Online versus Traditional Education Classes Tara L Mitchell COM/155 November 17, 2013 Kevin Galvin Online versus Traditional Education Classes Even though there is more support from teachers in a traditional setting, online classes can work better for most people and their schedules. Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way - George Evans- People can enroll in either traditional or online classes; they will have to decide for themselves which way works best for them. Online classes they can go at their own pace and adjust their schedule for themselves. If they work a full time job they can come home and do their schoolwork or even on their breaks and lunch time. If they have a family they can do their schoolwork around their schedule for their children if they really want their degrees. Some people will not put the effort forth because it takes away from their “me” time. In a traditional setting they have to be in their class at a certain time and a certain day of the week. It does not matter if work is scheduled for that time or not. They have to be present in the class to get credit for the class. After class they still will have homework to have done before the next class meets. There still is no “me” time when you do the traditional classes. They also have large amounts of classwork so they cannot even start homework in class even if they wanted to. Online classes you work at your own pace and if they finish the weeks class them can go on to the next week’s class assignments. If they have a paper due as a final they can work on it a little each week so it is not such a big project at the end of the class. If someone has to miss a traditional class they can ask a classmate for the notes from the class but if that person is not a note taker than they will be lost and sometimes struggle to catch up. They also can do all their classwork in class and only have the homework left to do. In the university setting here they will have library resources they can use for help, and they can sign up for tutoring. The library also has a large amount of resources to help the student out including workshops to help them along. They also can e-mail their instructor but the instructor has 24 hours to respond back to the student. In a traditional setting they have the teacher or other students they can go to for help if they run into a question on their schoolwork. In an online class it does not matter if it is snowing or icy. If they have sick kids they can still do their classes and take care of what needs to be done. They do not have to worry if they have a car problems or an accident. They do not have to be in a class by a certain time or day as long as all work is turned in by due date to teacher. In a traditional class if they canceled school they have to find a way to make up the class. If they have an accident or car trouble it still counts as an absent. After too many absents it counts against them and they finish failing the class and having to take it all over and it ends up costing more money. If they admitted to a hospital they can take their laptop with them and continue doing homework and schoolwork. In a traditional classroom you do not have this option. In both traditional and online they can take a leave of absent and it means the same in both environments. In a traditional class the student has to go by the college calendar for classes and an online student can start anytime a class is starting for them. They also can arrange their schedule to take classes back to back or take a break in between classes so they have a break. In University of Phoenix, the student is only given one recognized break per year which is Christmas and they are off for two weeks for that holiday. Otherwise they go all year long so University of Phoenix is considered a year round school. Financial aid is the same for both traditional and online students. The student can get scholarships, grants and student loans. They still have to pay back the student loans six months after you leave school. The student has the same max amount of loans for traditional and online classes. Also University of Phoenix offers counselors and other mental health workers to help the student if there ever is a problem. They have grief counselors and family counselor and various other types of help available to help the student out. They also have academic counselor and financial counselors to help the person out with schooling. They call their team the I-Grad team to help the person with problems with schools. In a traditional setting, it is limited to what they have on campus to help them out. Sometimes a tutor will cost extra money at a campus. The only downfall the person would have for online school is no electricity, Internet goes down or their computer crashes. They would need a backup plan for all these items to be successful in school but a traditional student has downfalls too. If their transportation goes down they would need a ride or walk to school. If they are hospitalized they cannot take the classroom with them like an online student can. The student also needs access to a printer so they can print off a syllabus and the calendar for each class so they can make sure they are on the correct learning path they need to learn. Also they will want to print off their papers so they can look at a hard copy of what they have written. It is up to the individual student as to whether online or traditional class will work for them. A person can only get out of an education exactly what they put into the education. A person can benefit from either online or a traditional classroom. There are a large amount of pros and cons to both methods.