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Online Vs Traditional Classrooms
Online Vs Traditional Classrooms
AbstractThe development of IT technology and the internet And there is no concern about your appearance, gender, age,
is important for the development of education technology. race, job or any barrier which may block real life
Virtual classroom is prevailing now. I analyzed carefully the communication [3].
differences between virtual classroom and the traditional Secondly, the educational theory is developing too. The
classroom. The result is that traditional classroom is more educators come to an agreement that the traditional
suitable for our education and the virtual classroom is a proper classroom is not good because it is teacher-centered and it
complementarity. It is not reasonable to replace the traditional should be learner-centered. Only in this way, the learners can
classroom with the virtual classroom. develop fully and healthily [4]. The internet is just good
Keywords- traditional classroom; virtual classroom;
enough to provide the opportunity for the learners to get to
differences; replacement the center of learning. They can learn through the internet
according to their own plan which is based on their own
I. INTRODUCTION ability with the guidance of the instructors.
Virtual classroom refers to courses offered via the Thirdly, the virtual classroom is effective to ensure
internet. It is a teaching and learning environment located education equality, especially for those who are poor, or live
within a computer mediated communication system. It in a remote area, or do not have regular time to attend school
consists of a set of group communication and work spaces education. If they have access to the internet, the virtual
and facilities that can surpass that of the traditional classroom will provide them with the best teachers and the
classroom, a process in which students and instructors are same courses with other learners. Thus, education equality is
actively involved in creating and carrying out learning ensured.
activities together like group discussion, joint projects, and Thus, this newly adopted method seems to solve a lot of
debates, sharing of solutions to homework problems by problems which are almost impossible to be solved, at least
emails, bulletin boards, chat rooms and conferences. The in the near future it seems so, in the traditional classroom.
development of IT technology and the internet is the basis of All these are right. But we should never forget our real
virtual classroom [1]. Thus the virtual classroom possesses situation.
some of the characteristics of the internet which is what the III. THE ADVANTAGES OF VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
traditional classroom does not have. For example, there is no
limit of time, place, distance, and it is more convenient for The virtual classroom does have its own merits over the
both the students and the teachers to get more information traditional classroom. The following is the well accepted
from the internet [2]. It seems that this is hope for both advantages of virtual classroom
teachers and learners to overcome all the problems existing A. A good way to develop students self-learning ability.
in the traditional cleanroom and many people even are trying
to use as much as virtual technology as possible in the real The students in virtual classroom have to learn how to
campus. They ignore the differences between virtual begin their learning, how fast they can go, how to solve some
classroom and the traditional classroom. it also has its of the problems by themselves. These are really helpful to
weaknesses which make it impossible to replace the develop their learning ability. And the students become the
traditional classroom education, especially in traditional main body of learning process. They can learn faster if they
college. And for some people, they really should think about can. It is good for individual development. And if they foster
the reason why they use this technology. the self-learning ability in the virtual classroom, they will
benefit from it for all their life.
II. THE BEGINNING OF VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
B. It encourages inquiry learning.
The prototype of of virtual classroom is the computer Inquiry learning refers to the learning process through
conference. It was first adopted in certain fields in order to which the students learn knowledge by exploring the
communicate and avoid the long journey. Then its question. This learning method focuses on the students
application extends rapidly. automatic choice of projects, self-exploration and free
Firstly, the internet provides an interaction between creation. In the virtual classroom, the students choose their
human and the virtual world. People can decide what they own questions. Then collect data and try to solve the
want to do and what they want to say. They can find out problem all by them. They learn a lot during this process and
almost all kinds of information they need on the internet.
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activities; they could afford the tuitions. Then, we say believe apply virtual courses to the traditional classroom is
students should take some virtual courses for their own sake. also practical. And there are evidence to show that American
I really do not see there is the necessity to do so. regular students also attend virtual courses. Thus educators
Thirdly, the virtual classroom is more demanding for should think more about what kind of courses are suitable for
both the teachers and the learners. Teacher must learn their virtual learning and what courses are better taught in
specialty well. At the same time, they must know how to use traditional classroom. The materials and curriculum and
the software. They have to arrange time for virtual textbook for virtual courses should be specially designed too.
conference, answer students questions, design interesting
materials, and evaluate the students without actually seeing REFERENCES
them. The student attending the virtual classroom must get [1] A. E. Weiss, Virtual reality. Twenty-first Century Books. 1996.
on the internet. As we all know, there are more interesting [2] W. Xinhua. Teaching and learning in the virtual classroom . Foreign
things on the internet than the course work. They must language education. 2006. Pp258-262.
control them. If they can make good use of the searching [3] W. Heyuan, on instructional characeristics and methods in the birtual
engines, it seems possible that all the questions they need to class. Modern college education. 2003, vol3. Pp 85-87
answer may be simply done by searching the internet for the [4] L. Quyuan. Teaching theory and methods in higher education.
Changcha: Hunan education press. 1990, pp,132-133.
answers. Do do not collect materials. They do not do
research, they search for the answers. That is obviously [5] M. Zhiguo. An analysis of the origin of virtual education. Journal of
Liaoning teachers university. 2006. Vol29 pp 60-63
easier than doing research. There are correct information and
[6] Z. Lixin. Two worlds, two classrooms. China educational technology .
wrong information. They may be misled. 2009, Pp 7-9
Finally, the teachers demonstration is too important to [7] H. Xiaowen, Reflections on the virtual classroom. Journal of Ningbo
be dismissed. In the traditional classroom, the teachers and TV college. 2008.Pp 85-87.
the students can interact. Students can learn a lot from [8] L. Zhidong, Teaching theories and strategies of virtual classroom.
teachers expressions, smile, or gesture [8]. The teachers also Jignsu educational research. 2011. Pp 53-54
can alter their strategies according to the reaction of the
students. For the virtual classroom, this is almost impossible.
Thus, their education is not complete. A smile may be a
great encourage for students. The students attending the
virtual classroom will mainly focus on their own thoughts
and the questions theyre dealing with. There is less
interaction with others. Thus, if the students focus on virtual
classroom or the internet too much, they will lose their
ability to deal with real people in reality. That is the biggest
side effect of virtual classroom. In addition, there are more
interesting materials on the internet. Students may be
distracted by that information. If the students lack the ability
to tell the fake information from the true information, they
are easy to be misled.
VI. CONCLUSION
All in all, the traditional classroom should still be the
main force of education today. The virtual classroom is a
good complementarity of the traditional classroom. It at least
provides some people with the opportunity to education.
Thus, I believe the combination of the two methods will be
better suiting our education.
However, there are still problems waiting to be solved,
such as the proportion of the virtual classroom and the
traditional problem. Educators should employ different
methods for different students. But, the virtual classroom
really and some advantages which overcomes some of the
traditional classroom disadvantages. Thus, some educators
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