Mr. O’Halloran

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Distance Education vs. Face to Face; Better Ways to Learn?

By Robert O’Halloran, Professor & Chair, Hospitality Management, East Carolina University

Learners; employees, students

People are always in the learning process. Whether in school or working full time people can and are learning. Being an educator, I clearly think that education and learning is the key to advancement. The question is how and where to learn? Our industry is dotted with supervisors, high level executives, and employees that worked their way up through an organization and established themselves without formal education. Most employees cannot afford to leave their jobs to pursue a more formal education or needed training and therefore it behooves educational organizations to offer and work with industry to provide learning opportunities for employees and managers to get the education they need. Distance Education (DE), on line learning or hybrid methods can be the solution for many to accomplish their educational goals. Distance education has come a long way from mail order courses and now is technology based and instructor accessible. The success of distance education (DE) is based on a three way partnership between the student, faculty member and technology.

Who is the learner?

Not everyone learns the same way and or has the same skills. An employee needs to know what type of learner they are. This is not referring to personality tests but how they can learn best and/or how they can give themselves the opportunity to learn. In schools, colleges, universities, community colleges etc… the traditional eighteen to twenty-two year old employee has been conditioned to learn in certain ways. One would suggest that the method is face to face (F2F), meaning enrolled in a college, university or technical school, often living on or near campus where they go to classrooms with a teacher and have a traditional learning experience. This traditional student is on the university’s schedule for time and classroom and when faculty can be scheduled. A huge segment of the education community is enrolled and happy in this model. However, not all students can make that model work.

An employee or nontraditional student that is on their employer’s schedule must manage their time accordingly to pursue their education. These students must consider a variety of other factors that the traditional student has not typically faced. Nontraditional students often consider their age an issue. In any business an employee’s ages can range from the eighteen year olds to people in their fifties and sixties etc… Older students often question themselves and their abilities to be students again. Nontraditional students can and should plan to use their maturity, commitment and responsibility to balance a fulltime workload with DE. Nontraditional students must be self motivated, persistent and have the ability to focus and stay on task. They also may have to balance family, marriage and personal obligations beyond themselves. In addition to personal commitments full time employees considering continuing or completing their education can have different financial commitments and obligations that need to be weighed against their educational and learning goals. Education is not free and it behooves the learner to have an education plan that includes career goals and short and long term tactics. In their planning process employees should determine if their employer is supportive of their educational goals and more practically, if there a tuition reimbursement plan. Many organizations provide learning and or training activities for their employees to aid advancement.

Additionally, communication between faculty and students is especially important in online learning. For example, a question in a traditional classroom of twenty–five is asked and the response is heard by all members of the class. In an online setting in a class of twenty-five one person asks an email question and is answered on a one to one basis thus potentially creating twenty-five interactions with the professor. DE students are seeking alternative ways to learn and must examine timing issues and their own self discipline. These two factors can mark the difference between a successful and non-successful student. For many the alternative to face to face learning will be a DE or World Wide Web learning option.

Technology

For someone planning for continued education it would be helpful to determine what learning activities and opportunities are readily available and or those that can be identified and verified on web sites and or in business electronic newsletters. Some of these activities might include free access webinars and electronic case studies that compliment other learning practices.

Technology needs to be used to assist an individual to reach their learning goals and objectives and therefore, technology must be accessible and responsive to the needs of the learner. Obviously a DE choice for learning requires technology including a computer and access to the Internet. Online education programs can allow students to access courses twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Potential students should be aware that on line learning can be segmented into two areas a) synchronous; where online learning is delivered in real time and requires the learner to be “present” where the instructor or facilitator might host a chat room for class discussion at a specific time and b) asynchronous learning which allows a student to access course materials on their own schedule. While on line learning may not be a person’s first choice this convenience and flexibility makes DE a logical choice.

As previously mentioned, nontraditional and mature (older) students are often concerned about being students again. They are often concerned about their lack of familiarity with modern technology. Many will argue that the younger generation is extremely tech savvy and uses technology constantly. This is true but for each segment technology is only a tool it does not learn for you. Also there continues to be more and more technology learning tools developed and implemented for educational purposes and these efforts help students to take full advantage of DE programs. For example, on line learning programs typically use learning platforms that include but are not limited to Blackboard, WebCt, and Moodle etc... In these scenarios assignments and homework are submitted electronically via e-mail or the class web site and all course materials, like syllabi and handouts are made available to students via their learning platforms. Additionally, faculty members, on line and face to face, are increasingly using social network sites for learning purposes. Face Book, Twitter and others are now integrated into lesson plans as are Blogs and Chat rooms etc... which allow students to interact. Other technological learning tools exist that enable students DE or F2F to connect for live conversations despite geographic diversity or region of the world. Technology learning tools such as Centra, Camtasia and Second Life continue to become main stream in learning circles.

The Teacher

This author would argue that teaching on line requires a different skill set than teaching in the classroom. Both are equally taxing but on line teaching requires a great deal of precision and pre-planning to effectively use the technology for teaching and learning. Many faculty members participate or have participated in both F2F and DE environments and most have a preference for teaching method (F2F or DE). As is the case for most jobs some people are better at what they do than others. Some teachers are better on line teachers than others.

When considering the DE option, prospective students should seek an opportunity to preview some teaching sites through the institution or perhaps through a friend’s experience. Some sites are very robust and full of activity and others are plain and simple and the potential student can judge what best suits their learning needs.

How do people learn best? Some individuals like to be in class, see and hear the professor firsthand, others love on line learning and be able to study from home. In many cases the hybrid or a little of both methods can prove to be optimal. So what are the expectations of students concerning content, quality, access and responsiveness? On their part they need to be aware that the same standards and rigor will or should exist whether face to face or on line.

Are you ready?

What is your learning plan? Prospective students should ask why they are taking a course or why are they pursing a certificate or degree? They also need to consider where they will study. A number of colleges, universities and technical school provide hospitality and other learning opportunities, including East Carolina University, University of Delaware, Penn State, University of Phoenix, DeVry and Strayer Universities to name a few.

Additionally, an evaluation of the student education budget is necessary and a plan for how much time is it going to take to complete the program must be developed. Potential students should decide if is it a hospitality degree, or another focus or a learning or training series or a job related required learning activity. Plan your education and start with the plan and self assessment outline below.

Plan

• Learning Goals

• Objectives

• Financial Commitment

• Time Frame and Horizon

• Make Contact and begin

Self Assessment

• Personal Goals and Objectives

• Focus

• Commitment

• Self Discipline

• Self Motivation

This discussion is not advocating one choice for all but rather to point out to those looking for ways to continue to learn, that alternatives do exist. Ask yourself how your learning will advance your personal self esteem and your career goals and get started. Good luck with your education, it lasts a lifetime.

Professor O’Halloran is Chair of the Department of Hospitality Management at East Carolina University (ECU). He has operational experience as a general manager and as a training manager for Jolly Roger and Trans Pacific Restaurants. He has experience in the front office and food and beverage departments and worked as a hospitality management consultant. He is a Commissioner for AH&LA’s Certification Commission and was elected as Vice Chair. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the AH&LEF. He is also a member of the Educational Institute of AH&LA Faculty Advisory Board. Mr. O’Halloran can be contacted at 252-737-1604 or ohalloranr@ecu.edu Extended Bio...

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