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Online Education versus Traditional Education Com 155 Online Education versus Traditional Education Both the traditional and the online education have their own advantages and disadvantages. While traditional education having a real world interaction with others provides better way of learning, online education is more flexible than the traditional classroom environment. The Illinois University in the United States first started online education in 1974. The traditional education is much older than the online education and is still the dominating type in most of the developing as well as developed countries. The idea of online education started with a single motive of providing education to fulfill the student’s convenience. Although both type of educations serve the same purpose of providing education to the individuals but the method followed in each vary. The different aspects of these educations will be compared in the following paragraphs. Some of the major procedures that are followed in the traditional environment versus online are different. For the registration process, in most of the educational institutes providing online education, the student will have telephone contact with an enrollment advisor. When the course of study is decided, and the program is placed in the system, the student will start his or hers online education with creating a profile and introduce himself or herself to fellow classmates as well the instructor. This is not the case with traditional education. Once the registration process is completed, the student receives a schedule with information regarding class locations and the hours of the class. The process is completed when the student starts a study program in a classroom with his or her instructor and peers. In traditional education, for submission of homework assignments, a person needs to do hard copy work and manually go to submit it to the instructor whereas in online education, the homework assignments are done as a soft copy and can be directly uploaded to the school’s website online. For taking examinations, in traditional education, the student has to go to the university campus and do the test in written form while in online education; the examinations can be taken from anywhere, homes, offices, etc. While this way of doing tests or examinations are convenient, there is the possibility the student could be encouraged to cheat from online sources which leads to plagiarism and possible expulsion from college. Online education is cheaper than the traditional education. If a person wants to receive a degree online, he or she will also be saving the costs liked with travel, accommodation, food, and books. Since the study material is provided online, it is less expensive than the hard copies of textbooks. Several research firms have statistics to show the increasing acceptance of online degrees (Education on Paper, 2011). University leaders and employers now recognize the legitimacy of online education, and many of them consider them on an equal footing with traditional degrees. There always has been a large-scale acceptance of online degrees because of the perceived betterment in the nature of education given via these programs. Moreover, many Universities realized the growing need and the desire to expand revenues, have begun offering online programs. This has become a necessity for smaller colleges experiencing a declining enrollment. The cost for pursuing traditional education is quite high. Rising college costs are an issue, and will be for a long time to come. Because of the recent economic factors, the high fees for school programs to pursue a classroom-based education discourage many people. According to some professors (Harris, 2006), there are some programs, which are comparatively less preferred in online degree schools. Traditional education is recommended for disciplines such as engineering or medical training. The programs that need long practice and training, or require many hours of lab work are best suited under traditional education. The level of education provided by the traditional learning programs is very high. Teachers are trained and expertly designed programs, lead to high quality of these educational institutions. However, the online degrees have the same content as the campus degrees in an increasing trend. One of the major innovations of online education is the flexible nature it fosters; it has facilitated higher education to a large section of people who cannot attend the schools for various reasons. In addition, online students are not restricted by any geographical constraints. They have the choice to enroll in any school of their preference because they are free to take the online program from any place. Moreover, the lectures can be viewed at anytime and anywhere that has an Internet connection. This is a convenience for students limited with time. The examinations or evaluations are easily completed when the students have time to do them. This also affords the student flexibility so he or she is better prepared before doing them. Traditional education, on the other hand, is still working in a rigid boundary. Ranging from accommodations to the rigid schedules, everything should fall into place if the student wants to join classroom courses. This means that if the student wants to pursue traditional education, he or she will have to follow a strict schedule to attend the required lectures and remain on the campus to take the examinations. Based on the pros and cons of both, a perspective student may now be able to make a choice between the two options to suit him or herself. To summarize, both types of education have the basic motive of educating a student and providing his or hers degree after the educational program has ended. The traditional education will be providing a more structured learning environment while the online education is introducing flexibility in a less strict environment. Both types of degrees are almost the same; however, nowadays some companies are giving more preference to the online degrees than the traditional degrees to match the growing markets. When a student has time to attend regular classes, take scheduled examinations, and does not worry about the cost of the higher education, he or she can go for the traditional education. However, if the student is busy with his or her job or business, and does not receive much time to attend regular classes, he or she can opt for online education, which is more flexible than the traditional one and provides more relaxed schedule. References Carron, J. (2006, December). Online Learning vs. The Traditional College. Retrieved from http:///www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/cjack.htm Education on Paper. (2011, May). Online Education Vs Traditional Education. Retrieved from http://andreaweckerlecopywriting.com/online-education-vs-traditional-education-3/ Harris, J. (2006, July). Difference between Online Education VS. Traditional Education. Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/difference-between-online-education-vs-traditional-education-41157.html