Online Courses Or Traditional Education: Which Is Better For Personal Development?

Ever since the pandemic, online courses have become more and more popular, with plenty of schools and colleges offering this form of education while not taking over the popularity of traditional education. Do you wonder which form of education would be better for your personal development? In this article, we explore the benefits of each, and how you can choose what’s best for you.

How Does Traditional Education Benefit Personal Development?

When we say traditional education, we mean face-to-face classes. This has been the norm for decades, centuries even. There was no real reason to change it, until the pandemic necessitated a change. The benefits of traditional education are numerous, and its importance has been noted since online classes began during the quarantines. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why traditional education is so advantageous:

Active Learning

By virtue of being on campus, you’ll always be able to reach out to your professors to discuss your class, your performance, projects, or even just to ask for help. With online courses, you’d have to send an email and hope they have time for an online meeting. With traditional classes, you just need to catch them on their way out of class, or knock on their door.

Interpersonal Relationships

Education isn’t restricted to the theory you learn from books. The bonds you form between teachers and classmates is vital to learning how to carry out healthy social interactions. Through face-to-face interactions, you’ll develop communication skills, learn to collaborate, and understand the value of networking. You’ll be exposed to diverse perspectives in real-time discussions, and in all these interactions, you’ll foster a sense of community and belonging. Not only does this improve mental health, it also fosters a sense of belonging and community. Through this, you’ll also gain opportunities for mentorships, and even deeper relationships.

Scheduled Learning

With traditional education, classes and courses are scheduled in a way that students can attend them without any issue. Through the obligation of joining classes on time, you’ll have a regular routine to stick to. This teaches punctuality and discipline, and helps you become better at time management.

Extracurricular Activities

Every school and university offers a variety of extracurricular activities. These could be sports, educational clubs, field trips, competitions, and more. These activities give you the opportunity to foster both new and existing hobbies, as well as being a great way to meet new people and cultivate healthy relationships.

Access to Libraries

In every school, college, and university, you’re given access to a library. They typically hold both paperback books as well as easily accessible online materials, and they’re available at no extra cost. Having access to reliable research materials allows you to reach your full potential by being able to carry out in depth studies in your particular field without having to shell out hundreds of extra dollars.

How Does Online Courses Benefit Personal Development?

Online courses shot up in popularity since the pandemic broke out. While everyone was locked indoors, the world had to keep spinning. So, classes commenced online over Google Meets and Zoom calls. Even platforms like the Liven app offer online bite-sized info and tests allowing you to improve your knowledge of different mental health issues, and it’s available at the tip of your fingers. While atypical, this form of education had quite a few benefits which led them to continue being a desirable form of education:

Flexibility

On online courses, your lectures are typically prerecorded, allowing you to learn at your own pace. You never have to be afraid of missing out on information. In fact, it’s quite easy to record all of your classes and go over them as you please at a later time. This allows you to be more flexible with how you attend class, the number of classes you take, and even allows you to hold some kinds of jobs while being in class.

Affordability

By not having to pay for extra campus fees or transportation costs, students of online courses enjoy more affordable courses. Even textbooks can be obtained for cheap prices, and tuition costs themselves may be discounted. You could even avoid having to move to a different city and paying higher rent just by studying online from the comfort of your room. Costs are a very real barrier of entry for education, and online courses do their best to negate that.

Course Variety

Online school gives you the option to choose from more diverse courses, because classes are not bound by the location of the teachers or the available classrooms. Material is easily accessible and teachers are readily available, allowing universities and schools to give students a wider variety of things to study. 

Accessibility

A major barrier to education is often the distance. Commuting can take up hours from your day, preventing you from studying or working, and often leaving you exhausted. Online classes allow you to attend class at the press of a button, as well as gain access to all your study materials.

How Do We Pick The Best?

Deciding whether traditional or online schooling is better is very much subjective. In the case of children, we heavily recommend sticking to traditional education. In these formative years, it’s vital that they interact with students and teachers face to face, and not be too reliant on gadgets for communication.

For adults, however, the answer varies. For adults who have a day job, online classes give them the opportunity to gain certification that they would otherwise not have time for. However, they’re also missing out on the core “college experience” by sticking to online education. At the end of the day, it’s fully dependent on the money and time you have to spare, as well as your approach to learning. If you feel like you’re responsible enough to depend on yourself to stick to your classes, online courses offer convenience that is unrivalled. If you tend to fall asleep in online classes, you’d be better off with face-to-face education.

Conclusion

Education is a vital aspect to furthering your growth, and the modern world tries its best to make it more convenient. However, convenience sacrifices some of the core aspects of traditional education. While it isn’t so important for adults, one would argue that the lack of these things would stunt social and emotional development in children. Aside from that case, it’s entirely dependent on what you believe is best for you. Whatever you choose, as long as you commit to it with your whole heart, you will succeed.