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

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

In the contemporary world, advancement in technology has modified the learning environment. Education was predominantly delivered in the confinement of a classroom in the past. However, owing to the lifestyles and availability of internet communication devices such as smartphones and personal computers, students are increasingly enrolling in online courses. Academic institutions also embrace the trend in order to meet both the demand and interests of learners. Accordingly, there is a need to establish whether online education is as effective as the traditional face-to-face type of pedagogy.  Although face-to-face learning enables interactions among students and educators, e-learning is equally good not only for its convenience and flexibility but also because learners show similar or better performance.

Online learning is easily accessible. Typically, in the face-to-face format, students travel to their academic institutions to attend classwork. However, traveling raises transportation issues. Jaggars claims that most learners live a long distance from the school and do not possess a car or have to share one (6). Even though some have or share a vehicle, the frequent trips to campus require a person to purchase gasoline, which is costly.  In contrast, provided that a student has access to the internet, they can engage with their instructors online at the comfort of working at home or from any geographic location (Jaggars 7). Thus, online learning reduces transport cost and enables students to access education from any location.

Electronic learning also allows flexibility. While some students are employed on a full-time basis, others have unpredictable schedules working either during the day or at night. Some learners have other responsibilities such as parenting (Jaggars 6). Owing to the busy scheduling, it is inevitable that the students should enroll in online courses to pursue their profession. Furthermore, a group of learners believes that a lot of time is wasted in face-to-face classes either because of the instructor’s choices or disruption caused by other students (Jaggars 7). Kemp and Grieve also pose that students prefer to complete learning activities online at their own time (5-6). Accordingly, the busy schedules necessitate people to learn through the internet.

Ultimately, students show similar performance in both settings. Most studies establish that there is no significant difference between students’ achievement in the face-to-face and online learning formats. For instance, Nguyen reveals that about 92% of all the studies, investigating the research topic, pose that e-learning is as effective as or better than face-to-face format (315). On one hand, learners report that they are able to provide good results when they experience student-to-student and instructor-to-student interactions. Others believe that e-learning encourages self-directed learning resulting in better achievements (Kemp & Grieve 8). Nonetheless, the studies reveal that learners achieve well in both settings.

Learning through the internet is as good as the face-to-face form of education. While face-to-face format necessitates students to attend classroom, e-learning reduces the frequency of visiting the academic institutions and lessens transportation costs. Moreover, some learners have other responsibilities such as parenting and working. Online learning offers a flexible schedule enabling people to attend to other activities and embark on learning at their own convenience. Ultimately, studies concerning the difference between learner’s performances in the two cases establish either equivalent or better achievement in online learning as compared to face-to-face format. Thus, e-learning is as good as face to face learning.

How Early is Too Early for an iPhone?

Keeping Children Safe: How Early is Too Early for an iPhone?

 

Futurists, authors, and other creatives alike have long cautioned against the overpowering effects of new technology. Conrad Gesner, a 16th-century Swiss scientist, worried about the over saturation of information after the birth of the first printing press, saying that there was a “confusing and harmful abundance of books,” (qtd. in Blair 11). There are modern threads of this type of thinking when it comes to the most prevalent technological advancement of today, the iPhone. One of the biggest risks that children can face while using a smartphone is contact with possibly traumatic, age-inappropriate content, and children younger than 12 should only use an iPhone under strict, parental supervision.

In a study on the online habits of children ages 9 to 16 in the UK, it was found that nearly 25% of children had seen sexually inappropriate images in the last year (Livingstone et al. 8). As well as seeing inappropriate things online, young children are also at risk of contacting strangers that could be harmful on social media sites. According to the study, almost 20% of children online talk to people they’ve never met in real life. (Livingstone et al. 8).

Aside from safety issues, child development scientists have real concerns about the effects of smartphones on children’s mental growth. In a review of the benefits and challenges of early childhood smartphone usage, Radesky et al. outline the dangers of apps replacing valuable

Catch 22 Summary

Catch 22 Summary

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Setting

Catch 22 is set in Pianosa, a small island off the coast of Italy.

Main characters

John “Yo-Yo” Yossarian- he is the novel’s protagonist. Yossarian is a captain in the US Army Air Force who becomes tired of flying dangerous missions.

Chaplain Tappman- he is the group’s chaplain. Tappman is a shy man who loves his wife and family, loves God, and wonders what exactly he is to do in the military.

Doc Daneeka- he is the group’s medic. Daneeka is not allowed to ground soldiers on account of insanity, according to orders issued by Cathcart.

Chief White Halfoat and Flume- he is A Native American soldier and assistant to Captain Black.

Aarfy- he is a former fraternity man in college.

Milo Minderbinder- is the group’s mess officer. Milo ends up starting a business that delivers black-market goods throughout the Mediterranean.

Colonel Cathcart- he is Yossarian’s chief antagonist

Colonel Korn- he is Cathcart’s assistant. Korn makes most of the strategic decisions that Cathcart then claims are his own.

Generals Dreedle and Peckem- are commanders of distinct units of the Italian campaign in the US Army Air Force.

Plot Summary

Yossarian is in the hospital with a fake liver ailment, is visited by a chaplain named Tappman. The chaplain feels uncomfortable talking to most officers, but Yossarian is kind to him and invites him to return in the future. Yossarian asks Doc Daneeka, the group’s medic if he can be grounded from flying on account of insanity. Yossarian is sane enough to ask to be grounded; he is sane enough to fly. Only those crazy enough to want to fly are crazy enough to be grounded.

Cathcart, the Colonel in charge of the group, keeps raising the number of missions required for soldiers to be sent home. Yossarian believes this is unjust, but Cathcart and his assistant Korn do not care. Korn merely wants a promotion to Cathcart’s job, and Cathcart wants to be made general, replacing Dreedle and Peckem, the two warring commanders in charge of the Italian campaign. Dreedle is mostly concerned with his mistress, and Peckem does not care what gets bombed so long as bombs fall in an appealing “bomb pattern” for documentary photographs.

Cathcart signs the men up for a dangerous mission over Bologna. In this mission, Yossarian has a close brush with death, as his plane is nearly downed by enemy fire, and he runs off to Rome where he meets a woman named Luciana, with whom he spends a single night. Soldiers begin dying or disappearing on a more regular basis. Dunbar, another friend of Yossarian’s, is “disappeared” by the military brass, for his complaints about unnecessary bombing runs. Orr has to crash land his damaged plane in the Mediterranean Sea and floats away on a raft. McWatt, buzzing the camp once more, kills Kid Sampson by accident and, in recognition of this, flies his plane into a mountain. Nately, Havermeyer, and Dobbs are killed on the same mission.

Meanwhile, the chaplain has been crusading on behalf of Yossarian, to send the pilots who have flown enough missions home. Cathcart, Korn, and other higher-ups rebuff the chaplain. Government officials investigating the group for supposed forgeries of letters settle on the chaplain as their prime suspect. He is tortured and threatened with imprisonment, but later set free. Although the chaplain’s faith is tested throughout, he eventually decides that he does believe in God and that only by standing up to Cathcart, Korn, and other superiors will he aid the soldiers with whom he serves.

As Yossarian’s friends die, he begins to feel it is genuinely unjust for Cathcart to raise the number of required missions, especially since the war is almost over, and many missions are no longer militarily necessary. After a final visit to Rome, which is now devastated by war, Yossarian says he will no longer fly. Cathcart and Korn offer him two options: court-martial, which would place him in prison, or a deal sending him home. The deal’s only catch is simple: Yossarian must pretend to like his commanding officers.

Although Yossarian is tempted by this deal, the chaplain subtly convinces him that it would be unfair to his fellow men. Yossarian thus finds a way to escape his Catch-22 altogether: he will no longer fly, nor will he be a lackey to his commanding officers. He resolves to flee to Sweden, where he believes Orr now lives, to wait out the end of the conflict.

Candide Summary

Various real and fictional locations in Europe and South America

Main Characters

Candide- he is the novel’s protagonist. Candide is a simple man with good judgment and a pure heart, who spends time in search of his beloved Cunégonde.

Cunégonde- she is a beautiful young woman and daughter of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh.

Pangloss- he is Candide’s teacher, a philosopher who follows the teachings of the philosopher Leibniz.

The Young Baron- he is Cunégonde’s brother and the heir to the Barony of Thunder-ten-tronckh.

Farmer- he is an old farmer who offers a meal to Candide, Martin, and Pangloss at the end of the novel.

Plot Summary

Candide is a young man who lives in the Barony of Thunder-ten-tronckh. There, he is instructed by the philosopher Pangloss, whose doctrine is that we live in “the best of all possible worlds.” One day, the Baron’s daughter Cunégonde comes across Pangloss having sex with Paquette, her mother’s chambermaid. Inspired, she approaches Candide, intending to do the same. Unfortunately, the two are caught kissing. Furious, the Baron kicks Candide out of Thunder-ten-tronckh. Candide wanders from place to place and is eventually tricked by two Bulgarian soldiers into joining their army. He performs well in military exercises but flees like a coward in the first battle.

Candide makes his way to Holland because he has heard it is a rich country. There, he begs for money, generally without success. The wife of a Protestant orator dumps a chamber pot over his head after he refuses to say that the Pope is the Antichrist. Eventually, he is taken in by the altruistic Anabaptist Jacques. Shortly thereafter, he comes across Pangloss, who is ill with syphilis. Jacques takes Pangloss in and also pays for his cure. Pangloss loses an eye and an ear to the disease but survives. The three travel to Lisbon, debating philosophically on the voyage there.

As soon as they reach the Bay of Lisbon, there is a terrible storm. The ship sinks, and Jacques the Anabaptist dies. Pangloss and Candide float to shore, but as soon as they land, the terrible Lisbon Earthquake takes place, killing thousands. Candide and Pangloss survive but are soon after arrested by the Inquisition, which is holding an auto-da-fé; a public festival for the punishment of heretics in an attempt to prevent future earthquakes. Candide is publicly whipped, and Pangloss is hung. Candide despairs, beginning to doubt Pangloss’s optimistic philosophy.

An old woman approaches Candide and leads him to a house in the country. There, he is reunited with Cunégonde, who is being sexually shared by the Grand Inquisitor and a Jewish merchant named Don Issachar. Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor both enter the house shortly after thereafter, and Candide kills each one as he enters. Candide, Cunégonde, and the old woman flee all the way to Buenos Aires in South America, where Candide is put in charge of a military company mustered for the war against the rebelling Jesuits in Paraguay. The Governor, Don Fernando, wants to keep Cunégonde as his mistress. News arrives that the minions of the murdered Inquisitor are about to land in Buenos Aires, and Candide flees with his valet Cacambo.

Cacambo takes Candide to the Kingdom of the Jesuits, where he discovers that the Reverend Commandant is none other than the young Baron of Thunder-ten-trench. Their tearful reunion takes an unexpected turn when Candide announces his intention to marry Cunégonde, the Baron’s sister. Outraged, the Baron attacks Candide, who stabs him through the stomach in self-defense. Candide weeps, overcome with remorse for having now killed three men.

Candide and Cacambo flee the Jesuit Kingdom and head for the wilderness. There, a mishap results in their capture by the savage Oreillons, who take them for Jesuits and prepare to eat them. Thanks to Cacambo’s charisma, the Oreillons release them. Candide and Cacambo wander through the wilderness for a long period of time. Totally by accident, they reach El Dorado, a utopian society filled with precious metals and happy people. Candide concludes that this must be the “best of all possible worlds,” which Pangloss described. Though they are happy in El Dorado, a desire for fame and glory causes Candide and Cacambo to leave.

The King of El Dorado helps them depart from the isolated place, giving them many riches and a flock of red sheep as a parting gift. A few days after leaving El Dorado, Candide and Cacambo come across an African slave who is missing his hand and left leg. Knowing that he will be arrested if he returns to Buenos Aires, Candide sends Cacambo to search for Cunégonde, promising to meet him in Venice. Candide himself heads to Suriname, where he tries to arrange passage back to Europe. He is tricked by the shipowner Mynheer Vanderdendur, who steals his flock of sheep and abandons him. At this point, Candide is almost ready to abandon his optimism completely.

Nevertheless, Candide manages to arrange a journey to Bordeaux with Martin, an impoverished scholar, and pessimist whom he chooses as his traveling companion. On the way there, a battle takes place between two ships, and one of Candide’s red sheep floats up from the wreckage, alive. He takes this as a good omen. Candide and Martin arrive in Bordeaux and then head to Paris. In Paris, Candide is tricked and robbed by the devious and superficial Abbé of Perigord and Marchioness of Parolignac, along with many other minor characters.

Candide and Martin briefly go to England and then move on to Venice. There, Candide finds Paquette in the arms of Friar Giroflée. She has become a prostitute. Candide and Martin visit the home of Pococuranté, a wealthy Venetian Senator who is dissatisfied with everything he has. Soon after, they have dinner with six kings who have been deposed. At the dinner, Candide finds Cacambo, who informs him that Cunégonde is working as a servant in Turkey.

Candide, Cacambo, and Martin travel to Turkey. On the ship which takes them there, they find Pangloss and the Young Baron, both of whom have been enslaved. Candide pays to have them both free. When he arrives in Turkey, he does the same for Cunégonde and the old woman. By now, after lengthy journeys and countless misfortunes, all of the major characters have been reunited.

The Call of the Wild Summary

The novel is set in Yukon, Canada

Main Characters

Buck- he is a one hundred and forty pounds, half St. Bernard, half Scotch shepherd mix. Buck is a proud, strong, and intelligent creature.

Hal- he is An American settler. Hal comes to the Klondike in search of gold and adventure.

John Thornton- is an experienced gold miner and outdoorsmen. John Thornton is Buck’s final owner and his ideal master.

François- he is an experienced and “swarthy” French-Canadian “half-breed.” François is a courier for the Canadian government, who teaches Buck how to become a working dog.

Dave- he is a dog and an “experienced wheeler” on the mail run sled dog team. Dave instructs Buck on how to be a sled dog.

The man in the red sweater- he is this dog trader and trainer who beats Buck into submission following his release from a cage-like crate.

Plot Summary

Buck, a proud and strong St. Bernard mix, lives a princely life on Judge Miller’s estate in Santa Clara. Living an insular life, he has no idea that the discovery of gold in the Klondike has created a demand for dogs like him. Manuel, a gardener on the estate desperate for money, kidnaps Buck, selling him to a dog trader. The man throws Buck into a crate on a train headed north. Four days later Buck’s crate is unloaded from the train. He leaps out the first chance he gets, attacking a man in a red sweater. The man stuns Buck with his club, beating him into submission until Buck learns to obey. Buck spends his days watching other dogs suffer the same treatment, until two Canadian couriers, François and Perrault, purchase him, Curly, Dave, and Spitz for their sled dog team. They sail on The Narwhal to Dyea, Alaska, where Buck encounters snow for the first time.

Within hours of making landfall, Buck sees Curly attacked by a husky, then trampled by the rest of the sled dogs. Her death teaches Buck a valuable lesson about the law of club and fang. He learns to always strive for his survival by never letting his guard down. Buck’s lessons continue on the trail, where François harnesses him to the traces for the first time. Under the tutelage of Perrault and the dog’s Spitz and Dave, Buck transforms into a working sled dog. He learns not only from their experience but also from the wild instincts awakening within him.

Mastering his ability to scavenge, steal, and fight, Buck’s desire to dominate the sled dog team increases, and his rivalry with the lead dog, Spitz, intensifies. A pack of mad huskies attack the camp, Dolly subsequently goes mad from rabies, and the team struggles to cross treacherous stretches of thin ice. Buck also initiates a rebellion among the weaker dogs. One night, while Buck leads the team on a rabbit hunt, Spitz makes his attack. The rivals spar for supremacy of the pack, but Buck manages to break Spitz’s leg, claiming victory.

Buck becomes a masterful leader, making record runs across the Klondike. On the trail, Dave falls ill, compelling the Scotsman to shoot him out of mercy. Exhausted from this journey, the team is handed over to Hal, Charles, and Mercedes, American fortune seekers, who mistreat Buck and his team terribly. They force them to toil under dense loads, starve them and beat them incessantly. Barely alive, Buck’s team arrives at White River, where the ice is starting to melt. A local camper, John Thornton warns Hal against crossing, but Hal belligerently beats his animals into moving forward. Buck, sensing danger, refuses to rise. Hal, incensed, beats Buck with his club. Thornton tackles Hal and cuts Buck out of the traces, saving him from the brink of death. Hal, humiliated, proceeds towards the riverbank, while Buck and Thornton watch the sled fade into the distance and suddenly drop beneath the ice.

As Buck heals under Thornton’s care, he develops a deep affection and loyalty for his “ideal master.” Buck demonstrates his devotion for Thornton many times over, defending him in a bar fight, saving him from drowning, and winning a $1600 bet for him by pulling a sled loaded with one thousand pounds. With the winnings, Thornton takes Buck deeper into the Klondike in search of a lost mine. While Thornton pans for gold, Buck, haunted by visions of a caveman and the wild’s beckoning call, explores the forest. He runs with a timber wolf and hunts prey on his own, but returns to Thornton’s campsite when he senses that a catastrophe has occurred. Seeing the Yeehats dance over the ruins of the camp confirms Buck’s suspicions that they have murdered Thornton. Driven by rage, he launches into an attack, killing the chief and overturning the law of club and fang. Buck answers the call when a wolf pack initiates him into their ranks. He runs with them, eventually becoming their leader and a legend.

Themes

1. Domestication to Devolution. While Buck is deeply influenced by his human masters, the novel is about Buck’s transformation from a domesticated dog to a wild wolf. Like an evolving organism, Buck sheds characteristics ill-suited to his environment and takes advantage of traits that help him thrive