When the school year begins, BCCC students must decide whether to take an online or face-to-face class. Students must weigh the pros and cons of how they will include such courses in their busy schedules.

Bucks students interviewed are 50-50 when it comes to this matter. “I rather take most of my classes online because it makes it easier, so I can still go to work and get my schoolwork done,” states Fred Goldblatt, 21, a business major.

Another student, Jessica Cohen, 19, a psychology major, says, “I prefer face-to-face classes because the teacher is right there to answer my question and I don’t have to worry about waiting on their email.”

Professors are also mixed in their opinions.  Language and Literature Professor Alan Rubin says,  “I prefer teaching face-to-face classes mostly because it best suits my teaching style.” Rubin adds, “Lecture-based classes in which a teacher recites material to the students and invites little class discussion are easily adapted to the online format, but I prefer a discussion-based format.”

Associate Dean of Bucks Online, Georglyn L. Davidson, says that “Students take online classes because of three main reasons: work, family, and health, and it ultimately comes down to flexibility.”

Online classes have become more popular over the last couple of years. Davidson said, “The technology improved because of the increase of multimedia for students and faculty.”

Online learning has expanded to a younger demographic who are more tech savvy and prefer working from their computers. Davidson states, “There are over 300 courses that are taught online out of the 700 that are offered, and the winter session is completely online.”

Face-to-face professors are getting more involved in online courses because of curiosity and time management. There is a four-week course that is available to any professor that is interested. The course is an overview of the Canvas platform and how to navigate through it.

Greg Clark, 20, a history major, said, “It usually depends on my schedule if the course happens to be online and if it fits then I take it, the same way goes with face-to-face.”

Emily Kelly, 20, and education major, said, “I am totally against online classes I like face-to-face because I’ve always been taught that way and luckily a lot of my courses are offered that way.”

Rebecca Henson, 19, an English major, had a positive response to her first experience with an online course. Henson said, “This is my first semester taking a course online and I chose creative writing which I thought was going to be hard, but it is actually very easy.”

Overall, Bucks students have the final say on what they want to choose to succeed and prosper with the help of a Face-to-face or an online class.