Traditional classroom lectures commands more attention: Kabila, TSM

These are first-hand student accounts on how our young population is managing to keep their exam prep or college course work going from the confines of their homes. In case you want to share your lockdown study experience, write to us at publish@shiksha.com.

The online class gives you the comfort of attending a lecture from home without the gruesome travel on hectic crowded roads. Online classes save a lot of time compared to the brick to mortar class, in a way I can tend to have a lot more sleep for the same 8 am lecture. With online classes, you choose your learning environment that works best for your needs: be it your bed (advantages of online lectures: P), your study room, or your kitchen, listening to your Professor’s lecture podcast as you chop on the tomatoes and onion. But, I believe in the traditional classroom learning environment (yes, I am an old school and I am proud of that).

With online classes, one misses the group experience that the brick and mortar classes offer. I have always loved watching a movie with my friends/family (a group of people) rather than watching it alone. Moreover, traditional classroom lectures command attention in a way that watching lecture videos would not. I feel one can be constantly disturbed by the pinging sound of a notification from your phone, roommates ranting, food calling from the refrigerator, etc. I can't help than procrastinate the lectures to a later more peaceful time during the night (Thanks to this quarantine, I have successfully screwed up my sleep cycle).

The other issue with an online lecture being, the professors can’t gauge the student's understanding of the lecture, as they barely see the students face (the videos are usually off on the student's side) and carry on with the lectures. In a traditional one, the professor can pace his lecture, if he feels the students are not able to follow his material. 

The online lectures have their share of advantages other than being flexible, the advantage of self-pacing.

In a brick and mortar classroom environment, the students have to take notes while listening to the lectures, which can lead to missing a few key points of the lecture. In an online classroom, one can pause the lecture- if the topic of discussion is unclear and can read about that topic on the internet, rewind the lectures to take notes - the whiteboard is never erased. This ability to self-pace is a huge advantage to the students.

Moreover, with recorded lectures, the students have access to the lectures an ‘n’ number of times. This is particularly necessary at the time of revision when getting ready for an assessment. In the traditional brick and mortar classroom learning, if the students cannot attend the lecture, the onus is on them to prepare that topic on their own.

The coronavirus crisis has forced people around the world to spend more time at home with their families. Apart from spending time with my ever supporting family, I spend my leisure time keeping myself updated with the courses (finance and marketing) from online providers such as Coursera, EDX, etc.,

I wouldn’t have this luxury of time to take these courses if not for this Quarantine.

With exams being postponed, the focus is on learning and understanding the concepts in depth rather than the surface level knowledge acquired from the lectures, which is never possible with the exams around the corner. I spend most of the time on the internet, trying to dig deeper into the topics of my interest.  Like all Indian parents, mine is also worried about my constant viewing of the screen. This is a new shift to the masses of our people and will take some time to sink in. Till then, let us stay home, stay safe and Happy Quarantine!

About the Author:

Kabila is an engineering graduate, pursuing her MBA from Thiagarajar School of Management. Albeit with a work experience of 2 years in her profession, she has always been passionate about being a Tamil orator and has presented various fiery speeches in Media, Institutions and Election campaigns.