Online teacher vs classroom teacher reply

This is my reply to anther student in the class that posted their thoughts on the online vs classroom teacher. Here is what they said:

"My answer is YES! The role of a teacher differs from being in a classroom to being online. I think that online learners are self motivated and realize that the requirements are more demanding. The classroom allows a teacher more of a sense of connection with the students. In an online classroom there is not connecting but there is a lot of communicating. Teachers in a regular classroom can interact with students while providing immediate attention to the their needs. There will be no waiting for a response to a discussion question or email."

I posted a response to the blog but felt I needed to go ahead and repost it here with minor changes.

I suppose as a very broad generalization I could agree with the response, but I can’t totally agree with a few statements.

“I think that online learners are self motivated and realize that the requirements are more demanding”
No, I don’t think this is true. I don’t think online learners are necessarily more self motivated or expect it to be more demanding. I might go so far as to say the exact opposite. A highly motivated person would find time to take a classroom course or an online course. A truly highly motivated person might be taking online and classroom courses to optimize their time. From my personal experience I just can't say that online students are more motivated then classroom students. Also, I think people in general think of online courses as easier than a classroom course. Again, from my experience and talking with others in my classes, most online courses are really easy compared to classroom courses. Of course this really has nothing to do with online or classroom as it is dictated by the teachers style and delivery along with how they grade. I suppose either of us could be wrong since we are just speculating on what other people think about online and classroom courses.

“The classroom allows a teacher more of a sense of connection with the students. ”
Again, I think is is mostly true, but I have communicated back and forth much more with my online teachers then I ever did with my classroom teachers. In the classroom setting more often then not I would simply listen to what they said and soak it up. There has been much more interaction with the teacher as a online student for me. I agree that the ability to connect with students is much greater in the classroom setting, I just don't think that it actually happens any more then it does with online classes.

I don’t want you to think I am criticizing you, I mostly agree with what you are saying, but it might be too broad a generalization.