Solis 1

Hector Solis

Professor Almendarez

English 114B

14 April 2017

Blended Education

Online education is becoming a dominant figure in both public and private educational

institutions in the way of learning. These institutions see blended education as an asset towards

their overall goal of educating students to their utmost potential. Online education is a low-cost,

reliable alternative resource for both students and teachers alike in completing and teaching

education, But with such a tool becoming so reliable, students and educators are becoming

dependent on technology. Schools are implementing online courses to replace teachers for the

sake of trying to save money or to improve the students education. Online courses lowers

monetary expenses, provides resources for teachers to lessen the stress of teaching and

assignments are much more flexible and lenient for students. All these reasons help both students

and teachers improve the atmosphere of understanding of a concept or lesson. Yet, online

education does not take to account the psychological approach, the way the human mind and

body are used. With traditional education or face-to-face education, students get to interact with

other students or have hands-on experience with a certain lesson or concept. The emotional

aspect of learning is taken away from online education. Students need human interaction, need

the attention of other people because it is part of human nature that desires attention. Although

online education can be a technological advancement in learning, it should only be used as a tool

to enhance a lesson. These students should collaborate cohesively with educators, not with

technology.
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The time between adolescence to becoming a young adult is the most vulnerable because

of the overwhelming, sudden emerges of emotions, pressure, expectation of other people and the

reality hitting them all at once. The sense of feeling lonesome or the feeling of isolation is most

apparent during teenage years and the beginning of adulthood even though, adolescence is much

easier time to make social connections and interact with others in their peer group. But with the

emerges of distance education (online education), the lost of communication and socializing

among K-12 students is becoming more apparent as technology advances. Students physically

being in school for traditional classes helps the transition from adolescence to early adulthood,

highly valuing the attraction of both to close friendships and to romantic relationships

(Matthew et. al. 340). Distance education negatively affects students in developing friendships,

the need and desire of having social interaction with others. Adolescents are most exposed to the

feeling of being alone because of the lack of socializing with others. The desire of attention and

the fear of having no emotional support can devastate the well-being and health of a person.

Matthew et. al. perfectly states the consequences of isolation and loneliness towards your

physical and mental health: individuals are inclined to be less trusting, feeling vulnerable, being

more anxious and pessimistic, to perceive others around them more negatively and to approach

social interactions in a defensive, hostile manner (345). Distance education not only distances

the classroom from students but distance students from interconnecting with the world of

socializing with other human beings. As this world progresses into a more futuristic world,

society has lost sight of all the simple interactions and communications that once were held so

dear. With online education, educators are barred from supporting their students in making sense

of facts or concepts, leaving students confused and not being able to understand the concept of

communicating. In the scholarly article, Digital Education, Brown states, Teachers do what
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computers technology cant such as being a live person who cares about you (1004).

Cooperating with others gives a positive effect of being socially accepted and having a

conversation face-to-face is much more emotionally interactive, giving a positive vibe of the

environment of the class. Students are more educated in traditional classes because of the

emotions and passion of the educators human touch towards the lesson or concept, something

technology can not compete with.

Furthermore, online education gives K-12 students, especially university/college students

opportunities of working, studying for other difficult classes, or lessening the stress of school in

general. Online education improves the external factors of an everyday life of an average student.

But distance education and traditional education both have a completely different teaching style

which creates two different outcomes of the class grades and attitude of the students. Online

courses and traditional course subjects may teach the same material but the ending results of the

students grade can significantly say otherwise. A study called Assessing the Academic

Performance Between Traditional and Distance Education Courses by Mark G. Urtel found that,

Students enrolled in face-to-face education earned an overall, 3.16/4.00 grade point average

while students who took distance education earned a 2.28/4.00 grade point average (329). The

difference of GPA in both DE and F2F education significantly reveals the different outcomes of

students taking either courses. The lack of interaction between the educators and students shows

that how online learning can negatively impact the students overall understanding of learning. In

this quote, Urtel states lack of engagement by students and indirectly, negatively impacts the

instructor as any suggestion, confirmation, or general comments are not available and hence,

cannot be factored into future planning of the course (329). Although technology can be known

as an asset towards educating students efficiently, technology should only be used to assist the
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educator in teaching a lesson. In todays classroom, educators are [thinking that] technology

will provide the needed engagement and instruction without much consideration of a host of

other instructional variables(qtd. in James et. al. 55). Educators and students alike expect

technology to teach the class, developing a dependency on it. Anyone can learn and gain

knowledge on an online lesson but having an emotional interaction with others will increase the

understanding of the lesson, giving light and passion towards the students. Digital Learning can

be a supportive system to aid teachers and students from the overwhelming loads of work, to

improve the overall class outcomes, but should not be replaced. The human touch and physical

caring of others give students a sense of hope in actually learning something. Online education

not only distances students away from people giving them the feeling of isolation but do not gain

as much information in an online setting compared to face-to-face education.