Overall, Which is better, Online or Face Learning
The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.
After 2 votes and with 8 points ahead, the winner is...
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- Multiple criterions
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- Open
E-Learning : learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the internet.
Face-to-face learning: is an instructional method where course content and learning material are taught in person to a group of students
Anyone's free to join, any queries about definitions and specifics are free to ask in the comments.
PRO: Face-To-Face
CON: E-Learning
ONLINE DISTRACTIONS
When students must spend a lot of time online to do their schoolwork, they may be easily distracted by other things online. Everyone has fallen into a rabbit hole online, looking at more and more pages to answer questions and learn more about something. This can be one of the biggest distractions. A student may keep several windows open so that he can check email and chat with friends while the class may be in session. It takes work and discipline to focus solely on schoolwork.
NO DAILY STRUCTURE
For students used to attending school in person, having a lack of structure for each day can be difficult to get used to. At in-person school, there is a strict structure for every day. The whole day is planned before the students walk in. Students get into routines and get used to the way each day flows. At home, there is rarely that kind of structure for the day. Students may interpret that lack of structure to mean that they don't have to do anything. Some kids excel without this structure, but many need to have an even stricter structure to their day for them to be able to focus.
- ATTENTION PROBLEMS
- TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
- CHEATING
For students used to attending school in person, having a lack of structure for each day can be difficult to get used to. At in-person school, there is a strict structure for every day.
Even if Online Learning allows some students to develop independence, the majority of students are unable to complete and keep track of time while online.
Your 4th Contention is false. Students are pressured to complete their work faster, making students stressed and wanting to keep up, interfering with their social life.
E-Learning does increase retention rates, but cancels it out with online distractions and problems which interfere with learning.
Online, cheating isn't prevented, as a teacher 50 kilometers away can't stop a student from googling and copying answers. While the teacher might be able to catch some, ultimately, they can't stop them all.
"If you don't have a laptop/device, you're getting bad grades."
- A mode of transport
- Fuel for the mode of transport x 360 (approximate days one attend physical school [180] times 2 [because you make two trips a day])
- Miscellaneous items (stationary, uniform, bag)
- Time
Just because something is difficult to get used to, this does not mean that we should ignore the multitude of benefits which it provides
Which is why they should learn how to do so within a school environment, instead of getting told this one your first day at work.
My opponent ignores the Brandon Hall report on eLearning which shows that students spend 40-60% less time to learn the same content. The statement that "students are pressured to complete their work faster" is only applicable to face-to-face school where you are forced to learn the content on the spot, and where there is no "rewinding" so to speak.
I have shown that there are no "online distractions" which exclusively effect online learning. In fact, students are clearly more concentrated, if they are able to learn information 40-60 times quicker than when in the classroom.
- My opponent concedes my first contention
- My opponent concedes my second contention
Which is why they should learn how to do so within a school environment, instead of getting told this one your first day at work.Independence is earned either way.
Face-to-Face helps you keep track of assignments
My opponent ignores the Brandon Hall report on eLearning which shows that students spend 40-60% less time to learn the same content. The statement that "students are pressured to complete their work faster" is only applicable to face-to-face school where you are forced to learn the content on the spot, and where there is no "rewinding" so to speak.The "rewinding" you speak of can be easily abused, allowing students to ignore lessons and just complete it. Face-to-Face implores you to pay attention, in a sort of "pay attention or you fail" regime.
I have shown that there are no "online distractions" which exclusively effect online learning. In fact, students are clearly more concentrated, if they are able to learn information 40-60 times quicker than when in the classroom.Again, personal experience, I know students who watch anime in class, read comics, and watch videos.
Again, a study doesn't uncover everything. You can't provide a decent basis off a singular study.
Laptops, before Covid were definitely NOT part of a school curriculum, so many people are going to be unprepared for the sudden demand for devices. Call ME naïve, but my school (British Curriculum) did not ask for use of devices for school. Seeing as many schools also follow the same curriculum, International Schools: What is a British-based curriculum? - Study International, this leads me to believe that other countries experienced this problem too.
I invite voters to examine the double standard that is being employed here. My opponent asserts that because there is a difficulty in accessing online learning, it is bad. However, consider all the requirements that you need to fulfil in order to get to a physical campus. You'll need
- A mode of transport
- Fuel for the mode of transport x 360 (approximate days one attend physical school [180] times 2 [because you make two trips a day])
- Miscellaneous items (stationary, uniform, bag)
- Time
Now compare this to a notebook (you can get one here for under a hundred dollars). Clearly, it would be much more probable for a student to say "I can't all the running costs of physical school", then for them to say "I can't afford a notebook". Moreover, consider the most of the costs involved in actually going to school are running costs, in that they need paying everyday. Compare this to a laptop, where a good one can be used for years.
Not all countries are the same. A similarity in your studies is that they are based in a developed country. What about undeveloped countries? If you took a study into one of those, I'm willing to bet there's a big difference.
This one's pretty straightforward. Pro's arguments largely lean on what I would call probable harms, i.e. these things could happen and there may even be logical reasons why they would happen, but none of Pro's arguments function based on actual harm done as a result of online teaching. And this problem pervades his argument, which relies on only anecdotal instances where some unknown individual's experience is presumably harmed, a circumstance that I as a judge can never verify or validate.
Meanwhile, Con's case is built on the actual benefits of online learning. Particularly his points about how this leads to better transitions to the working world via a greater degree of independence in learning and his points about better capacities for absorbing information stand out to me, especially as the latter was wholly dropped by Pro. Con also presents a lot of sources including studies, and while Pro does argue that these are too narrow, he offers no other studies that demonstrate broader effects that contrast with Con's sources. You can't beat Con's sources without offering both a competing narrative and compelling evidence that your narrative is correct.
This all leads me to vote Con. Much as I do think his sources were better, I'll abstain from awarding those points as well, since Pro did provide relevant sources, even if they were fewer and not very compelling (largely restricting his quotes to more elucidation on probable harms rather than actual harms).
Sources: PRO hardly used sources as all, and when he did, it was not to back up any claim of his. On the other hand, CON's entire argument relied on facts, and he provided a lot of studies and articles to back it up. Therefore, CON wins this point.
Arguments: PRO's arguments were all connected to some form of personal experience or personal opinion. This showed throughout the debate, as he never provided any facts to back them up. Sure, attention problems and cheating might be issues, but he never showed to which extent or how much this matters. CON, on the other hand, argued that e-learning had some objective benefits. He showed why e-learning is a more effective form of learning, by providing evidence it was less time-consuming and taught one critical skill that would come in handy later in life, making it a more effective learning method overall.
I think PRO had access to a few harder-hitting arguments, such as social life being hindered by e-learning, or that e-learning prevents one from working in groups to develop teamwork skills --- both of these arguments could have an extensive impact since the effects of e-learning's isolation is not known to be safe. PRO did not use these stronger arguments, which meant his case was a lot weaker than it could have been. CON utilized the full force of arguments for e-learning, and I can't think of any major benefit of e-learning that wasn't brought up by him.
Thanks for the vote.
Thank you for the vote.
Cool debate, I enjoyed reading it.
I would appreciate it if any of you guys (or anyone else) could get a vote in (this is really quite a short debate). All good if you're too busy.
Two weeks till voting ends.
Year 6 was also when I started using technology at school, so that seems to be the norm.
I'm 12. I'm still in 6th grade. It seems off that I haven't used technology until now because I've just started being in the same grade where it's mandatory/encouraged.
Do voters find me overconfident?
No problemo, I'll get back to you asap.
Another note, you may not respond to R3 rebuttals in R3.
Returned the Returned Favor.
NOTE: I made a mistake with the rebuttals. I did not answer Contention 1. Sorry for the mistake
Returned the favour.
You're welcome, :)
thx, that was quick.
Good Luck, expect an argument by the 2:00 GMT+4
Good luck, I'm very new with this topic and know literally nothing about the PRO's and CON's side of things.
Updated
Oh, sorry. Forgot to add that
Which side are you?