Comparing Accredited Online Colleges to Traditional Colleges

If one gets to be familiarized with accredited online colleges, one could not help to compare this to traditional colleges. What’s the difference between the two? Which one’s better? Which one is advantageous and disadvantageous? Would it affect the learning scheme of the student?

The differences between accredited online colleges and traditional colleges are abounding. The difference between both environments is the most obvious of all. Online colleges takes the student in his/her own personal space, anywhere he/she may opt to log-on the internet. Traditional colleges however have the traditional classroom-teacher setting. Next would be the style of lecture. While most online colleges tend to give out written instructions that students will follow, traditional colleges tend to have discussions and lectures that encourage teacher-student interaction.

To determine which medium is better could be debated until eternity. Educators argue that online colleges may not equal the kind of learning traditional colleges offer. However, experts and scientists would choose to refute this claim. Experts say that every person has different kinds of learning styles: style which determines how well a person can learn something. Some may learn quickly by teaching themselves (reading assignments in online colleges) while some students learn by listening and interacting with the instructor physically (discussions in the class). Though the educational experience of the traditional college is way much better than online colleges, the learning of the student is a major factor to determine which is better; but it depends from student to student.

The advantages of online colleges over traditional colleges are obvious: online colleges encourage students to learn in the comforts of their own homes; online colleges can benefit students who cannot go to school due to a physical defect or due to the nature of the residence of the student. Disadvantages however include: missing out on teacher-student-classmate interaction; the heightened learning environment encouraged by the presence of people; and of course, the lessened temptation of slacking off in class.

Whatever the difference between accredited online colleges and traditional colleges has, it always ends up with the personal preference of the student.