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Taking Online Lessons: What to Expect

When you make the jump to taking online lessons, it can feel overwhelming. The change is big, and the homework can be challenging for online students. If you find yourself asking, “who will write my paper?” Studybay can help! Since online learning has its unique challenges, we asked Max Malak, academic and business consultant, to explain how to dominate online midterms. 

He mentioned that there are six important factors to know about for online learning, and they are:

  • Know the Methods
  • Follow a Strict Routine
  • Discuss the Materials
  • Test Yourself
  • Get the Logistics Right
  • Avoid Multitasking

There are many aspects to online teaching, and you could wonder if it is better to take face to face or online lessons. This article aims to outline the positives and negatives of each scenario and provide you with the best solution by the end of it. Each learner is different, and knowing your learning style and what to expect can help you make a better choice.  

Taking online lessons may be the smartest way to learn.

What to Expect When Taking Online Lessons

Can online learning replace traditional classrooms?

The classroom is tangible and provides a real and hands-on learning environment. Here good teachers will engage you and encourage your participation in collaboration with other learners. Teachers will challenge your knowledge and expand on ideas you bring up in class. Teachers can duplicate these interactions in an online setting, but it is much more difficult. 

Interactions amongst teachers and students are part of the learning process. For you to have an optimal learning experience, you need spontaneous interaction and interjection with your peers. Herein lies the problem with online teaching. Teachers can mute you, and usually, they can only talk to one student at a time. It can be a downfall to the online learning setting. 

Your interaction with a teacher will be very different in an online setting. The virtual classroom tries to account for this by implementing live lectures with video chat and messaging. But these efforts are sometimes lost because of the limited interaction with your peers. Since many factors affect this question, let’s look at the major takeaways of the two types of classes. 

We will outline the following aspects of online teaching versus classroom teaching:

  1. Real classroom advantages
  2. Teacher and student interaction
  3. The Environment

Let’s see below how each of these affect your learning experience.

Taking online lessons may be the smartest way to learn.

Real Classroom Interaction

Today, about a quarter of students claim they learn better online. That leaves 75% of students feeling they perform better face-to-face. When you compare taking online lessons to traditional classroom settings, you can find benefits. People who struggle with organizational skills and self-discipline will do better with a conventional classroom. 

Instead of holding yourself accountable for your work, a professor or teacher will ask you for it. The teacher-led organization is a huge benefit for people who struggle with time management. The pace tends to be more organized too. So, you will not need to worry about timing everything yourself or keeping up with an online study guide.

Some people need social interaction. If you need social interaction to stay focused, you will benefit from a traditional classroom setting. A misconception about online coursework is that it is easier and less demanding than a traditional classroom setting. This ideology is false. It just requires a different set of skills for success. Also, in an online environment, your interaction with the teacher changes.

Teacher and Student Interaction

The skills your teacher uses to help improve your learning experience will extend past the learning materials. When you think about traditional classroom settings, making work more challenging or simpler, if needed, can have disadvantages. Since you are with a group of students, the teacher will be less able to differentiate for you in a classroom. 

So, the benefits and downfalls of online teaching balance themselves.  Classroom teaching allows your teacher to design and implement teaching materials daily. Virtual teachers often practice in real classrooms. The efforts to mimic a brick-and-mortar setting can often become lost in the online classroom. In a virtual environment, your teacher will act as a moderator. They will monitor your coursework, and they will facilitate communication with your peers. 

Receiving an email or a text instead of talking to your professor might not give you the emotional development you need for the real world. Without this emotional connection, your learning experience will not be the same. Kent State University found that students with virtual teachers lacked engagement and had feelings of isolation. 

The emotional interaction you will develop in a classroom setting extends past just talking to the teacher. You will learn differently in a traditional classroom. Students who take online courses have a completely different experience from traditional classroom courses. The online environment changes your learning. 

Taking online lessons may be the smartest way to learn.

The Online Environment

When choosing an online or virtual classroom, consider the following questions:

  • Can I keep myself on track?
  • Do I need to connect with others to grow and learn?
  • Can I accept email feedback?

If you can answer yes to all these questions, an online course might be the best choice for you. The online environment allows for a lot of flexibility over your schedule. If you want to study a course but do not live near the university, it can be perfect for helping you attend. Nonetheless, it has some downfalls we previously mentioned. So how do you know what is best for you?

How to choose the best course for you

Choosing the best course type depends on your personality and needs. If you can stay motivated without interaction from teachers and students directly, online learning is great. Since this can still be unclear, we have made the following guide for you. 

Taking online lessons if:

  • You need a flexible schedule
  • You’re self-motivated
  • You want to take a class, but you don’t live near a college campus

Since this is not an option for everyone, we outlined when you should not choose an online course. These are the reasons you should take a face-to-face class:

  • If you need more structure
  • You want social interaction with peers
  • If you want to communicate directly with the teacher
  • You need help following a schedule

Everyone must choose what is best for them. With the outlined points, it should be easier to select the best learning style for your needs. No matter what you choose, the most important thing is to focus and push yourself to grow. 

For both types of lessons, this is possible. Review the points in this article closely and compare them to your lifestyle, needs and abilities. Once you do that, you will be ready to make the best choice for your studies. 

Taking online lessons may be the smartest way to learn.