Online Learning vs Face to Face Learning

Learning has been a great part of human history over the years. People have always been looking for ways to advance their knowledge, understand the world better, and make their lives easier. The ways of learning have definitely improved but the goal remains the same. How do we learn to do something in the most effective and efficient way?

Face to face learning

Face to face learning is how we’ve historically been learning. It usually takes place in a classroom and most times is centered around the lecturer. There are of course other ways to organize the classroom like group learning, learning with a partner and/or a mentor.

Face to face learning requires that you are at a specific location at a specific time. It also usually requires interaction or participation at times. For most people, going to a specific location, at a specific time, is what puts them in the learning mindset and helps them concentrate. For all of these reasons, students prefer classroom learning over virtual. This is the reason for the wide popularity of face to face learning. It continues to be the default learning method in most institutions are there are plenty of reasons why.

The advantages of face to face learning

• You can share and compare notes with your classmates.
• You get answers and feedback in real time
• Discussions
• You don’t have to worry about the schedule

The disadvantages of face to face learning

• Face-to-face tuition can be quite expensive.
• You will have to pay for your textbooks
• Commuting
• Scheduling
• Organizing and managerial costs
• Professor cost

Online Learning

Online learning is a new way of learning, made popular with the technology advancements. With almost everyone having a personal computer and a busy schedule, eLearning has become many people’s favorite way of attending classes and expanding their knowledge. But many are still skeptical that you can attain the same knowledge and skills through a computer as you would in a classroom.

Online learning can be conducted in any environment, at any time, as long as there is a computer, an internet connection, and a person willing to learn. The content of the courses can be transmitted through an LMS in many different multimedia formats. The learning can be interactive and engaging, or it can be simple and lecture style. Online learning has the flexibility to adapt to many people’s preferences. That is one of the ways how eLearning benefits employee training and development.  

The advantages of Online Learning

• It is cheaper
• Less time consuming
• It’s flexible
• Adaptable to people’s preferences

The disadvantages of Online Learning

• Hard to follow if you have no self-discipline
• Cheating
• Isolation

LMS

An LMS is a perfect way to distribute educational courses. Learning management systems were designed to identify learning gaps by analyzing reports and data. That way, we get to understand the way people learn, what works best, how we can improve training materials, and what are the most effective training methods for employees.

An LMS embodies all the benefits of eLearning. One of them is the ability to work in any device without compromising the quality of the training material, even in mobile devices. Mobile friendly LMSs are the future of learning.

Which one to choose

Face to face learning and eLearning are two different approaches that complement different teaching materials. Some skills just can’t be taught through a computer. You can’t expect for a medical student to finish their studies online. That job just requires that we are face to face with our tutors. Other skills are perfectly fit to be taught through eLearning. This is why both teaching methods are valuable and will survive the test of time.