Although students could learn online before 2020, the pandemic made it an essential need around the world. In fact, many schools that hadn’t explored remote learning switched to this mode because of the lockdown. Whether students liked it or not, they had to study from their homes through laptops, phones, and other devices. Even though it had been a long time since online learning is here to stay. There is a lot of debate about whether students should take traditional classes or study online.
While many students love remote learning, others say: ‘I wish someone else would take classes for me’. Changes can be difficult, and even though online learning has many benefits, it has its fair share of drawbacks. It isn’t just teachers who are finding it difficult to adjust to this change, there are many students in this category too. You must be wondering by now whether the majority of students support online learning or is against it. So let’s find out how many students prefer online learning using the latest 2022 statistics!
What Stats Say:
When talking about any kind of debate, you can’t rely on the opinion of those few people around you. Using stats is a great way to gather data and accurately measure what people have to say. Hence, many surveys on students’ opinions on this topic have been conducted since 2020.
If you are one of the students who do not support online learning, you fall into the majority. One survey suggests that only 37% of students feel that online learning is better than on-campus lectures. Hence, a little more than a quarter percentage of students think online learning is better.
When talking about university students, in particular, around 42% of graduate students prefer online learning. Meanwhile, only 30% of undergraduate students think online learning is better than traditional learning. This shows how the opinions of students change as we move higher up the classes.
The numbers above point toward the fact that more than half of the students prefer on-campus learning. However, this does not mean that online learning is less effective than traditional learning. In fact, a survey of college and university students reveals that 48% of them think online learning is effective. Moreover, studies reveal that students can remember 25% to 60% of the information in online learning and 8% to 10% in classrooms. This only goes to prove that online learning is as good or even better than traditional classroom learning.
Although the question still remains, why do students prefer on-campus learning if online learning is as effective? It’s clear that students don’t miss going to school because they feel they could learn better there. However, there are other reasons why students could be missing their on-campus classes. Here are a few of them.
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Networking And Friendships:
In-person classes mean you’re there on-campus physically, this creates a sense of community. Of course, online learning does not give you the privilege to make personal connections with like-minded peers. Hence you’d have nobody to bond with, as most students rarely talk to each other during and after online classes. Contrarily, making connections in real life feels natural and it is undeniably easier to reach out to people. It’s easier to participate in discussions during In-person classes as it allows you to bounce ideas off of one another.
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Sense Of Motivation:
Watching other students around you being productive makes you want to be productive as well. When you see study spaces, libraries, and busy classrooms, you get a sense of motivation to complete your work too. Moreover, when you watch other students, you realize that you’re not the only one struggling. Hence, you’d have a reason to give your best when you see other students doing the same. Finally, the option of staying after class to resolve your queries with the professor is a huge plus point.
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Staying Focused:
It is much harder to focus without in-person interactions with your professors and classmates. Consequently, many students avoid asking questions during online classes because they’re absent-minded. Even though application designers are working hard to make online learning tools engaging, it still hasn’t reached the level of in-person interactions. In classrooms, you’d have your teacher demanding you to focus in case you dose off. However, when you’re studying at home through your laptop, your teacher wouldn’t be able to find out and nudge you. Finally, studying in groups also helps you remain focused and interested in the topic of the class.
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More Resources And Facilities
From labs to sports facilities and places you can work on your projects, you’ll find it all at your school. Moreover, colleges and schools offer you tutoring programs and homework help which you won’t get at home. On the contrary, when you’re studying online, you’ll have to arrange your own device for taking classes. Moreover, you have to ensure that you have great internet connections and a pair of headphones. Arranging your own facilities as a student can be hard and this is what many students complain about.
Conclusion:
While many people enjoy the benefits of online learning, others complain about the downsides. There is a lot of debate about whether classes should be held in person or online. The surveys suggest that more than half the students think they’d prefer to take classes in-person like in the old days. In fact, many students reach out to online experts to take classes for me because they feel interested in online classes. Let’s face it, online learning may offer many benefits but there’s still time before we get used to it.
