ELC 501

ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING

FORUM:

ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING (ODL) vs FACE-TO-FACE LEARNING,

WHICH ONE IS BETTER?

GROUP: PEH2253C

Name No. ID
ERIENA NUR AISYAH BINTI ELMI 2022864268
SITI NUR BALQIS BINTI ELIAS 2022838736
SITI NURHAFEEFA BINTI MAYDIR 2022659846
WAN AHMAD IRFAN BIN WAN ISMAIL 2022457732

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 27th JANUARY 2023

TIME FRAME OF DISCUSSION

 DATE AND TIME TASK / OBJECTIVE
6th January 2023  Discussion and brainstorming on topics for forum.
(9.00 am -12.00 pm)
6th January 2023  All group members studying on topic and content for the
to forum of ODL vs Face-to-Face learning.
th
10 January 2023  Shared a topic-related sources and references with
groupmates.
 Deciding on the role of each members and discussion on
forum points and ideas for counter-arguments.
 Drafting on 1st draft of forum content.
11th January 2023  Submission of 1st draft of forum content.
13th January 2023  Consultation session with Dr. Husna regarding our contents
(10.15 am- 10.30 am) for the forum.
14th January 2023  Discussion on how to improve the content of the forum and
(9.00pm -11.00 pm) expending ideas for counter-arguments for second draft of
forum submission.
15th January 2023  Finalizing all ideas and points to discuss in the forum with
to groupmates.
th
17 January 2023  Writing on 2nd full draft of forum.
 Final discussion on the flow of the forum.
18th January 2023  Submission of 2nd draft of forum.
19th January 2023  Practicing on forum discussion.
(9.00 pm- 11.00 pm)
20th January 2023  Forum day
(10.30 am-11.00 am)

ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING (ODL) VS FACE-TO-FACE LEARNING

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 ROLE DIALOGUE
MODERATOR: Assalamualaikum and a very good morning to all of you. Welcome
Eriena to our forum for this week.

"PANDEMIC COVID-19," a term that has been used extensively

over the past three years. This global outbreak has had an impact
on our daily lives by limiting our ability to physically interact with one
another. This major issue has enabled us to be in this forum today
to issue out solutions, sharing beneficial ideas that will be voiced out
by our panel tonight.

Education sector is one of the field which have been facing huge
impact due to the COVID-19. Today, we would like to highlight a
topic which is very interesting to be discussed on: “ODL vs Face-to-
Face learning. Which one is better?”.

Before we begin our forum, I'd like to introduce our panellist for
today. First and foremost, my name is Eriena Nur Aisyah, and I am
the forum's moderator. Today, we have three panellists who will be
share their perspectives based on their experiences with the
learning system during the pandemic. I'd like to welcome Dr. Wan
Ahmad Irfan, a lecturer from UiTM's College of Engineering. Dr.,
how are you doing? (* I am doing well and looking forward to be
here this morning). Following that, we have Hafeefa and Balqis,
both of whom are UiTM students.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As we all know, the pandemic has forced us to practise new

methods of learning due to the government's movement restriction
order which is 'Online Learning'. Online learning is a specific mode
of attending a course of study in which lectures are delivered
electronically via various multimedia and internet applications. Face-
to-face learning, on the other hand, is a traditional teaching method
in which the lecture allows students to interact with the teacher in

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 instantaneously.

For further detail about this topic, I would like to hear out from the
first panel, Siti Balqis. As one of UiTM student, which one you prefer
between online and face-to-face learning as one of your way to
study?
STUDENT: Thank you to the moderator.
Siti Balqis
Between online learning and face-to-face learning, I prefer more to
online leaning. In my opinion, online learning is more flexible and
convenience.
 Online distance learning (ODL) forced to develop some
important skills which are self-motivation skills and digital
training.
 Student will be forced to have self-motivation because of their
commitment during the online distance learning. As we know,
the online distance learning is done because all communities
are prohibited from going out due to the pandemic.
 During the pandemic, students must feel stressed with the
assignments and tasks given and it is difficult for them to get rid
of their stress during that time.
 but students enjoy online distance learning because when ODL
is conducted, their grades increase and it can be seen that
students have a high self-motivation to complete existing
assignments.
 The development of skills is important because the number of
jobs that offer work-from-home opportunities is increasing all
the time, and in some cases, telecommuting may even be
required.
 It’s spurs creative teaching and learning, depends on the
lecturer. It’s also forcing student and lecturer to think outside the
box. The online distance learning equips student with digital
skills and computer literacy. It’s also helping Non-governmental
Organisation and government to improve the internet access
and distribution of laptop strengthen the digital infrastructure in
Malaysia.

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 That’s all. I pass back to our moderator.
MODERATOR: Thank you Siti Balqis for your opinion. From your explanation, you
Eriena strongly agree that online learning is good for our young generation.

Let’s move to Dr Wan Ahmad Irfan. From the perspective view of a

lecture, what do you think about this topic?
LECTURE: Thank you, Ms Moderator.
Wan Ahmad Irfan
Assalamualaikum w.b.t and a very good morning to all the panellist
and the audience. I'm so glad to be one of the guests here. So
based on today’s topic, I can direct state that pandemic is giving bad
effects.
towards education. The sudden shift to online learning due to
pandemic which is without anv planning especially in our country
can lead to a lot of negative effects. And I absolutely not agree in
this online learning. In between online learning and face-to-face
learning, I would say face-to-face learning is more effective for the
students.

Before I proceed with my opinion about studying physically, I would

like to talk a little about improving grades while studying online as
stated by Balqis. As a lecturer, if there is an assessment for a
subject, it is quite difficult for me to assess the real abilities of a
student. This is because, as we know, online assessment cannot
know the honesty of a student to make the assessment by himself
or get help from others. So, it is difficult to identify the student's
ability and I need time to identify which students are relatively weak
to be given more attention so that they also do not fall behind in
their studies.

So, I proceed with my opinion on effectiveness face to face learning.

As a lecturer, I think face to face learning allow students to be more
disciplined.
 Physical classrooms to ensure that students are learning how to
behave, learn good manners alongside academic education.

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  Self-discipline is a must-have for every student to be a good
learner. For example, waking up early, getting ready, and being
punctual to attend the class.
 Self-discipline is one of the essential skills to have – significantly
when revising for exams and working full time as an adult.
Physical classroom education helps to teach this. Without
discipline, all the other skills acquired by an individual go
unnoticed. This skill helps to make the different skills and
expertise shine brighter.
 A student’s effort in doing tasks is more noticed when having
face to face classes.
 According to the survey of Kamal M. and Bener A. (2009), that
one of the given factors of school failures are cause of frequents
absence from schools which results to 33.3%, also incomplete
homework with the result of (45.9%). This given factors of school
failures comes from less disciplined students. This shows that
discipline if one of the important factors to diligent in any kind of
learning platform.
 This shows that discipline that one of the major factors that can
affected academic achievement.

I think that is all from me. I pass this forum back to the moderator.
Student:  I’m sorry for interrupting, here I do not agree with Dr. Irfan’s
Siti Balqis opinion about self-discipline.
 I would like to share my experience while studying in online
distance learning, students at home had to divide their time for
homework, assignments given and classes that were done
according to the schedule.
 However, students can still submit assignments and tasks given
before the deadline. This shows that students can discipline
themselves with their commitments at home and their
commitments as students during online distance learning.
 Furthermore, from the article written by viewsonic, the self-
discipline required, candidates who have completed distance
learning courses are frequently impressed by employers.
(Viewsonic, Nov 2020)

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 That all from me, I will pass to our moderator, Eriena.
MODERATOR: Now let’s have Siti Nurhafeefa for her opinion in ODL vs Face-To-
Eriena Face issue.
STUDENT:  Face-to-face classes provide more in-person interaction between
Siti Nurhafeefa students and teachers, but online classes allow you to get to
know your lecturers as well. On the contrary, online classes allow
you to communicate with your lecturers at any time, allowing you
to always ask for assistance or comments.
 Furthermore, to counter the point regarding communication
among the student and lecturer, (Kenny, 2010) recommended
that they can build study groups so that students will no longer
be studying in isolation and help students to make friends by
meeting fellow students in the online environment claimed to
develop learning motivation (Kenny, 2010). Furthermore, online
social interaction with their students by monitoring the online
presence and construct their learning materials reported to
enhance students learning motivation (Doculan, 2016).
 Some of the student need privacy to ask their lecturer instead of
asking during physical class since their friends might laugh to
them.
 Also, teaching, it is quite difficult for the teacher to give the
necessary amount of attention to all students in the group and to
adjust to the work pace of each. The online class is suitable for
organizing an individual approach. In addition to the fact that the
student chooses their own pace of learning, they can quickly get
answers from the tutor.
 Moreover, online distance learning (ODL) offers class flexibility
which really helpful when the students might not be able to
attend the online class. How it actually works?
 Most of the lecturer would record the online class so that their
students able to watch it during their leisure time.
 This is also efficacious as students do not need to be concerned
about leaving their friends behind. You can always return to
studying more difficult problems, watch video lectures numerous
times, read teacher communication, and skip already covered

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 topics. The most important thing is to pass the intermediate and
final attestations.
MODERATOR: Thank you Hafeefa for your sharing.
Eriena
Alright, after hearing all thoughts from both teacher-learner view, it
can be stated that both ODL and face-to-face consists pros and
cons on each other. Now lets have Dr Irfan back. After hearing on
the points of how these two students prefer on ODL over face-to-
face learning, are you still stick on your stance of preferring on face-
to-face for better learning process?
LECTURE: Thank you, Ms Moderator.
Wan Ahmad Irfan
So, based on point of view about ODL, I cannot deny that ODL also
has its own benefits, but as we know, we need to be more prepared
to conduct online learning, especially for online assessment. For
example, as I stated before, in online learning, it is hard to
determine the real capabilities of the students in terms of their
understanding of some courses. So, I think I will stick on face-to-
face learning than ODL.
MODERATOR: Thank you Dr Irfan.
Eriena How about both of you Balqis and Hafeefa? From point of view of a
student, are you agree with Dr Irfan that face-to-face Is find to be
the most suitable method of effective learning?
STUDENT: Thank you, Eriena.
Siti Balqis
So, in my opinion, I somewhat agree with Dr Wan Ahmad Irfan's
point of view that it is easier for him to enforce student discipline
when the students are on campus. This is because Dr Irfan, as a
lecturer, may monitor their own student in class rather than online
distant learning. As a result, I believe that physical classes are
better to online distance learning. That's all I've got
STUDENT: So, based on what I heard from Dr Wan Ahmad Irfan view, I think I
Siti Nurhafeefa agree with Dr Irfan opinion that he said face to face classes able to
make student be more discipline. This is because student will well
prepared when they come to the class instead of laying on the bed
during online classes. In short, I preferred face to face classes

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 compared to online distance learning class.
MODERATOR: Thank you to both Siti Balqis and Siti Nurhafeefa for your thought on
Eriena this issue. I can say now everyone in this forum has come to agree
that face-to-face learning is a better learning method. But, ODL also
play a good role as a medium to continue our learning process
during pandemic. Without ODL we may not able to continue our
study due to the limitation of physical interaction caused by
movement restriction order by the government.

As a moderator and a student, I would also like to express my

opinion of ODL vs Face-to-Face too. For me, it is up to the individual
to determine how they prefer to seek knowledge and create the
appropriate environment for them to learn in their preferred mode,
whether through online or in-person lectures. It doesn't matter as
long as it allows for effective communication between teacher and
learner. Some of them may prefer ODL. However, I prefer face-to-
face communication.

Face-to-face learning, in my opinion, allows students to

communicate effectively.
 Both student-teacher are present and actively involved in
learning-teaching processes in classroom environment.
 F2F involves more lecture- and dialogue-based learning
exercises where it called direct communication.
 Allow student to communicate instantly on what they wanted to
ask. This method allowing them to enhance on their
understanding in learning.
 To explain this, Arias, Swinton, and Anderson (2018) reported in
their quantitative research that students in the F2F section have
statistically significantly higher exam scores and statistically
greater improvement on the post-test instructor questions than
the distance or online delivery methodology.
 This proves that effective communication actually influenced
learners’ performance in academic.

However, it is undeniable that ODL has a positive impact on

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students and facilitates the learning process during a pandemic. As
previously stated, it is a matter of personal preference. What I can
conclude is that in our educational system, both ODL and face-to-
face learning have been the norm. It is up to the individual to decide
which method of learning they prefer. Both ODL and face-to-face will
be effective if they are tailored to the individual's learning style.

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 REFERENCES

1. Zonicita D. Norman. (2020). Understanding the Effect of Distance Learning vs. Face-to-
Face Learning Experiences on Students' Engagement in Higher Education.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3734764
2. Flores, Alvin Sean & Laureles, Hans. (2022). Contrast Between Face-To-Face Learning
and Online Learning to Students' Diligence.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358262784_Contrast_Between_Face-To-
Face_Learning_and_Online_Learning_to_Students'_Diligence
3. Ironhack, (2022), Pros and Cons of Online Learning vs Face-to-Face.
https://www.ironhack.com/us/en/blog/pros-and-cons-of-online-learning-vs-face-to-face

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 APPENDIX

 SCREENSHOT ON DISCUSSION THROUGH ONLINE PLATFORM (WHATSAPP):

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