Digital Or Traditional Education: Which Is More Effective?

Each one of us has experienced both forms of education at some point of time in our lives. Traditional education touched us in the early stages of our lives and came along for a long time. Digital education is something that we got adapted to in the growing world. Thus it’s a considerable debate to choose between these two forms of education as to which is better.

The traditional education model follows classroom-based learning, where teachers and professors teach and students learn. Teachers pass on the skills and knowledge to the physically present students in the classrooms. Students or learners have the opportunity to communicate and interact with their teachers or professors face-to-face. This method of education dates back centuries in gurukuls, temples, and pathshalas.

The other form is digital education. In this model the educational resources are accessed through the internet and students or learners get in touch with mentors or instructors through email, learning portals, and other means of communication to clear their doubts. The model roots back to the 1960s to 1980s. During this time personal computers were very common and educational softwares were developed to ease the process of learning. In the early 1990s and 2000s, online degree courses were designed, and with the help of an Internet connection people were able to access the course. In recent times, digital education has seen rapid growth due to social distancing and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, there was a study conducted on 62 7th-grade students from Kazakhstan where 23 students chose digital classes and the rest 39 students chose the traditional method. Both groups of students were monitored for 5 weeks and tested by teachers with topics covered to check their understanding and applicational ability. The average score of both groups of students were compared statistically but there were no significant differences, but traditional education group students scored more than the digital group.

Another survey was conducted, with 450 students from various colleges and universities across South India in 2021. The result confirmed that digital learning was more effective. The students could learn at their own pace comfortably. PPTs were visible during lectures and there were no disturbances or distractions. Every student could hear the lectures at their own sound requirement. And also had the opportunity to post doubts simultaneously in the discussion forums.

A similar study was conducted in Kashmir among 520 higher education students, to compare digital and traditional methods of education. The results demonstrated that 38.2% of students found a difference in effectiveness between traditional and digital learning. 25% agreed on online learning and 43.1% believed that digital learning saves time. 48.5% of the respondents were of the view that students would be more focused with the use of traditional methods of learning.

In the traditional method of education, students get to learn through face-to-face interaction, can communicate with teachers to clear doubts and have good relationships with peers. In digital learning, students are socially isolated. The traditional method can improve the critical thinking of the student, by engaging them in debates, quizzes, and other activities which is not effectively possible in digital learning.

Digital learning is always dependent on internet access and network and can end up sometimes in technical difficulties. There are no such issues in the traditional learning method. The digital method is very flexible with respect to time constraints, one can access the learning content, whenever they are available. This is not acceptable in traditional methods. Students can learn the course at their own pace, the digital method provides flexibility, but this is not as efficient as the traditional method, because every student has different grasping abilities. The digital method is cost-effective, and courses and materials can be accessed with internet charges but in the other method, we need to have admission to campus and teachers as well.

If you ask a school-going kid, he/she would definitely opt for the traditional method because they need factors like socializing, manner building, face-to-face teaching, etc as the building blocks for their better future. On the other hand, a college-going student would have mixed feeling about it. Some students would opt for digital and some for traditional. A professional who is seeking knowledge enhancement will obviously opt for the digital method because it’s convenient to balance their professional life with learning growth. Both modes of education have their equal pros and cons and play an important role in the modern education system. What matters, in the end, is how much is understood and applied. It can thus be concluded that both forms of education are equally important based on the situation and the type of student.