Distance Learning vs. the Traditional Classroom

Non-traditional students are finding it easier and easier to maintain a job, a family, and pursuing a college career at the same time. This is possible because more and more non-traditional students are receiving an education using distance learning, as opposed to traditional, in-the-classroom teaching. Distance learning is basically taking college level, credit-bearing courses via the Internet. One of the most obvious advantages of distance learning is that it puts the classroom in your home, office, or wherever you can find a computer and log on to the Internet. However, there is much controversy regarding the quality of the courses being offered on the Internet versus the quality of …show more content…

Although the professor might in actuality be teaching a group of students online, it is easy for the student to imagine or act as if the professor is speaking only to him or her. This is a supreme advantage because this can easily increase the level of comprehension that the students get, and students need not worry of classroom disruptions.

Finally, one last advantage of distance learning is its repeatability. Distance learning is learning done via the Internet. By reason that the material is on a school website and accessible at any given time of the day or night, students are able to view the same lesson once, twice, or as many times as they deem necessary. This is a big advantage over traditional classroom learning because in the classroom, whatever the teacher says is ancient history the minute he or she says it, even if you record it manually into your notes. However, with distance learning, you get the entire lesson, words, visuals and audios over and over again, should you choose to view them repeatedly.

Distance learning may be suitable for people who do not have much time in their busy daily lives to sit in a classroom for hours on end and listen to a professor speak on and on. Distance learning has many, many advantages over traditional in the classroom learning, such as its accessibility and its ability to give students significant control