“Learning in a classroom and learning online”

- A Compare and Contrast Essay Have you noticed the increase in

pop-up videos on your phone, whether it’s from Tik Tok or
youtube that discusses “tips and tricks to learning from home”? As
a result of the spreading of Covid19 virus that is preventing
individuals from physically socializing, it has led to myriad schools
having to halt their face to face traditional learning and replace it
with online learning through apps such as Teams and Zoom as a
makeshift. Thus, with ‘more than 1.2 billion children affected’, the
controversy over which style of education is better has never been
more relevant. With cutting edge technology, enabling to make the
lives of students easier and safer studying in the comfort of their
own place, it may seem that many would enjoy this lifestyle.
However, not only has it been raised by many students, but it has
also been scientifically proven that learning in a classroom does
produce more benefits which outweigh the reasons for learning
online. Ergo, although the same content is taught, there are clear
differences with the environment of these learning styles. Hence,
such changes in the means of learning can lead to a significant
impact on the effectiveness in effortlessly understanding content
and developing the students skills, foreshadowing to why over 70%
of students prefer traditional learning (Koeing, 2019).

Staying focused in school is one of the key factors to being

successful in the academic field - requiring 100% attention to the
teacher and the content. Being focused would enable students to
have a better understanding of the topic, create better quality
work, and achieve things in a substantial amount of time in a less
stressful manner without having to repeatedly search them up
again on youtube. Thus, through traditional learning, the students
are required and constrained to sitting still as a result of fear in
causing commotion between the teacher and parents. Though it
may sound harsh, the outcomes are exceptional as these students
would be able to focus easily and obtain all the said benefits above
when focused due to the fact that they are surrounded and
influenced by individuals that behave well and concentrate. Hence,
because children often follow the “monkey-see-monkey-do” when
everyone is still and focused, they are able to listen and understand
better. However, when learning away from school, students may
think they have the ability to do anything as they are not being
observed, knowing that they won’t have severe consequences
compared to what they would have in school for not listening.
Additionally, they can also be distracted by many things ( on and
off the device), thereby leading them to multi-task whilst learning.
Such actions prove to have negative outcomes; A researcher from
Kent State University who analyzed the “behavior of 300 students
who took online and face-to-face courses; 25% said they were
more likely to listen to music, send text messages, chat on social
networks or surf the Internet in online courses than in a
classroom”. Consequently, those students who got distracted, had
a poor academic performance, scoring lower in their tests in
comparison to the students in the traditional class environment.
Furthermore, through this evidence, it is clear that learning from a
traditional classroom can result in a more focused individual which
ultimately helps students in performing their best and achieving
their highest possible grade unlike online learning since a “virtual
environment is not enough to maintain the full concentration of
the student” (ClassGap, 2020).

It is not only the scholastic achievements that reveal profound

differences, rather, abilities and skills such as interpersonal skills are
also another factor (that play an essential role in developing an
individual's character) that are matured throughout the learning
process. Unfortunately, with the current crisis on going it would be
strenuous for the students to hone these skills: Interpersonal skill is
the capacity to cooperate with individuals through successful
tuning in and correspondence. These skills involve active listening,
teamwork, responsibility, leadership, motivation, negotiation,
adaptability, body language and many more. On the grounds of
this, during the online set-up students are left to doing things on
their own pace, in the comfort of their homes. Often, with limited
synchronous sessions and a time limit to those sessions, these skills
would be hardly used by the students for they will have less
communication with their classmates and teachers as they would
only have to sit and listen until they are let go off, in the case
where they again have to do most things by themselves. Hence it is
evident that the interpersonal skills are minimized due to the fact
that they are unable to apply and practice these skills as they are
not physically exposed to people. This would make it more
challenging and almost unfeasible to perform such actions like
critical thinking whilst put into pressured situations as well as
improving both verbal and non-verbal communication. Contrary to
this, unlike the traditional learning, students’ interpersonal skills
will be developed for they can participate in lectures, listen
attentively, collaborate with groupmates,and socialize with friends.
By developing and enhancing these skills during early stages of
life, students are more likely to improve their ability to determine
appropriate self-behavior, cope with undesirable behavior, absorb
stress, deal with ambiguity, structure social interaction, share
responsibility, and interact more easily with others. Hence, once
the students face the real world, they are more likely to succeed
than those who learned online as they have already faced most
situations and have the knowledge, experiences, and skills to apply
them to other circumstances. In fact, these skills are so important
that employers identify them as “the number one differentiator” for
job applicants in all types of industries (Sutton, 2002). Moreover,
because of the importance of these skills, it is apparent that such
considered life skills need to be honed during their youth as it is
the phase where individuals can easily learn and experience these
things - one that can only and efficaciously be fulfilled through
traditional learning.