"FACE TO FACE, OR FACE TO SCREEN?" - a Reading

For many Gen-Z kids like me (and most people who enter collage nowadays) have had the experience of online classes under their belt. With the breakout of Covid-19 and the subsequent pandemic and quarantine, along with higher visibility of societal and personal issues being brought to attention on large, has led to greater interest in digital learning. Despite being in practice since the early 2000's, There has been an undeniable increase in intrigue of the concept, which lead to the study conducted in this article back in 2014, 6 years before the pandemic: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01278/full

Of Course, with traditional classes being taken quite seriously and preferred by my social circle, its interesting to read a academic take based off the differences in performance and experience from both groups in the study (Face-to-Face or Face-to-Screen).

As a pre-reading, i had to take note of:

Headings	Subheadings	Title/Description of Visuals
Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduate' opinions and test performance in classroom vs. online learning Introduction Study 1 Study 2 General Discussion References	Methods Participants Materials and Procedures  Results and Discussion Class marks and preferences  Qualitative comments Preferences	Table 1/Study 1: Mean Marks and Modality Preferences across Task and Modality. Table 2/Study 1: Proportion of Responses per Theme, for Face-to-Face and Online Learning. Table 3/Study 2: Proportion of Responses per Theme for Written Activities, for those who Preferred these Face-to-Face vs. Online.  Table 4/Study 2: Study 2: Proportion of Responses per Theme for Discussion, for those who Preferred Discussion Face-to-Face vs. Online.

And then i had to fill out this table of thing i knew about online learning vs face to face learning (K), What i wondered (W), and what i learned as i read along (L).

K	W	L
I know that face to face and virtual learning has totally different experiences, and different advantages/disadvantages. I know Online Learning is great for those with a hectic schedule who need to get their education without the hassle of commute OR the social anxiety that comes with being on campus. I Know that Face-to-Face learning gives more hands-on approach to learning.	I wonder what kind of studies are used to exemplify the difference between the face to face vs the virtual learning experience on the student’s end? I wonder what teacher input is in this study, if any, based of the differences of teaching these lessons. I wonder demographics of students are most affected by this teaching style.	I will learn the varied differences in how online learning vs Face-to-Face classroom learning affects the student. I will learn what demographics are most impacted by digital of face to face learning. I will learn the inner workings of this system and how it’s reflected on the result.

And then after the KWL, I had to really grasp the text: what it meant in it's actuality. In all honesty, reading this was HELLISH for me to finish, however, I did find a few segments the stuck out to me:

Details from the Text	Plausible Inferences
“Given the potential pedagogical advantages of online learning, there is a pressing need to formulate an evidence-based understanding of best practice in this area. However, despite the increasing research interest in e-learning, there seems to be little consistency in the training that lecturers receive in developing online materials. This may be an artifact of a diverse research base. For example, many studies have focused on the efficiency, content and delivery method that teaching staff have developed (e.g., Rossman, 1999; Twigg, 2003; O'Neill et al., 2004), while the perceptions and experiences of the students themselves have been largely neglected (Alexander, 2001; Holley and Oliver, 2010; Ituma, 2011)."	The inference of how many students feel largely neglected by a learning system which is dependent on, you know, the student, is troubling and seemingly contradictory to the greater interest in the research and development of E-Learning.
“Most of the research to date has focused on courses offered entirely online. Yet, an increasing number of face-to-face courses are beginning to incorporate some online components, in which traditional in-class activities are supplemented, rather than replaced, with online activities (Ituma, 2011).”	The rise of digital components to courses shows a symbiotic relationship between face-to face and online learning, with online being used as a supplementary to the face-to-face.

And as i read through all of this, and got through the text ... a lot of language used was pretty unfamiliar with me. However, thanks to my deductive skills in the word's context (a̶n̶d̶ a̶ q̶u̶i̶c̶k̶ G̶o̶o̶g̶l̶e̶ s̶e̶a̶r̶c̶h̶), I managed to figure out how these words where used in their specialized context:

Technical Term	Context Clue (i.e., antonym, synonym, examples, description, word parts, definition or any clues in the text	Use each technical term in a sentence
"face-to-face class"	“Although social connectedness can be derived online (Grieve et al., 2013), most students feel that face-to-face contact is essential for building a sense of community”	“Face to Face classes are shown to be better for students due to the encouragement of forming interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and cooperation between peers.”
"e-learning"	“Even today, students in different courses can have quite different experiences of online learning. There is a clear need for more research into what does and does not work in online learning, but also for a focus on the student experience in the increasingly digital landscape of tertiary education.”	“E-Learning is a promising marvel for many, however due to it’s technological dependance and the self-study mindset that comes with it, There is much to be improved about this system.”
"student-centered learning"	“with the lecturer facilitating or managing the students' learning, rather than simply transmitting information (Balluerka et al., 2008).”	“Student-Centered Learning is the learning structure which is dependent on the individual student to take initiative and learn on their own terms”
"digital landscape"	“There is a clear need for more research into what does and does not work in online learning, but also for a focus on the student experience in the increasingly digital landscape of tertiary education.”	“In the modern Digital Landscape, there is a tirage of information; left, right and center- however, the question remains… how nurturing is this landscape to the blooming mind of a young student?”
"web-pages"	“In contrast, Evans et al. (2004) showed that students performed much better when their online course material was accessible via an interactive, navigable format than via a series of scrollable web-pages.”	“With online learning taking account of the modern scrolling and interactive patterns of Gen Z, there have been efforts to modernize the layout and interactive features of the web pages used to host these digital classes.”

POST READING:

1.     Topic of the text:

The compare-and-contrast of the two different groups of face-to-face learners and online learners in the context of both their experiences and the final result of the class.

2.     Writer’s opinion about the text’s topic:

“Overall, performance across the two modalities is convergent, but the electronic and face-to-face pathways to that performance may be divergent. For example, the benefits obtained a student who has “more time to think” when working asynchronously online may be similar to the benefits obtained by another student “exposed to more opinions” within a classroom discussion. Future research could aim to unpack such benefits and their relationship with student characteristics: this could potentially results in truly student-centered approaches through the creation of bespoke learning activities.”

3.     Support for writer’s opinion (e.g., evidence such as facts, testimonies, examples, etc.):

 "However, there are also reasons for which students might prefer more traditional, in-class activities. Although social connectedness can be derived online (Grieve et al., 2013), most students feel that face-to-face contact is essential for building a sense of community (Conole et al., 2008). Even when classes are only partially online, students may feel that online discussion detracts from this feeling of community with their peers and tutor. Further, at a practical level, students need to exercise more self-motivation to complete activities online, compared to in-class, where that role of motivator is taken on by the lecturer (Upton, 2006). Thus, it is important to explore students' perceptions of both online and face-to-face learning experiences, rather than just one or the other." 

POST-READING Q&A

1.     What credentials does the author have which give him/her the authority to write about the topic of the text?

The two authors (Nenagh Kemp and Rachel Grieve) are both disciplines of Psychology, from the School of Medicine, University of Tasmania.

2.     After considering the author’s profession and affiliation, what possible biases the author might have about the topic?

The biases of the authors are more or less consistent with the general consensus of the their article: They managed to underline the relative success of traditional schooling and e-learning in their own separate strengths, all while highlighting the technological and the social failures of e-learning for many.

3.     What is the purpose of the text, and how does the author accomplish that purpose?

What evidence does the author use to support the main idea in the text?

The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the differences between these two learning methods that have become the default for many educational institutions.

4.     What specific idea/information in the text challenges or surprises you? Why?

This text really hit me hard as a high school graduate who had to go to e-learning for my high school years from 2019-2022, as I definitely related to the reported feeling of many people who were in online learning: feeling alone and unsupported, leading to a state of perpetual work without a teacher to guide me or friends to make the endless hours fly by like the  birds of May.

5.     Is the style of writing suitable for the intended audience? Is it too formal or too casual? Why?

Where do I even start? This article was a juggernaut to read. The formal tone, the lack of space, the dense wording and language grounded this article firmly in the scientific realm. And because of it, it was fairly difficult to read outside of that context as someone who isn’t drawn to that type of thing. However, I will say the information was presented vividly enough for me to picture.