I have taught college/university classes in the classroom and online and have designed both classroom and online curriculum for other instructors who have been asked to teach either of these outcomes are both...
AND,
In my opinion (and opinions are like buttholes since everyone has one) in the classroom is much preferred over online classes... especially since, online classes have been designed with BUSY WORK in mind... for example:
it is estimated that a student reads ONE PAGE in three minutes... so, it is then estimated that 10 pages of reading would take 30 minutes and 20 pages of reading would take an hour... so, 20 pages is always selected.
There are ONE to TWO Discussion Questions that are always asked each week... the students are required to visit the Forum 3 times for each questions, making a comment and responding to 2 other comments. Each response must be OF SUBSTANCE... not just "I agree."
There is always a research project where 1-3 sites must be visited and a 2-3 page paper 10 point font or 250-300 words per page) written that is hardly ever graded for grammar and punctuation mistakes.
There is always a weekly quiz that has T/F, Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank, and Essay questions... and oftentimes, the quizzes are not timed, can stop and begin later if needed, and no oversight to see if the student is using the textbook or has another person answering the questions on behalf of the registered student.
There may or may not be a team project because if there is a team project, there has to be an agreed upon time for all the students on that team to meet and sometimes that is difficult to arrange when students are working various shifts at work.
Others things can take place like watching videos or slide shows to get the material across in addition to the Chapter Readings.
VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER TAKES PLACE IN ONLINE CLASSES.
Online classes are preferred by teachers because there is less work involved that teaching in a classroom plus instructors teach from home and can work on these classes a little bit at a time throughout the day and throughout the week.
For the Student, much more time is spent in an online class than is spent in a classroom class plus the student typically finds it difficult to get the instructor to respond to emails in a timely manner which is frustrating as well... and, there is no time set aside for tutoring by the instructor which is available in the classroom.
Discussion Forums do not adequately replace in person discussions that can develop into respectful debates and learning opportunities.
