In-Class vs. Online Tech Training

I found that, while proficient at learning in various environments, I tend to focus better in certain ones.

I brought up in class that I feel as though I’m in the minority when it comes to learning or studying; I do best while I’m sitting at my own, personal computer in a comfortable, familiar place (such as my apartment). During both the online and the in-person training, I decided to focus on web development (mostly CSS for the online training, and the Wordpress lecture for in-person).

One of the problems with this was that I was already remotely familiar with Wordpress and its features but had almost no exposure to CSS apart from what was expected of me in the technology gateway at the beginning of the academic year. So for one, I was paying more attention when I was learning about the more alien concept.

But I felt that, as a person, I preferred to be on my own couch or surrounded by my own things over being stuck in a windowless classroom (in a basement!) in front of a foreign computer…I prefer PCs to Macs, and even though the Macs at the in-person training were able to boot to Windows I still felt uncomfortable using the hardware.

Additionally, I like the freedom of being able to stop a video in the middle to go make a cup of coffee or grab a snack. There’s a weird stigma toward leaving a classroom because you’re thirsty, coupled with the fear of missing some major concepts.