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Nicholas Ward
Mrs. Cramer
Comp Pd. 5
4 October 2018
Online vs. Traditional Education: Pros, Cons, and Comparability
In a world where everything is going digital, it’s no surprise that schooling has made its
way online. Online education enrollment has increased over the previous years (Allen and
Seaman 10), and questions have been raised as a result. The main question concerning online
education is whether it is comparable to traditional education or not. Online education has
advantages and disadvantages over traditional (face-to-face) education, but individuals can
choose which of the two options are best for them based on their current life situations.
To start, there are multiple benefits that come with online education in comparison to
traditional education. The largest area that online education dominates in, compared to traditional
education, is student flexibility and convenience. A large part of online education’s flexibility is
that it allows students to work at their own pace, rather than try and get everything done by the
professor’s schedule. If students are constantly busy with jobs, families, etc., then online
education would work greatly for them, since they can find time for their online courses in their
busy schedule (“Online Education”), rather than having to potentially skip something to
complete assignments. Also, online education can be accessed anywhere the technology is
available (Purdue 4). Therefore, online education could potentially be more affordable because,
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after the base purchase of a computer or other necessary technology, a student can work from
home rather than having to make daily commuting costs to a school building. Plus, online
courses in general usually cost less than those of traditional schools (Kumar 2). Another reason
that online education can be considered convenient is because students are likely to be online
anyways, so they will already have knowledge on how to get to their courses (“Online
Education”). Online education can also improve communications with people. To start, it has
been reported that digital communication has made it easier to contact peers and group mates
outside of the classroom (Purdue 4). Rather than having to set up a meeting in person to work on
assignments outside of the classroom (where all online students may be in different areas of the
world), they can just text or video call each other instead. Another factor that makes online
communications better is that there is the potential to have less discrimination among students.
Ideally, since the students won’t be able to see each other, they won’t be able to discriminate
other students based on their race or gender. (Kumar 3). One last pro to online education is that it
can help improve the public’s education, since some classes can make information accessible to
the public (“Online Education”). Due to increased accessibility, the general education of the
public would rise and decrease the uneducated population’s size. These are pros that are included
with online education.
Everything that has pros unfortunately have cons that go with them, and the number of
cons that come with online education are close to the amount of pros. One of the largest
disadvantages that comes with online education is that it depends on reliable technology in order
to be accessed. This kind of technology can be expensive, and it has been reported that the
quality of technology affects user experience (Purdue 4). Therefore, students must pay more to
get more, in a sense. Along with the cost of the technology itself, students may also have to buy
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additional materials, such as textbooks (“Online Classes”). Along with this, another largely
conversed disadvantage of online education is that there is a lack of communication between
classmates and instructors. In the article, “Online Education: Does Online Education Help
Students?,” there is discussion about how opponents of online education argue that enrolled
students miss out on experiences from traditional education. In doing so, a quote from Connel
Fullenkamp -an associate professor at Duke University in South Carolina- is mentioned, in which
he states, "People who are really behind this drive to online education don't realize that the
education process is more about developing a relationship than about delivering the material."
Fullenkamp is in favor of students having some, but not all, courses online. There are other cons
of online education as well. For example, online education may have less majors available than
traditional classes (“Online Classes”). Another smaller disadvantage of online education is that,
since it is online, courses can be faked, and therefore students are subject to fraud, because of
what are known as, “diploma mills” (“Online Education”). Lastly, the ability for students to
work at their own pace requires a strong sense of self-motivation. Students won’t be able to gain
anything from the courses if they don’t motivate themselves to complete assignments on time
(“Online Education”). Some of these cons, however, go together with some of the pros, therefore
cancelling them out in a way. For example, another con of online education is that, as it
develops, special needs students are getting left behind (Haynes 1). A pro that combats this,
however, is that organizations, such as the Universal Design of Learning, aim to make the
accessibility of online education easier for both students that need special needs and those who
don’t (Haynes 1). Along with the UDL, groups such as the Student Disability Resource Center,
the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), and partners they work with have created lists of the
best learning practices, accessibility rules, and rubrics that courses must have to become an
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online course (Haynes 2, 3, and 4). Although the cons of online education may seem numerous,
there are still pros that balance them out and some that remain unaffected, too.
Although online education contains both the pros and cons previously listed, it is
generally equally compared to face-to-face education and, therefore, the choice lies in a student’s
personal factors. In the research document, “Going the Distance: Online Education in the United
States, 2011,” BABSON Survey Research Group surveyed a group of instructors pertaining to
the idea of whether learning outcomes from online education were comparable to those of
traditional education. Two thirds of educators surveyed answered in one poll that online
education was superior to or equal to face-to-face education (Allen and Seaman 13). In another
poll concerning student satisfaction, two thirds of educators reported the satisfaction to be equal,
and smaller groups each said one’s satisfaction was greater than the other’s (Allen and Seaman
14). This means that a large majority of educators believe that online education’s results are
equal to traditional education’s. The educators that believe otherwise are not as common. Finally,
education leaders reported that traditional education was dominant in student interaction, and
online education was reported dominant in allowing students to work at their own pace (Allen
and Seaman 15). Since online and traditional education are essentially reported as similar in
results, students must choose which type of education to enroll in based on their personal life
situations. This is discussed in the article by Purdue University Global, “Classroom vs. Online
Education: Which One Is Better for You?” It explains that factors such as “your work status,”
“where you live,” “family,” and “your learning style” should determine which type students
should enroll in (Purdue 1 and 2). It also notes at the end of its article, though, that “only you can
decide whether online education or an on-college campus is best for you” This means that, since
both types of education are almost similar in their outcomes, students are free to choose which
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type is best for them based on their own personal preferences and situations, rather than not
having much of a choice because one is much better than the other. (Purdue 4). This decision
can still be tough, however, since there are multiple pros and cons that come with online
education.
Online education comes with a variety of pros and cons, but the choice between it and
traditional schooling comes primarily with personal factors. One of the largest pros to online
education is that it is flexible and can fit a student’s schedule. Two of the largest cons to online
education are that it can be costly, and there is a lack of communication. Factors, such as work
status and location, should help to determine if you should go to online or traditional schools,
since they’ve been rated similarly. Online education will continue to grow as people keep
making this choice.
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Works Cited
Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Going the Distance: Online Education in the
United States, 2011." Going the Distance: Online Education in the United
States, 2011, pp. 1-39. ERIC, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529948.pdf.
Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Haynes, Aisha S. "Identifying and Removing Barriers: How Campus Partners Cultivate Diverse
Online Learning Environments." Library Technology Reports, vol. 54, no. 4, 2018, p.
32+. StudentResources In
Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A542240870/SUIC?u=pl1949&sid=SUIC&
xid=dd05ddbf. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
Kumar, Dhirendra. "Pros and Cons of Online Education." Pros and Cons of Online
Education, pp. 1-4. Google Scholar, www.ies.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/
sites/15/2015/08/Pros_and_Cons_of_Online_Education_by_Kumar-1.pdf. Accessed
20 Sept. 2018.
"Online Classes vs. Traditional Classes: Pros and Cons." Mycollegeguide, My
College Guide, May 2017, mycollegeguide.org/blog/2017/05/
online-classes-vs-traditional-classes/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.
"Online Education: Does online education help students?" Issues & Controversies, Infobase
Learning, 17 Oct. 2008, http://icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=1959.
Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
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Purdue University Global. "Classroom vs. Online Education: Which One Is Better
For You?" Purdue University Global, Purdue University Global, Inc., 15 May
2018, www.purdueglobal.edu/news-resources/classroom-versus-online/.
Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.
