5 Reasons Traditional Learning is Outdated
Many students are reluctant to dip their feet into the world of online education. They believe they won’t learn as much as in a traditional classroom setting. However, the reality is that many learn far more outside of that 48×40 room.
Let’s explore 5 reasons traditional education is outdated.
The Desk-chair: Some things work well together. Peanut butter and jelly, universal remotes, and bear helmets leap to mind. Desk-chairs, however, fall out of my top million list of best combo inventions. Those wretched chairs are uncomfortable at best, and not conducive to learning at all. As we get older our bodies understandably change. Some suffer from a particular ailment, some have a thyroid condition which has contributed to obesity, others are skyscraper tall. Regardless, it’s just hard to focus when you’re uncomfortable. One desk-chair does not fit all!
You’re already online: Many lectures today are straight from power point presentations. The professor just clicks on the presentation and basically reads exactly what it says. The presentation is made available to students online as well. The only difference between taking this class online opposed to in a traditional setting is that the professor may add a couple of real world stories to compliment the slides, something he could do quite easily online too - big whoop!
Nutty Professor: Do they lock the door at the top of the hour not allowing you to enter the class if you’re running late? Do they enforce the no food policy? Are their tests unreasonable? Many students visit those rate your professor sites and coordinate their efforts to avoid certain instructors, even at the risk of messing up their entire schedule. That is just ludicrous. The only nuts I want when I’m learning are made by Planters. I especially love their honey roasted cashews.
Fellow Students: Maybe I’m just getting old but people really get on my nerves. I understand that everyone is at different learning levels, but some students just talk to hear themselves speak. And then there are those students who just love to be confrontational with the professor. It gives me a headache. These people just make me want to cringe.
Set Time: Your class is at a set time on a particular day(s). Don’t feel well? Too bad. Having car problems? Call someone who cares. Some instructors even penalize for you being absent. Have fun parking in left field and walking your sickly self to class. With any luck you’ll have a few choice sneezes and infect your nutty professor.
But if you still want to go the traditional route, so be it. While your sitting at your desk-chair listening to a boring power point presentaion by your nutty professor, I’ll be on my recliner eating some honey roasted cashews and exercising my mind during commercials of the Red Sox game, where the only thing outdated is my television.
ScholarshipPoints code: OUTDATED
(15 votes, average: 2.87 out of 5)
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I think that classroom teaching is better
I like traditional teaching
All profs don’t fit this mold. You’re smart to avoid them. Teachers should want you to be there.
i agree as well.
i comepletely agree
even though i am only 25 (a quarter of a century! lol) i am very old fashioned….nothing like the feeling of sitting in a desk in front of a teacher, would rather do that then the online thing…just too nervous….i feel detached…..but i understand other peoples perspective.
True,,Very True I Love It!!!:))
omg!! jajaj its so truee! i agree 100%
Very true, but you do learn by hearing what your classmates have to say as well.
WELL I HAVE TO DISAGREE AND SAY THAT NO TYPE OF LEARNING IS OUTDATED. PEOPLE LEARN ACCORDING TO WHAT SYSTEMS WORK FOR THEM. NEW ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY ONLY BROADENS THE AVENUES OF HOW SOME PEOPLE CAN LEARN
I agree this is so true
Um…”shen”…isn’t this an editorial? o.O
Online College makes it easier to find programs that may not be available at the colleges near you. It depends on the person and how much they really want the education.
True it is more convenient, especially on those sick days and the students that just talk to hear themselves talk, aaaaaaaaaaah NIGHTMARE! However, I feel like I’d more disciplined and focused if I’m in a classroom setting.
Online college is not for me. I am a hand on person I need to ask question.Be in a class to see
It really depends on the person…in my case i prefer being in a class and do hands-on projects.
Then there are those who do both…. its all about what your comfortable with.
So true!!!
this is very true
I agree, because it’s always abut self-discipline
this is so true!!!!
I agree on some points to the argument, however, there are some of us who have the need to ask questions about the lecture (especially if it is a math course). It has its pros and cons, but I think that every insititution should offer a schedule for in-class and a schedule online…that way we can make everyone happy!
I have never had an online class before but I have to say that the professors aren’t that bad. They help a lot when I needed it.
agree
I agree! The site dedicate to rating a professor are the best. Also having friends that have already taken that professor and can give you insight on their lecture style is a good way to avoid adding more stress to your semester.
Sooo lazy… new ways… not in every sitation is better to act like that.
I just started, online class. It kind of demanding, it also up to your prof, or moderator, so far so good.
i am one of those who are reluctant about online courses.
soung good!
very true about the chairs (uncomfortable)
I never realized that way. It is true, but I am still up for the traditional way.
This is a good article, but it doesn’t happen to everyone.
i see merit in both traditional and online education – therefore – neither medium is a one-size-fits-all! for that reason, i do not foresee the end of brick and mortar institutional learning.
Yes, I can see that online education has some benifits, but the bad definately out ways the good. Sure the seats are uncomfortable, you might get some nutty teachers, things are scheduled and people can be obnoxious, but that’s all part of the experience. Maybe online education can offer you a lot of things, but it can’t offer you people. It can’t give you that amazing teacher that inspirers you to be better, or those friends that you learn and grow from. It won’t prepare you real life and in real life you have to deal with people, but you know what people arn’t so bad. If you look around instead of resorting to your little bubbe of confort, you might be surprised what you find. Yes, some teachers are strict, but somebody needs to be or we’ll grow up an imature, irresponsible, and inconsiderate generation. People need people. People will always have to live with people. Personally this sounds like the lazy mans way out, and is likely to create technological hermits as well as other unmentionable effects i’d rather not go into.
This is very true. But I have to say that the setting is not very important. A person whom wants to learn will learn. Sound simple but true.
I agree.
I do not buy in to this article for one minute. if the instetutions that educate at the college level are replaced by computers simply because people are lazy, whats to stop it from progressing to high schools then middle schools then elementey schools. I do not want my children growign up in a world that is dependant on the internet because I do not want them to lose time outside playing sports and beign active. That is the reason for obesity in society today, TV and the Internet. As technology advances so does education, if and when preschools and online I do not want my kids being rased like a volkin(i probable spelled that wrong). I do not want a mechanical socielty and thats what we will get if people buy in to this arcticle.
As “outdated” as a traditional classroom environment may be, sometimes it is completely essential to student success. Sure, you could take English, math, history, etc online and succeed; heck, some people could probably get an entire doctorate in those generalized subjects were they able. But, the more specialized classes require traditional methods, and couldn’t possibly happen without them.
Consider, for example, any and all medical programs out there. Without the chance to come into a classroom and work, hands-on, with the equipment and tools, without working with an experienced teacher (almost always a professional working in the field) on proper patient care and interaction, there would be no doctors, therapists, nurses, etc. It’s simply not possible to teach someone to work in a patient-care setting with online classes. I’d wager that the same is true for mechanics, artists, chefs, and many more professions out there.
Online classes aren’t the end-all to be-all, like the article would propose. It isn’t superior to traditional classroom learning. It’s just a tool; one that, if utilized properly by both teachers and students, can be very effective. But it will never replace the classroom.
I like what Angel said – “It’s all about self- discipline. If you apply yourself, you will be successful.” It is so true. I’m military and discipline plays a major role in everything I do.
I agreee to some extent. It’s not like we have endless amount of supplies where we can change all of these things. I agree schools could try and do a better job of bettering education by the way they teach, how they teach, how much effort they put forth and the way they treat students.
The Internet was created as a means of exchanging information. Mainly used by academia at first it became commercialized in the late 1990’s. However today academia is once again turning towards the Internet as a means of survival and learning. Online learning is here to stay. It is the future of academia. As the technology advances academia needs to work with these advances and not against them. By combining student portals, e-Learning and content appropriate e-Commerce academia can find the funding it needs to survive.
It is all about self-discipline and motiviation.
I’ve taken several online courses. It’s all about self- discipline. If you apply yourself, you will be successful.
so true
I agree with Shen. I was taking an online course and it took me three months to finish instead of one month. There were many things that distracted me and I would always put it off. ya it might go well with students that is able to sit by a computer and do the course but there are those who are able to learn by sitting in a class room and has a time set time.
My dad’s a proff, and he hates powerpoints to the point where he will go out of his way to avoid them, he works equations by hand on the board, I also think he grads very fairly, but he teaches chemical engineering, so maybe they’re different than other classes, the ratio of students to teachers is very small.
At the same time, I’m an art major. Three of my classes this semester are studio classes, we come in, watch a brief presentation, and for the next four classes we sit at our work bench, iPod headphones in, food by our side (depending on what materials we are working with, not so much with the poisonous ones) and work at our own pace for three hours. Drawing the naked man, or bending over a wheel to make a pot, we still need help from the instructor when our pencils don’t blend well or that arm just doesn’t look right…
I guess it mostly depends on your major.
haha yeah
i agree that is so true
completely agreed.
hahahaaa!!! i love this. it is soooo true
Did you ever consider that not every teacher sits and reads from a powerpoint? Did you consider that not every class is taught by a professor standing in front of a classroom while you sit in an uncomfortable desk? Did you ever consider that hearing other students opinions could help to shape your own argument and to help you form a better argument? Did you ever think that having a set time for class is the only way some students get the initiative to go to school? Your argument has some very big holes in it because of all of my previous rebuttals. I learned all of these argument techniques in a classroom just to clarify.