A Comparative Study to Assess the Level of Satisfaction Regarding Traditional Versus Online Learning Among Students of Selected Colleges of Adesh University Bathinda, Punjab

Background: In online learning, learners get the opportunity to access learning materials published by educators and researchers in every corner of the world as long as they have the required equipment and a working internet connection. Offline learning refers to traditional education that allows students to have face-to-face interactions with teachers and peer groups. Although online teaching and learning are considered to be the future of education, they cannot replace offline education in every aspect. This study is to investigate the level of satisfaction among students in online and offline learning. Objectives: to assess the level of satisfaction of students in online learning, to assess the level of satisfaction of students in traditional learning, to compare the level of satisfaction of students in traditional versus online learning, to assess the effectiveness of traditional versus online mode of learning and to find association between level of satisfaction among students with their selected social demographic variables. Materials and Methodology: A quantitative research approach and non-experimental research design was used for the study. Sample size was 180 (90 online and 90 offline) students and sampling technique used was non-probability purposive. A self-structured rating scale was used, to assess level of satisfaction among students. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Different diagrams were used to depict the findings and to interpret the data. Results: The major findings of the present study were 50 (55.55%) students have moderate level of satisfaction followed by 10 (11.11%) students have low level of satisfaction in online learning. Majority 70 (77.77%) students have high level of satisfaction followed by 15 (16.67%) students have moderate level of satisfaction in offline learning. Mean and standard deviation of online learning was 54.8±1.227 and mean and standard deviation of offline learning was 62.42±1.278. Mean score difference was 7.62. Therefore, It shows that traditional learning was effective. t-value was 32.88 with df 178 with p-value 0.0001 at p< 0.05 Hence, shows that traditional learning was effective than online learning. Among all socio-demographic variables Gender, students previous year percentage and Family income were found significant (at p<0.05) association between level of satisfaction among students for online learning. Among all socio-demographic variables only students previous year percentage were found significant (at p<0.05) association between level of satisfaction among physiotherapy students. Conclusion: The study concluded that the students prefer offline learning since they can focus, activate and enjoy throughout the session by understanding the content better and do communication easily. Key words: Level of satisfaction, learning, college students.