Compare and contrast between Traditional learning and learning through the Internet Since 2000, the Internet has become a part of our life. Everything happened in our life included the Internet, e. G. Reading, writing, gaming, etc. We can read news on the Internet everyday, read e-book everyday. People can write something on the Internet everyday like on their blob, on the social network website. We play online game instead of single user game. More than that, even we play single user games on our own computer, we can still connect to the Internet to play games all over the world.
It proves how the Internet pervade in our daily life. Except those activities mentioned above, there is an important element also attached to the Internet, that is EDUCATION. Before studying on the Internet became popular, the only way we had learnt is from our teachers, or by reading books ourselves. No one had thought about that we could study through the Internet, a virtual world. There is a huge contrast between learning through the the Internet and through the actual world. They might have something similar, but mostly they are different. Someone thinks learning through the Internet is a new trend of study.
Other people might think the best way to learn is the traditional way, having actual lessons, reading an actual book. Each of them is pleading for their point of view. For me, virtual learning and actual learning are mostly different, but slightly similar. None of them is overwhelming the other one. They have their own feat rest. First of all, learning virtually does not take any place, but actual learning does. Place, as in a class should be like a magnet, which holds together the instructor with a community of students and their ideas, knowledge, thoughts, and memories.
In short, place is defined as anything that is mutually shared within, and has a boundary for containment purposes. On the other hand, Cyberspace is a virtual place, the world of imaginary tools (p. 9 Bender, T. ) It is a place created by computer program(p. 9 Bender, T. ) Even the online class is potentially interactive, but still, students are facing the two-dimensional screen only. Student might not have a real learning experience. In stead of their classmates, they can only interact with their tutor. Other than the place of learning, costs of learning are totally different between earning through the Internet and traditional learning.
Traditional learning costs so many things, for example tutors, venue, equipment (dictionaries, microphone, etc. ) Unlike studying online, we only need the Internet. We do not even need a tutor because there are application software for us to study. The least cost of online learning is a computer, and traditional study is relatively high cost. In this information age, learning is not a one-time thing. Instead, it is a lifelong activity. Everyone needs to learn from childhood to adulthood. Every thing is updating everyday, we need to pursue the most updated information, genealogy, and trend.
Besides, the Internet provides huge amount of information and a variety of sources, therefore it is easier for students to do their research for study. However, for actual study, information update is not that fast than data update on the Internet. We need textbooks to assist our studies. Unfortunately, frequency of updating textbook is not as fast as that on the Internet. Books cannot release a new edition for update once a week, or once a month. They always cannot get tight with the newest data, but still, there are one thing actual stud’s textbook is better than information on the Internet, AUTHORITY.
There is no doubt that the Internet have a variety of data/information, but are they 100% true? Are they believable? How do you know they are giving you a correct information? Those are the problems of learning through the Internet. Some websites do not show if their data/articles is(are) authorized, some even not showing anything reference about their materials. Like the Wisped, everyone can edit the articles anonymously, so there is a potential risk about doing a research or studying through the Internet. However, for the textbooks, all information inside is confirmed, less doubt about the source or data.
Anyways, both of them have their own advantages. The Internet is having unlimited access to knowledge but they might not be all true, despite textbook’s information is not that much but more accurate. Last but not least, even there are several differences between traditional learning and e-learning, they still have one similarity, the CONTENT. No matter what topic one is going to leant, things to learn is always the same. Some subjects seldom change or update like history. No matter what nationality the tutor is, what kind of place to study, what method to study, the content comes UT is the same. Textbooks are common for both the online course and a regular course. ” Pads, (29 June 2011) Similarities between online and traditional system of education. In conclusion, online learning and traditional leaning are extremely different. Despite their differences, there is still a similarity between them. Like the content of learning. No matter what, when and where to learn, some subjects we learn is always the same such as History. In my point of view, I think both learning methods have their own advantages, depending on the situation.
