Choices in Education

Choices in Education

Traditional Education Versus Distance Education

According Parsad and Lewis (2008) between 2006 and 2007 there were approximately 7,300 college-level programs that were designed to be completed through distance education as degree programs in the United States. I have taken three classes online for college credit with English Composition being my most recent class. Before those three classes all of my college schooling had occurred within the confines of a classroom. My eventual goal is to graduate with a degree through distance education. Distance education is an alternative for a person with a busy lifestyle that has a hard time negotiating family and a full-time career. Though I learn and understand better in a traditional education environment, I have had to adapt as an online pupil because there are more options to learn and broaden my knowledge base. From my experience, distance education is a more attractive way for a student to learn than traditional "brick and mortar" education as a result of its environment, self-paced schedule, and ability to receive lessons in a wide-range of courses.

In a traditional learning environment, students receive schooling in a room that is built for the purpose of education at an institution dedicated to learning. Teacher to student interaction is also a problem in a traditional learning environment. A student may not participate in classroom discussions for fear of being ridiculed or inability to have organized thoughts. Contrarily, the environment for distance education is only limited, in some cases, by the students imagination. A learner is able to communicate with others in their virtual class on the comfort of their couch at home. Pupils are not limited by regional barriers either. A student living in another country can communicate with other students to share ideas. Parents can attend to their children and at the same time take an online class. Desai, Hart, and Richards (2008) said in order...