Effectiveness of Online Training Versus Traditional Face-to-Face Training - Literature review Example

Effectiveness of Online Training Verses Traditional Face-to-Face Training Several needs continue to make online learning amajor part of the learning process in today’s world. First is the issue of growing information technology, which is the platform that is used by the online learning. It is argued that information technology grows at a rate of 100% within every 18 months. With this kind of growth, it means that more people are depending on computing to carry out their daily basic chores such as working, learning communicating, etc. Secondly, social and economic constraints are making it harder for more people to be admitted at traditional learning environments such as schools. For instance, some people may want to continue working while taking a training program and this has a time constraint it, unless they choose an online course which will give them flexibility with regard to the time they can take classes. At the same time, others may have the time flexibility but the geographical constraint may be an issue. For instance, a person in one state may want to attend lessons in a university in another state and this can be restricted by the geographical dislocation. Such a person may have the option of either going through the hectic process of relocating, or they may decide to enroll in an online class if it offered in the university they intend to attend. The other factor, probably the most important, is the fact that most university campuses are finding it harder to accommodate students in physical classes. This is because the growth of campuses has been outpaced by the population growth. Camus growth has lagged in two main ways. First, the number of campuses hasn’t grown much in comparison to the population of people who want to join campus. Secondly, even the existing universities have not been able to expand their physical campuses resources to accommodate the growth in population. This lag in campus resource growth is going to exist far into the future and therefore alterative such as online training is important. As online training becomes more a part of the learning process in campuses, the main question that must be answered is the question of just how festive they are. This issue of how effective or otherwise the online learning is, is what this study seeks to answer. Literature Review The issue of online learning has attracted the interest of many scholars. In this regard, many scholars have tied to investigate the effectiveness of online triaging and how this compares with the traditional face to face learning environment. Of course, being a new thing that is also seemingly unconventional, online learning has attracted a fair share of controversy to it, thus sparking heated debate among stakeholders of education. Some scholars argue that online training is just as effective, and even in some cases more effective than the traditional classes. For instance, Koo (2002) argues that online courses may provide the students with the stimulation to carry out their one intensive research, when compared to the traditional classes where the student may end up being too dependent on the teacher. He also argues that online training will be an even more necessary part of the instruction of modern learning. In his view, he says that although there may be challenges that are there in online instruction, the advantages are many and will continue to increase. His view is that online computer based training is going to be better with time since computer technology continue to increase over time. He however identifies that the effectiveness of the training is determined by how the online training platform is prepared with regard to the resources at the exposure of the learners as well as the instructors. Lee, Lee, Liu, Bonk et al (2009) tend to agree with Koo (2002) in this issue of online learning. They identified that online training is more effective for some disciplines and not others due to the learning needs of some courses. For instance, they argued that online training is more effective for business courses, especially at master’s degree level since online training is more useful for case-based training and this is what MBA courses need. This could then mean that it is not possible to pass an umbrella judgment about the effectiveness of the online training platform since one would be forced to consider a number of factors which would determine how a certain training program is successfully delivered though the online course. On the other hand, Tsai (2009) believes that while online training and instruction can be useful in boosting the dynamics of learning and motivating students to be more proactive on their selves, it also mostly depends on how effective the systems are placed together to help the students get the materials. These concerns, although not shared by many scholars as the literature indicates, are valid concerns and must be taken into attention so as to have proper understanding of the pros and cons of online learning. However, as literature indicates, it is not wise to compare online learning with the traditional learning without mentioning and considering that online learning is at infancy and is expected to grow as time goes on. This consideration is important in the face of the fact that learning has continued to evolve over the years. As Tsai (2009) says, the mode and medium of learning is not important, but what is important is the content. Although some scholars such as Koo and Tsais may be enthusiastic about online instruction and how it can enhance learning, Liu and Schwen (2006) seem to have their reservation with regard to how effective this can be. They argue that the lack of face-to-face interaction among the students and the instructors is a major inhibitor to leaning. According to them, online instruction fails to offer the right environment to have deep critical discussion and thinking. As a result, they don’t feel that online instruction is effective, let alone better than the traditional face-to-face model of instruction. Liu and Schwen (2006) seem to be enthusiastic about the traditional class where face-to-face interaction between the various stakeholders such as the tutors and as well as the students as well as among the students is the order of the day. However, their discussion fails to highlight the issue of the fact that online instruction is not always a way to replace the traditional class but as a way to complement it. For instance, in most campuses these days, many constraints exist that make it impossible, or very difficult for the campus to serve all the students in their traditional classrooms. In such instances, the online classes act as the main way that such a campus can meet the needs of the extra students, or the needs of those students who are constrained by such factors as geographical displacement. Regardless of how the issue can be looked at, the issue of online instruction remains to be a very heated debate that has not definite conclusion. This can be seen in what Maryam, Alireza, Reza and Azizollah (2012) have put forward in their argument. Unlike Liu and Schwen (2006), they argue that online training offer a lot more advantages than the traditional ways and that this is the way forward. Their argument seems to be forward oriented in that online instruction is here to solve a problems that is becoming bigger and bigger on a daily basis. As campuses become more populated, it is becoming harder for the campuses to have traditional classes for all the students, thus many universities, colleges and even high schools are finding a solution in online instruction. Maryam and her colleagues seem to acknowledge the fact that online training is still at the infancy level and therefore challenges are expected but will be taken care of with time. With time, they believe that online instruction is going to get better and easier as well as more effective. Ming-Lang, Ru-Jen and Hui-Ping (2011) share the same sentiments with regard to this issue. They feel that the e-learning platform will be the holy grail of tertiary education and even secondly and elementary education because many universities are finding themselves in situations where they don’t have the physical resources to host all those who want to gain a degree from them. They also cite the issue of physical location which in most cases restrains people from getting education from certain institutions. With e-learning platform, they argue that many people will manage to acquire the education they want from almost any institution in the world. Like other e-learning enthusiasts, they argue that the challenges that online training may be facing today are just teething problems that will definitely go away as soon as possible as the technology and the concept of online training goes on to become better. The same sentiments are shared by Fortune, Shifflett and Sibley (2006) who cite a number of pros for the online training platform. First, they argue that online learning exposes the students to a massive information repository and this makes the learning experience, especially at the tertiary level, much better. More so, they argue that students who are in an e-learning environment are much more likely to depend on themselves with regard to their intellectual growth and knowledge acquisition as opposed to depending on faculty members. This is much better because at tertiary level, students must have an inquisitive attitude in order for them to really learn, as opposed to depending on the tutors. These and many factors continue to be the issues that are contested by a number of people who have taken it to themselves to look at the issue of online instructions. Hauck’s (2006) literature adds to the massive literature that has continued to indicate that online leaning can be as useful as the face-to-face training in a conventional classroom. Like many other scholars, he identified that online students stand the same chance of gaining knowledge and skill just as the students in a conventional class. From their study of an online algebra class in Louisiana, O’Dwyer, Care and Kleiman (2007) concluded that the online training platform is as effective as the traditional one and even argued that the increasing number of online students is one of the most reliable evidence that online instruction is not only viable but also effective. They argue that online students stand as much chance as those in traditional classes. Their study was based on an online class for algebra and given the fact that mathematic instructions need more attention; it then proves that online training can be useful and effective for any kind of training. Many scholars seem to carry out studies that have indicated that online draining can be as effective, or in some cases even more effective than the traditional class-based face-to-face training. In fact, some like Frimming, Bower and Choi (2013) seem to support the idea that online classes are superior to the traditional classes. They argue that this is so because the e-learning courses are modeled in a way that sharing of academic ideas is possible and where students can use the various kinds of tools and computing resources to enhance the way they collaborate. Many colleges and universities that have implemented the online training platform for instance have online portals that allow students to post their learning logs ion certain topics and the other students can view than and share their thoughts. This kind of computer-based interactions can be very useful and productive in the long run and it is only possible in the online learning environment. While the debate on the effectiveness of online instruction may drag on for many years, other scholars are starting to realize that sooner, it is not an issue of online against traditional face-to-face instruction, but that these two may end up merging in order to produce the best results. Method Study design The study will use a qualitative as well as quantitative research in which a number of questions will be asked to the students. The study will use a question with eleven questions which will have a Likert scale and an additional two open- ended questions. In total, the participants will answer 14 questions each. The questions are designed to identify two main issues. One, they are geared towards finding out whether students believe that online classes are more effective than the face-to-face classes. Secondly, the questionnaire designed to identify whether students are considering to take online courses instead of the traditional classes. The study will be done within campus in Loyola Marymount University. The participants will fill in the questions and then the data will be analyzed using computer software to identify trends such as mean, mode and median. These trends in the data will be acquired from the Likert values for the first twelve questions while the open ended question at the end of the questionnaire will provide qualitative information. Variables The dependent variables will the participants who will be attending traditional cases. These participants will be used as a way to identify how their performance and attitude towards the online training platforms are with regard to those of the online students. The independent variables are the students who have enrolled in online courses. To able to come to the conclusion of the study, the data collected about both the online students and the inline students will be compared to look at a number of issues that may be used as indicators of the effectiveness of the mode of training. The number one factor that will be considered is in terms of how happy the students are with regard to the mode of learning they are using. The other factor will be interns of how the students will express their thoughts with regard to how they think the mode of learning has affected their ability to gain knowledge and skills. Reliability of the study Of course, like any other studies, the issue of reliability, both internal and external, is something to be considered. To guarantee the internal reliability of the study, the participants will be given privacy to answer the question with as much anonymity as possible in order to increase the level of honest. One of the challenges that a study like this can have is the fact that its data is dependent on the participants giving information. As humans, the participants may sometimes feel compelled to give the politically correct answer rather than what they really feel. This can highly undermine the internal validity of the whole study if too many of the participants give such information. To deal with that, the students will be given as much privacy and anonymity as possible to answer the questions. The external validity of this research cannot be said to be at risk here because it can be logically expected that the views of the students at Loyola Marymount University are the same as those at other learning institutions. Anonymity/Confidentiality The design of this study is to make sure that the participants are as anonymous as possible to make sure that nobody can access this informational and know who said what. The main intention of the study is not to know what individuals students (participants) think about the online training, but to get a general idea of how online training is regarded by students. Due to the fact that the research study will provide a lot of quantitative data, this data will be an indication of how effective online classes are. Discussion: Limitations The fact that this research is depending on interviews and giving questions to the participants may be a setback. The better method would be to compare students who are in online cases and those who are in traditional face-to-face courses and how are doing the same courses in the same curriculum in order to identify who perform better and who end up being more intellectually edified than the others. However, this might be difficult to achieve since accessing the data could be difficult due to campus data confidentiality policy which would not allow the campus to share this information for such a study. Participants To gain as much quantitative data as possible for the analysis, the study will interview as many participants as possible. This will be possible since the study is based on some and easy to answer question questions. Although the study will not interview all the students at campus, it will seek to interview as many people as possible. The target is to have at least 500 responses from the student community within Loyola Marymount University. This will supply the study with the amount of data that is necessary for the study to be carried out effectively and completely. Since the study only seeks to identify how students feel about the effectiveness of online courses, extra detail of information such as the gender, age and ethnic background of the participants will not be needed for this study. The intention is to have a broad view of how the students feel about the online courses offered by the university and how that compares to the traditional face-to-face ones. Implications for future studies Since this study is about identifying the effectiveness of the online learning as compared to the traditional face-to-face classes, the data acquired will act as a very good basis for future more advanced studies. Future studies should consider other factors that affect the quality of education. While this study may indicate that online training is better, or worse, than the face-to-face classes, there are some other factors that may have to be considered. These other factors include how the students fare after graduation. Future studies should extend their inquiry into identifying if those who take online classes are more or less able to carry out tasks in the real job market after graduation. Other factors may have to be examined so as to have a more detailed understanding of how the e-earning environment actually compares to the traditional face-to-face classes. While this study may indicate the effectiveness level for online courses for students at the campus level, this may not necessarily translate into other levels of education. For instance, the level of effectiveness may not be the same with high school students or elementary students. References: Koo, G. (2002).The Pedagogy of Online Dialogues: An empirical study of asynchronous discussions at Harvard Law School. Retrieved from: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/vvvv/files/2006/08/Pedagogy_of_Online_Discussions-HLS.pdf Lee, S.-H., Lee, J., Liu, X., Bonk, C. J., & Magjuka, R. J. (2009). A review of case-based learning practices in an online MBA program: A program-level case study. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (3), 178–190. Tsai, M.-J. (2009). The Model of Strategic e-Learning: Understanding and Evaluating Student e-Learning from Metacognitive Perspectives. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (1), 34–48. Liu, X & Schwen, T. M. (2006). Sociocultural factors affecting the success of an online MBA course: A case study viewed from activity theory perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 19(2), 69-92. Maryam, A. Alireza, S., Reza, N. A., &Azizollah, A. (2012). The examination of strength and weakness of online evaluation of faculty members teaching by students in the university of isfahan. Higher Education Studies, 2(1), 38-44. Ming-Lang, T., Ru-Jen Lin, & Hui-Ping, C. (2011). Evaluating the effectiveness of e-learning system in uncertainty. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 111(6), 869-889. Fortune, M. F., Shifflett, B., & Sibley, R. E. (2006). A comparison of online (high tech) and traditional (high touch) learning in business communication courses in Silicon Valley. Journal of Education for Business, 81(4), 210-214.  Hauck, W. E. (2006). Online versus traditional face-to-face learning in A large introductory course. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 98(4), 27-29. ODwyer, L.,M., Carey, R., & Kleiman, G. (2007). A study of the effectiveness of the Louisiana algebra I online course. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(3), 289-306.  Frimming, R. E., Bower, G. G., & Choi, C. (2013). Examination of a physical education personal health science course: Face-to-face classroom compared to online hybrid instruction. Physical Educator, 70(4), 359-373. Read More