Is Online Learning as Good as Face-to-Face Learning?

Sponsored by Universidad Tecmilenio

In recent years, the number of individuals enrolling on online degree programs has risen dramatically – and with online learning more important now than ever before as the world adjusts to the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we take a look at how online education weighs up against face-to-face education.

While online degrees allow you to study at a pace that fits in and around you and your responsibilities, they are also a great way to enhance your work skills instantly without sacrificing your salary to your studies.

We’ve teamed up with Universidad Tecmilenio in Mexico who ranked ninth out of 140 institutions in 30 countries for its online master’s programs in the fifth-edition of the Spanish-speaking Online Higher Education Institutions Ranking to find out more about the ins and outs of online education.

A more personalized and engaging way of learning

Living in a multimedia world lends itself to novel multimedia content – making online degrees accessible and engaging for students all around the world. Advances in technology and digital innovations have also made it easier to learn than ever before while giving students far more control over their own learning potential.

Studying a degree online means you’ll have access to your very own dashboard where you can review course material and assignments, take part in forum discussions with your peers and professors, watch recorded lessons, and access podcasts, videos and quizzes on demand.

Among all this, your time management, organizational and research skills will develop immensely as you learn to self-manage and work in a virtual setting while balancing commitments away from your studies. 

A lack of social interaction?

Not at all! While many may still be accustomed to traditional learning practices – the most obvious being direct interaction with your tutors and peers - advancements in technology have allowed the traditional classroom to move into virtual realms, turning face-to-face interactions into face-to-screen interactions instead.

Although virtual study sessions are no longer the pioneering technology they once were, webinars and other live events such as Q&As now an integral part of online curriculums. For example, students who study an online master’s degree with Universidad Tecmilenio will have access to personal support tutors to help with well-being queries they may have, as well as constant communication with their peers, academic advisors and faculty members to help ensure they’re up-to-date with their coursework and assessments.

The university’s virtual education model runs additional workshops which are an important resource when it comes to the wellbeing and resilience of the wider Tecmilenio community. It was also the first university in Latin America to move 60,000 students from on-campus degrees to virtual learning within 48 hours as a result of the pandemic.

“Our excellence in the online education model has led us to be one of the largest and most prestigious universities in Mexico and Latin America, impacting more than 12,000 graduates and close to 9,000 students who are studying with us today,” said Julio Peña, Director of the Online Campus of Universidad Tecmilenio.

The final verdict

It’s not breaking news anymore that online education in some circumstances is outperforming classroom-based education. In 2018, The Learning House Inc. published a study illustrating how 85 percent of students who had enrolled in both an online course and classroom-based course felt their online course experience was either the same or better than their classroom-based course.

So, if you are well motivated and organized, prefer to study at a time and place that suits you and better your work skills, then online education can be just as good as face-to-face learning – if not better in some instances.