Is it better to take a course online or in a traditional classroom setting? Photo by Laura Le.By Olivia Krueger & Bethany Pham, Staff Writers
Many people usually have solid opinions about online classes; they are either against it or for it. As the school year wraps up, students are faced with last-minute questions about their class requests for the following school year. Now that there are more online classes being made available for students, they find that they are asking themselves whether or not they want to take an online class.
At Fountain Valley High School (FVHS), students taking online classes normally have classwork assigned to them through Canvas and complete them independently in classes maxing out at 37 students. Students meet with the instructor once a week.
In some cases, students may be opposed to online classes for a variety of reasons.
The most noticeable difference between an online class and a traditional classroom setting is the complete absence of student interaction. There’s no easy way to get immediate help from an instructor or a classmate, and that may provide a change too dramatic for some students to adapt to. Thus, understanding class material may become more difficult and stress-inducing for students.
Moreover, students are completely dependent on themselves for motivation and drive since the interactions between teachers and students are very infrequent. Students susceptible to procrastination can end up digging their own graves and burying themselves in homework, projects and other tasks they’ve tossed aside.
Next, students may ultimately spend more time completing an online course than a normal course. It’s important to consider the time it takes for a student to read and learn the material by him or herself and the time it takes for a teacher to communicate those same ideas to the student while also clarifying where it’s needed. This may not translate to a class eating up more days in the year but perhaps more hours in the day.
Contrastly, students may be inclined to attend online classes for other reasons.
A main reason students choose an online class is a shorter school day. While they still have to complete the course at home, leaving school at fifth instead of sixth or fourth instead of fifth can decrease stress levels and create more time in the day to do activities and extracurriculars outside of school. For some, online classes open the door for new and great opportunities in becoming happier and more proficient in areas outside of academics.
Furthermore, the absence of human interaction that comes along online classes can help students establish and implement their own style of learning for the subject. A teacher commonly uses one style of teaching, but said style may not appeal to every student. Therefore, if the students are able to pave their own path in learning, they can grow more productive as well as learn more about themselves and what helps them understand.
Lastly, by taking online classes, students prepare themselves for the college experience, which often consist of at least a few online classes. In these circumstances, students need to be able to time-manage and work efficiently as well, skills that are arguably applicable in all lines of schooling and work. Taking online classes can very well help students ready themselves for the future.
FVHS offers a wide array of online classes. This 2017-2018 school year, they will offer online classes for health, U.S. history, English 3, Pre-Calculus, Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) and Physical Education (PE).
