The future of education and learning can be called something Blended learning, which is actually a combination of online and face-to-face methods. But the question is what is online learning?
In the past two years, due to the Corona epidemic and the closures that followed, not only the importance of interpersonal relationships, but even the necessity of face-to-face education has been emphasized. In no period of history have we seen this amount of change in such a short period of time in teaching methods. Weak internet, difficult access to technology, and inappropriate and impossible personal exchanges made the transfer of knowledge and teaching much more difficult.
For the world’s top universities, face-to-face training is one of the most important issues that is taken into consideration. However, digital education also brings unexpected benefits and opportunities. Study and teaching commission Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie (German Psychological Association or DGPs) in a report for Psychologische Rundschauhas made statements about this.
In this article, Dr. Ann Gartner of the Technical University of Dresden explains that digital education offers students as well as professors unprecedented new opportunities and brings to life a completely new form of teaching and learning.
He adds:
On the one hand, flexibility in terms of time and space in any work is one of the biggest advantages of digital education, because not only time but also money can be saved. For example, traveling or transferring professors from one place to another is no longer a requirement; Rather, professors have more independence and can decide for themselves how to manage their time and organize their seminars. In addition, recorded training materials can be reused.
Students also feel the same; Digital learning allows them to learn at their own pace and repeat recorded lectures as often as needed.
However, Dr. Gartner says:
Face-to-face training and digital formats should not be pitted against each other. Digital education should be considered as a complementary tool to further improve the quality of teaching, and the importance of face-to-face education should not be forgotten.
Because even if online learning brings more benefits than initially expected, the lack of communication between professors and students creates many gaps that cannot be filled online. For example, one of its obvious disadvantages is the need forStable internet connection And Technical equipment Necessary Is.
Since digital education and its technical implementation were still unknown to many, it caused a group of people to increase their workload, especially in the early days.
In addition, one of its main disadvantages is undoubtedly the difficulty in maintaining order, concentration and motivation in front of the computer alone for a long period. Especially for students, this requires more discipline and organization than face-to-face courses.
For Dr. Gartner, the biggest drawback was not knowing if he could actually reach his students in his online courses. He says:
However, it turns out that my online seminars and lectures have been well attended so far, and we see interaction and exchange of ideas in each of them. One of the things that made me very happy was winning an award for the way I teach.
But I still hope to sit in a room with my students and participate in group discussions and exciting experiments in the lab.
Dr. Gartner is also convinced that blended learning (a combination of classroom and digital learning) can be a promising way of teaching and learning in the future. For example, in face-to-face education, the focus is more on interaction and exchange, while in online education and learning, you can work on the material individually.
In the future, more people will want to learn and study online, because everyone now has the opportunity to continue their education anytime and anywhere, be it on the road, in the waiting room, on the train or at home.
what is your opinion? Which method has been better and more effective in your experiences? Share your comments with us below this post!