular with adults who seek to study. This is because online learning allows older people to balance their career and family commitments with education. This is very convenient and allows people who do not have the opportunity to put aside some important elements of their lives to go back to school to also access education. This can come in handy when one wants to gain some career improvement through the attainment of better qualifications.

Personally, before enrolling in this online course, I had a lot of responsibilities and thought it will be difficult for me to balance a traditional learning system. I dreaded the idea of enrolling in a traditional course since that would cause me to put aside a lot of important things in my life to meet the attendance requirements and other enrollment demands that such courses have. This course has allowed me to kill two birds with one stone because I can study and also make time to do important things in my life.

Also, online learning gives an individual the opportunity to use sophisticated tools and techniques to support his studies. For instance, online learning courses often give an array of important study resources like online libraries and journals that can add up to the potentials and abilities of the student. Additionally, the use of computers enables an individual to build important skills and potentials like typing and computer usage which are imperative skills for employment in our era today.

Traditional Learning Traditional learning on the other hand is far from being extinct. There are numerous reasons that imply that people will continue to patronize the normal brick-and-mortar classroom study for a long time to come. Hall (2007) identifies that some courses like natural sciences, teachers education and psychology are not suitable for online learning. This is because such courses require important skills that can only be studied in an environment where there is a concentration of support services and infrastructure.

For instance, a medical student cannot graduate by studying online only. This is because the student needs to be accustomed to a schedule that will require him to go to the laboratory, go for lecturers offered by specialists and access traditional libraries. This therefore makes it imperative for such students to move to a traditional university campus to get a balanced education. Also, traditional study systems solicit for more commitments and promote important elements of studies which cannot be made available through distance studies.

This is because there is some kind of personal rapport that exists between the student of a traditional course which is missing in an online course. Additionally, students in a