Why learn at traditional universities when there are online alternatives?
Keywords:
Self-directed learning, online learning, social connectedness, motivation, Communities of PracticeAbstract
In this report a comparison is made between learning online versus learning at traditional campus-based universities. Recently, with the advances in communications and networking technologies, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the usefulness of traditional universities and the possibility of replacing them with online learning alternatives. Here, we will address some important aspects of these two learning methods with support of some theoretical and experimental data. Our focus will be on social aspects of this comparison to see how each of these methods can evolve and improve to meet the new requirements of the state-of-the-art education context.