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VIRTUAL EDUCATION OR FACE-TO-FACE EDUCATION?

Education is changing as technology has changed throughout history, showing that it is no

longer what it was. Nowadays people have more options when they want to communicate with

someone, not just writing or speaking. Today everything is faster, with a single click it is

possible to communicate with several people at the same time. Keeping this in mind, some of the

current forms of communication include social networks, email, text chats, video chats and

phone calls.

In addition, today people study virtually, something that years ago would not have been

contemplated if it were not for the exponential technological advances, and that is only speaking

of the field of communication. People have access to everything in real time with their

smartphones in just a couple of seconds, if people focus now on phones, they can realize that in

just 10 years they have gone from phones that only transmitted calls or messages text, to devices

that incorporate unlimited connectivity, simplicity and speed, which are some of the advantages

of communication in the 21st century.

Devices such as cell phones, tablets and computers mentioned above have allowed people to

carry out more activities such as virtual education as a benefit, being in class at the required time

has been a reality for a couple of years thanks to this technology, education, giving step to

distance education which, given its scope, has allowed people to have access to education

regardless of where they are, generating benefits not only economic but also social.
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So the question is, how will people study in the future? Some believe that in the future people

will be able to study from the comfort of their homes. For this reason, in this writing the

advantages and disadvantages of virtual education will be explained.

In the first case, before virtual education, a very limited, expensive, complex and often

undervalued option was chosen, now it has become a reality and is one of the most used

educational methods in the world based on the positive results you have shown.

However, there are aspects that must be addressed so that this type of education is fully

inclusive, accessible and 100% effective, technological advances have generated, as well as the

massive educational demand due to COVID-19, which has made school absenteeism possible

and stimulate the development of tools such as educational software platforms that allowed the

interaction between teachers and students and as the main actor the knowledge interchanged.

All this in order to manage the educational environment and create quality education from

home or wherever we are. Digital tools for learning, like everything that constitutes virtual

education, are combined with the objective of providing education in any field or level, with the

same quality, similar to direct education.

But like everything that accompanies us in life, in terms of virtual education it has its

advantages and disadvantages, below is necessary to share some things so that you better the

context of virtual education today.

Some authors like Ralón, Laureano, & Vieta, Marcelo, & Vásquez, María Lucía (2004)[1]

have described about the problems and the benefits in the virtual teaching, among the advantages

can point out for example: people can immediate access to information at all times, flexibility in
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terms of the administration of study time and the place where it takes place, autonomy, It

transcends the geographical area, variety of educational offerings, use of multiple resources to

generate learning, save of time and money, option to repeat the lessons as many times as

necessary and collaborative work is generated through chat rooms and meetings, for that reasons,

people are comfort and in front this situations, it allowing, to develop and improve abilities in the

students for this way to learning.

However, this way to learn have some disadvantages of virtual education, now let's see the

disadvantages that we find within virtual education, as well as mentioned by Auzmendi, Elena &

Eizaguirre, Josu (2005) [2]point out that among these are concentration difficulties,

homologation of titles obtained abroad, need for computer tools to ensure connections in virtual

classrooms, negative impact on socialization, passivity, underestimating the true importance of

the method, the lack of a complete pedagogical structure. But, these aspects become work

options to strengthen in each of the students, however it is important to identify them

first.Auzmendi, Elena & Eizaguirre.

In conclusion any of the two options has its differences, in the virtual classes it is necessary to

have internet connection however these classes are live, in real time as in the face to face classes,

this is an alternative for some people who live in other cities and want to continue studying, this

is not to replace the education in a classroom, it is an option for some interested, however with

the evolution that they have had in the technologies has made that education also evolves making

virtual education could be the only one in the future.

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● [1] Ralón, Laureano, & Vieta, Marcelo, & Vásquez, María Lucía (2004). Online
(De)training: about the disadvantages of virtual education. Communicate, (22),171-176.

● [2] Josu. (2005). Advantages and disadvantages of distance education through the
Internet: face-to-face training versus virtual training. The Chubut surveyor. 14-19.

BY: Maday Betancur, Luz Dalia Valbuena, Nicolas Cuartas.

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