Both traditional and correspondence classrooms are centered upon an established course syllabus designed in accordance with course content and grade level. Both types of classrooms are led by a teacher or instructor who allocates assignments to students, which are completed and turned in for a grade. In both traditional and correspondence classrooms students are required to contribute to whole-group class discussion, although ways of doing so vary.
Class participation and group discussions are required for both traditional and correspondence classrooms; however, the ways students participate in the correspondence classroom is different from students in a traditional learning environment. When students are physically present in an actual classroom, they contribute to class discussion by speaking up in the classroom and directly addressing the teacher and fellow students. Students in a correspondence course essentially do the same thing, but over the Internet. Many correspondence courses have scheduled chat sessions where students are required to log in to a website at a specific time for real-time class discussion. Other times a correspondence course instructor will start a message board with a topic for discussion and give students a day's or week's time to post a response, meaning participation in class discussion doesn't happen in real time, as it does in traditional classrooms and chat sessions.
There are several advantages to both traditional and distance or correspondence classrooms. Traditional classrooms are beneficial for auditory learners who learn best through oral instruction such as lecture and class discussion. Because the correspondence classroom is a silent atmosphere, auditory learners may have difficulty with the indirect instruction. In addition, learners who require special attention or one-on-one instruction will do far better in a traditional classroom environment where the teacher is available at an on-demand basis. Another advantage of traditional classrooms is the face-to-face, in-person socialization that they foster and encourage, which is conducive to learning for many people.
Correspondence classroom assignments and requirements are often student-centered, meaning that most of the learning responsibility is placed upon the student as opposed to the teacher, as with traditional classroom settings. This is a convenient advantage for self-motivated, independent learners because students are frequently able to learn and work at their own pace, on any schedule. Another advantage of the correspondence classroom is that it is virtual, meaning you can attend certain classes anytime, anywhere, as long as you have Internet capability. This is an advantage for full-time workers and parents who aren't able to physically attend campus during regular school hours.