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Online Versus Traditional School: Which Is the Better Option?
Most of us remember when attending traditional school meant teenagers taking a bus to a traditional building in the early morning, sitting at desks, and working on the same assignments and worksheets as their peers in a group setting. But, with the rise of online school, more and more learners and parents are questioning why the school has to follow this rigid format.
K-12 online school may be the best option for your family if you are searching for:
- access to your teen’s public-school education from anywhere in the world
- daily scheduling flexibility
- personalized programming
- more accommodation of your teenager’s learning style
- more parental involvement
Traditional Versus Online School
Parental Involvement
At a brick-and-mortar school, parental involvement is often limited to things such as reviewing homework, chaperoning field trips, or attending parent-teacher conferences. Many parents are also out of the loop on academic performance till the end-of-term report card comes home, leaving parents and students little chance to course-correct.
With online school, parents have many choices for being involved in their teenagers’ education. As learning teachers, parents (or other trusted adults) may opt to support learning by structuring the online school learner’s daily routine or reviewing lessons and grades as often as they wish. They can consult with online school instructors in regular meetings and, when required, play an active role by helping to monitor progress, attendance, and comprehension. While every family does online learning in a different way, online educators agree that it’s a good idea to assist with time management, encourage learners, and praise them for their hard work.
Scheduling Flexibility
Although parents have little to no control over a traditional school’s schedule or learning environment, online school parents can set the daily routine and have the flexibility to cultivate an effective learning atmosphere for their teens.
With online school, learners do attend some fixed-schedule events, like real-time lessons in the online classroom, but they have a much higher degree of flexibility about where and when they complete their studies. This allows them to enjoy family time, sports, travel, hobbies, and other activities without missing school or falling behind in their studies.
Personalized Learning
As with flexibility, most brick-and-mortar schools cannot offer as much personalization. It is not that the educators are not dedicated or willing to assist learners individually, but the logistics of managing a class that is full of learners make it difficult—or nearly impossible—to do so. Consequently, traditional education tends to take a “one-size-fits-all” approach, with fewer chances for individualized instruction available. These schools may provide accelerated and honor classes for eligible students, but course selections may be limited.
Online school learners have a multitude of personalization options. Instructors can provide extra support to bolster specific skills and adapt instruction to every student’s specific abilities, interests, and learning styles. When wanted, they can offer one-on-one support by telephone, email, or in the virtual classroom. Working from home, online school learners can move more quickly through lessons they grasp easily or go slower in courses that are more challenging.
Furthermore, with a high-quality online school, learners of all ages can participate in online clubs and activities and choose from a wide variety of electives to improve their academic program and pursue their interests. Parents can further personalize a teen’s education by incorporating real-world, hands-on activities like community service, scouting, and fine or performing arts into the learning day.
Safe Learning Environment
Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar schools, an online school provides parents with the ability to control their students’ learning environment. Parents can make sure that their student is learning in a safe, secure atmosphere that is free from the peer pressure and bullying that is sometimes found in a traditional classroom setting. Additionally, learning at home may offer fewer distractions than in a traditional classroom setting, allowing learners to focus more easily and get the most out of their time.
In addition to all of these advantages, many satisfied online school families tell us that educating their teenagers at home can be extremely rewarding. Parents enjoy witnessing that “aha!” moment when learners solve a problem or understand a new concept. They also tell us that learning together assists them to grow closer as a family.
Seriousness and Motivation
In case you are enrolled in an online high school, then you will have to be conscious and self-focused every time. Because there is no real-time presence, you will have to dedicate at least two hours from your day to be on time. Self-motivation implies that you will have to be focused on your academics. If you have to attain success in online learning, discipline is one of the core requisites, particularly when you are in high school. You can communicate with other learners on chat forums and learn collectively. This will result in a healthy competition between the learners and would keep you glued to your books. To remain on track always, you must finish your coursework on time.
The Blending Learning Model
Learning models in both the system of learning are largely different. Both traditional and online learning have their own benefits and disadvantages too. For example, in online learning, the teachers interact with the learners, not more than once or twice, allocate assignments, outline the guidelines and the learner himself has to then complete the assignment moreover himself only. Hence, it gives him some time, and he can schedule his working hours and approach the work himself, which provides him with the liberty to grow and nourish in his work.
In a brick-and-mortar school, the educators are designed by the educators; the students are guided and backed by these educators who help them achieve or complete the tasks. Particularly for a weaker lot, completing the assignment in the class would be easier than doing the same work alone or online.
Why is online learning better during Covid-19?
With more online, on-demand learning taking place these days than ever before, one might ask why would I want to take a stand-alone course (Covid-19)? Regarding the widespread use of MOOCs and other forms (OER) of Distance Learning Opportunities, there are some advantages to actually attending a physical classroom setting for short periods.
The concept of “socialization” brings new meaning when you have the opportunity to be immersed in an environment where you are surrounded by like-minded learners with shared interests from various educational backgrounds.
Socialization also encompasses networking with others who are perhaps connected via professional associations or social media now but may be able to provide support later on if you choose the same profession. To further a point made earlier about community, let’s consider for a moment how easy it could be for someone to go through an online course that consists of hundreds or even thousands of students without ever changing anything beyond e-mail correspondence with anyone else involved outside the instructor and his/her team. With this scenario in mind students would assert that it could be just as easy for a person to go through the entire experience without ever having an actual conversation (not even via text) with another real-life human being.
For some people, this might not be such a big deal, but for those of us who look forward to the idea of meeting new people while learning a subject that interests us, there are benefits to be realized by participating in face-to-face classes, online, or otherwise. The more you engage with others in other places doing the same thing they do, the more incentive they have to complete the work and excel on their own…and going back to what was said earlier about “community”, if you just sit around on your own thinking about how great it would be to learn something new, you’re going to end up just talking about…not doing it.
There’s a difference between speaking with other learners and being “social”…the first is more conducive toward the learning process while the second is more likely an opportunity for social networking (which is still good but not necessarily what you want to emphasize if your focus is on self-directed learning).
So, getting back to online vs in-person learning, there are certain advantages that come along with taking time out of a busy schedule and sitting down alongside others who are interested in improving themselves by engaging in face-to-face sessions that can lead to meaningful relationships built on mutual respect. These relationships can last longer than future classrooms or conferences will because the lessons learned in a virtual environment are bound to stay with you.
If you’re looking to make decisions that will positively impact your future, I hope this helps point out some of the potential benefits of taking online classes during Covid-19, but don’t just take my word for it, give it a shot!
Final Decision
The decision of resting with a final answer rests with a learner. Online learning is a shining glorious chance for those who can study in an online environment. It provides flexibility, is comparatively low in terms of cost in comparison to the traditional system of education, enables students to learn at their own speed, and the benefits go on endlessly. If you have some disciplinary issues, then you should choose the traditional schooling system. Otherwise, online learning offers much more than one can expect from it.
High School of America – The Top Online Learning School
High School of America is an online high school based in the United States. The school is fully accredited by reliable education agencies and has enrolled thousands of learners from across the globe. As an online high school, it has humongous plus points in its favor. Those learners who could not complete their education have the opportunity of completing it using this platform. But note that High School of America is an online high school education only and not a college or university. It only offers education from kindergarten to grade 12.
The Key Strength of High School of America
- Uses the latest technological methods for teaching at the online education platform.
- Offers a complete curriculum that adheres to the standard levels.
- Parents are welcomed throughout.
- Cares and pays attention to the requirements of the learners
- A highly developed and successful advisor system network
- The learners display high academic performance.
- A comprehensive and mature staff