essay about virtual learning

Essays About Online Learning: Top 6 Examples And Prompts

If you are writing essays about online learning, you can start by reading some essay examples and prompts in this article. 

People often regard online learning as kids stuck at home, glued to their devices. However, there is so much more to it than this simplistic concept. Many parents may see it as an “easy way out” for students to slack off on their studies while still passing their classes, but online learning has not reached its full potential yet. 

It has dramatically impacted how education is handled globally, for better or worse. It has forced teachers to take on extra work , while students say it has helped reduce their stress levels. It is undoubtedly a contentious topic. 

If you need help writing an essay about online learning, here are some essay examples you can use for inspiration.

1. Disabled Students Urge Universities To Make Online Learning More Accessible by Lucia Posteraro

2. why are more and more students taking online classes by perry mullins, 3. the benefits of online learning: 7 advantages of online degrees by kelsey miller, 4. why is online learning important by clare scott, 5. is online learning as effective as face-to-face learning by kelli wilkins, 6. i’m a high school student. i don’t want online learning to end. by rory selinger, prompts on essays about online learning, 1. how has online learning affected you, 2. compare and contrast online and in-person classes., 3. what can you learn from an online setup, 4. what is the future of online learning, 5. which is better- online or face-to-face learning, 6. can online learning be sustained long-term.

“Autism may hinder the ability to follow complex conversations, especially with background noise – but Charli’s lectures did not have subtitles. Moreover, extensions for group projects were too short for her extenuating circumstances.’

Posteraro tells the stories of students who want online learning to be more accessible. For example, Charli, a student with autism, was greatly affected by the transition from in-person to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, online learning has not catered to her special needs, so she urges schools to take action to make online education more inclusive. You might also be interested in these essays about knowledge .

“The result of taking online classes is that students who take them become more proficient and comfortable with using computers. Students can learn to connect with one another online and with information in meaningful and useful ways. With that said more and more students are taking online classes because it’s the best way to save money work at your own pace and not have to be stressed about going to class.”

In his essay, Mullins discusses why more students prefer online learning. First, it lessens expenses, as students learn from the comfort of their rooms. Second, it helps students avert the fear of talking to strangers face-to-face, helping them communicate better. 

“It’s clear, then, that learning online helps prepare professionals for this shift toward online work. Below, explore what online courses entail, explore seven key benefits, and get the advice you need to determine if online courses are right for you.”

Miller briefly explains what online learning is, then proceeds to discuss its advantages. These include a self-paced schedule, improved communication, and new technical skills. However, he reminds readers that everyone is different; regardless of the benefits, they should only choose online learning if they believe it will work for them.

“Boil it right down and the answer is simple: change is constant. You must move with it. The true beauty of online learning is that it lends itself perfectly to your lifestyle. By its very nature, it can fit around you. Also, no longer are we taught how to do a job, it’s usually a case of figuring it out for yourself—and that’s where online learning can amplify your skills.”

Scott presents the importance of online learning. Similar to Miller, she mentions self-paced, giving students new skills. However, the most important lesson is that change is constant. Online learning exemplifies this precept, and these skills help us move along.

“While both ways of learning have advantages and disadvantages, what is more effective is based off of the student themselves. Students can weigh the costs and benefits between online learning and face-to-face learning. They can decide for themselves what would be best for them. Online learning can be as effective as face-to-face learning if the student is committed to putting their time and effort to study alone.”

Wilkins questions the notion that online learning is inferior to a face-to-face classes. She begins by listing the benefits of online classes, including comfort and easier schedules, as with Miller and Scott. However, she also mentions its disadvantages, such as the possibility of students being distracted and a lack of bonding between classmates. But, of course, it’s all up to the student in the end: they should decide which type of education they prefer.

“One thing I hope people now realize is that education is not a one-size-fits-all model. While the self-disciplined nature of remote learning is not for everyone, it has allowed students like me to flourish unimpeded by the challenges presented by typical classroom settings.”

A 14-year-old student, Selinger wishes to continue her education online as schools return to physical classes amid the pandemic. She discusses the relief she feels from the lack of peer pressure, judgment, and a rigorous schedule. Controlling your study schedule relieves students of pressure, and Selinger believes this is optimal for success. She believes online learning opens a path to be better rather than to “return to normal.”

In this essay, you can write about your experience of online learning. Whether you have had online coursework from school or college or taken an online course for your own interests, we’ve all had some experience learning online. Discuss how you benefited from online learning and the challenges you faced. For a compelling essay, conduct interviews to back up your experience by showing others who felt the same way.

Create an exciting comparative essay between online and in-person learning. You can compare and contrast the experiences and show the positives and negatives of each. Start by making a list or Venn diagram, and organize your essay. Include the structure, advantages, and disadvantages of each method of learning. 

Online learning can teach you some skills to succeed in the real world. In this essay, write about the unique skills you can gain from online learning. Perhaps you learn valuable IT skills, virtual note-taking, and basic administrative skills. Then, look into how these skills can benefit you in future studies or when trying to step into a new career path. 

We have barely scratched the surface of technology. In this essay, look to the future and imagine how online education will look. Then, research up-and-coming online learning technologies and see what will come next. Will the development of more online learning technology benefit students? Look into this exciting topic for an engaging discussion.

For this topic, writing an excellent argumentative essay is easy. First, from research and your own experience, list the benefits and downsides of each type of learning and determine which is more effective. Then, you can use Google and the essay examples above to support your argument.  

Online learning is most commonly used for students who are ill or during situations such as a global pandemic. It is meant to be temporary; however, can schools stick to a completely-online method of instruction? Include some advantages and disadvantages of online learning in your essay.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Essay on Virtual Learning

Introduction

Virtual learning involves an educational experience that is enhanced through electronic devices such as computers, with the support of an internet connection. It is vital to examine why virtual learning is important within the society and educational institutions (Stricker, Weibel & Wissmath, 2011). In the past, learning had one option for all students, that is, to attend physically for them to learn. With the developments made in technology, virtual learning has been made possible in many learning institutions. Virtual learning is convenient and cost-friendly to the students as one can learn remotely with an internet connection. Equally, with the internet, one has an opportunity to a large pool of information to boost understanding of various concepts (Keppell, Souter & Riddle, 2011). One does not need to appear physically at the institution premises for classes and other inquiries. Virtual learning is dependent on IT infrastructure existent for various institutions, which means that only institutions with established technology can use the approach (Stricker, Weibel & Wissmath, 2011). On-campus learning was common in the past due to a lack of digital platforms that could support the same. The paper seeks to examine the virtual learning and why it is appropriate for institutions to adopt the strategy to administer education.

Argument for Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning is Convenient and Cost-effective

Virtual learning is convenient in the sense that one does not show up physically for lessons and other school activities. Under virtual learning, students use the internet and software applications such as Skype to link up with colleagues, share notes, and hold discussions on course material (Keppell, Souter & Riddle, 2011). The fact that one can access education through digital devices makes it convenient, unlike on-campus learning, where one has to be present physically. Traveling expenses that students incur when going to school daily is normally spared with virtual learning. For instance, a student in Asia can effectively attend lessons with her colleagues on video calling through the internet. The lecturer can be based in any part of the world so long as there is a stable internet connection and an online platform that supports virtual learning. Students in remote areas can receive updates and complete assignments through virtual learning, unlike in the past (Xu et al., 2014). Virtual learning is cost-friendly as compared to on-campus education. For instance, one only needs an internet connection and a server to attend such sessions. On-campus education requires one to spend money on accommodation, food, traveling, and other expenses that might arise.

Effective Time Management

Virtual learning ensures proper time management for both students and tutors in various institutions. On-campus learning consumes a lot of time that can be used constructively, especially when moving from one class to another. With virtual learning, minimum time is wasted as one does not have many distracters (Xu et al., 2014). For instance, a student traveling to school daily for lessons might get late at some point, which can be avoided with the use of virtual learning. It is easier for one to prepare for a virtual lesson as compared to when they should attend the same physically. Time is an important resource that can help one chive much if well utilized. As such, students need to effectively manage their time for improved professionalism. Virtual learning provides an opportunity for students to practice better aspects of time management (Xu et al., 2014). Both the tutor and the students must develop formidable strategies, including the formulation of a plan to complete the course. Equally, there is a need for one to track and prioritize activities for the effective execution of learning through virtual education (Xu et al., 2014). A study place at home is essential for a student who wants to effectively use their time through virtual learning. This will help reduce any slight disturbance that might prevent or alter learning.

Access to a Larger Pool of Information and Immediate Feedback on Tests

No better resource can provide one with lots of information on any research work. As such, the use of the internet is crucial in gathering necessary information or conducting background checks (Barker & Gossman, 2013). On-premise education has libraries, some of which are established with online platforms. A student learning virtually has a greater opportunity of accessing empirical, descriptive, and other forms of data from existing sources. On-campus education students have access to resources depending on the capacity of the specific institution. The essence of education is to learn new things and skills meant to initiate societal change. As such, using a resource that is rich in information on a particular concept or aspect is helpful (Barker & Gossman, 2013). Virtual learning exposes learners to digital approaches of sharing classwork information and enhances for immediate feedback of the tests. On the contrary, on-campus education cannot handle immediate feedback as it will take time for the tutor to release results. The tests are conducted online, which enhances faster marking and give feedback on the same (Barker & Gossman, 2013). The fact that the test re conducted online allows one to consult other sources before issuing a response, which is not possible for on-campus education. As such, virtual learning is useful and should be established in each institution for convenience.

Argument against Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning is not Possible for all Courses

Much of the courses that institutions offer can be taught virtually through digital means. However, technical courses that require experiments and lab reports cannot be effectively enhanced through virtual learning. The critical disciplines are better placed to offer courses virtually as compared to technical units (Kumar, Gankotiya & Dutta, 2011). In such a circumstance, institutions cannot use virtual learning as the primary approach in the course. Schools advocate for on-campus learning for technical disciplines, for they require the physical presence of both the tutor and student. The fact that it cannot facilitate the learning of such courses makes it ineffective in its capacity to deliver. Virtual learning should be used in institutions to supplement on-campus education for technical courses (Kumar, Gankotiya & Dutta, 2011). For instance, tests that require no experiments and other technical matters can be conducted online while technical exams can be done in institutions. Most teaching is going remote with increased civilization and digitalization. Each institution must lay the right infrastructure that supports virtual learning to act as a boost to contemporary approaches to education (Kumar, Gankotiya & Dutta, 2011). As such, virtual learning cannot be used to administer technical courses to students through digital platforms.

Technical Challenges and Lack of Interaction

Virtual learning is supported by both physical computer hardware and internet infrastructure. Technology is prone to challenges of failure or disconnection, which disrupts the process of learning (Crick et al., 2017). For instance, during a session online, some students or the tutor might experience a network problem. Such circumstances jeopardize the chances of learners gaining the required content. Technicalities should be handled effectively by devising an alternative for each platform that the class uses. With more technical challenges, education is challenged, and learners may lose interest due to the disconnection from concepts. Equally, much time is wasted on handling technicalities, which could otherwise be used constructively. Lack of interaction among learners in the same class might impact learning outcomes negatively (Crick et al., 2017). Learners need to bond with each other and exchange ideas on various disciplines. When learners meet face to face, their understanding, and tolerance amongst each other improve. Students who understand each other are likely to do better in their tests. As such, virtual learning might not be as useful in enhancing social interactions within class members (Michael, 2012). Virtual learning can be successful when an institution has established infrastructure in support of the same. The approach is faced with technical challenges, which result in a lack of interest and commitment among learners.

To sum it up, virtual learning utilizes digital means to enhance education delivery in n institution. The educational strategy has since proved helpful and economical to learners across many institutions globally. The paper examines the concept of virtual learning and why it is necessary for institutions. Virtual learning is convenient as learners need not visit institutions physically for studies. Effective time management and access to a larger pool of information are some of the important arguments in support of virtual learning. On the other hand, virtual learning is ineffective in delivering technical content to students. Besides, technical challenges and lack of motivation makes are some of the assertions that make virtual learning less important within institutions. Comparison between the arguments for virtual learning and opinions against the same indicates that if it is well established, it will prove helpful to an institution to a large extent.

Barker, J., & Gossman, P. (2013). The learning impact of a virtual learning environment: students’ views.  Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal (TEAN) ,  5 (2), 19-38.

Crick, R., Lang, C., Siemens, G., & Wise, A. F. (2017). Learning analytics: Layers, loops and processes in a virtual learning infrastructure.  Handbook of Learning Analytics , 291-308.

Keppell, M., Souter, K., & Riddle, M. (2011).  Physical and virtual learning spaces in higher education: Concepts for the modern learning environment . IGI Publishing (IGI Global).

Kumar, S., Gankotiya, A. K., & Dutta, K. (2011, April). A comparative study of moodle with other e-learning systems. In  2011 3rd International Conference on Electronics Computer Technology  (Vol. 5, pp. 414-418). IEEE.

Michael, K. (2012). Virtual classroom: Reflections of online learning.  Campus-Wide Information Systems ,  29 (3), 156-165.

Stricker, D., Weibel, D., & Wissmath, B. (2011). Efficient learning using a virtual learning environment in a university class.  Computers & Education ,  56 (2), 495-504.

Xu, D., Huang, W. W., Wang, H., & Heales, J. (2014). Enhancing e-learning effectiveness using an intelligent agent-supported personalized virtual learning environment: An empirical investigation.  Information & Management ,  51 (4), 430-440.

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• Published: 25 January 2021

Online education in the post-COVID era

• Barbara B. Lockee 1  

Nature Electronics volume  4 ,  pages 5–6 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The coronavirus pandemic has forced students and educators across all levels of education to rapidly adapt to online learning. The impact of this — and the developments required to make it work — could permanently change how education is delivered.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to engage in the ubiquitous use of virtual learning. And while online and distance learning has been used before to maintain continuity in education, such as in the aftermath of earthquakes 1 , the scale of the current crisis is unprecedented. Speculation has now also begun about what the lasting effects of this will be and what education may look like in the post-COVID era. For some, an immediate retreat to the traditions of the physical classroom is required. But for others, the forced shift to online education is a moment of change and a time to reimagine how education could be delivered 2 .

Looking back

Online education has traditionally been viewed as an alternative pathway, one that is particularly well suited to adult learners seeking higher education opportunities. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has required educators and students across all levels of education to adapt quickly to virtual courses. (The term ‘emergency remote teaching’ was coined in the early stages of the pandemic to describe the temporary nature of this transition 3 .) In some cases, instruction shifted online, then returned to the physical classroom, and then shifted back online due to further surges in the rate of infection. In other cases, instruction was offered using a combination of remote delivery and face-to-face: that is, students can attend online or in person (referred to as the HyFlex model 4 ). In either case, instructors just had to figure out how to make it work, considering the affordances and constraints of the specific learning environment to create learning experiences that were feasible and effective.

The use of varied delivery modes does, in fact, have a long history in education. Mechanical (and then later electronic) teaching machines have provided individualized learning programmes since the 1950s and the work of B. F. Skinner 5 , who proposed using technology to walk individual learners through carefully designed sequences of instruction with immediate feedback indicating the accuracy of their response. Skinner’s notions formed the first formalized representations of programmed learning, or ‘designed’ learning experiences. Then, in the 1960s, Fred Keller developed a personalized system of instruction 6 , in which students first read assigned course materials on their own, followed by one-on-one assessment sessions with a tutor, gaining permission to move ahead only after demonstrating mastery of the instructional material. Occasional class meetings were held to discuss concepts, answer questions and provide opportunities for social interaction. A personalized system of instruction was designed on the premise that initial engagement with content could be done independently, then discussed and applied in the social context of a classroom.

These predecessors to contemporary online education leveraged key principles of instructional design — the systematic process of applying psychological principles of human learning to the creation of effective instructional solutions — to consider which methods (and their corresponding learning environments) would effectively engage students to attain the targeted learning outcomes. In other words, they considered what choices about the planning and implementation of the learning experience can lead to student success. Such early educational innovations laid the groundwork for contemporary virtual learning, which itself incorporates a variety of instructional approaches and combinations of delivery modes.

Online learning and the pandemic

Fast forward to 2020, and various further educational innovations have occurred to make the universal adoption of remote learning a possibility. One key challenge is access. Here, extensive problems remain, including the lack of Internet connectivity in some locations, especially rural ones, and the competing needs among family members for the use of home technology. However, creative solutions have emerged to provide students and families with the facilities and resources needed to engage in and successfully complete coursework 7 . For example, school buses have been used to provide mobile hotspots, and class packets have been sent by mail and instructional presentations aired on local public broadcasting stations. The year 2020 has also seen increased availability and adoption of electronic resources and activities that can now be integrated into online learning experiences. Synchronous online conferencing systems, such as Zoom and Google Meet, have allowed experts from anywhere in the world to join online classrooms 8 and have allowed presentations to be recorded for individual learners to watch at a time most convenient for them. Furthermore, the importance of hands-on, experiential learning has led to innovations such as virtual field trips and virtual labs 9 . A capacity to serve learners of all ages has thus now been effectively established, and the next generation of online education can move from an enterprise that largely serves adult learners and higher education to one that increasingly serves younger learners, in primary and secondary education and from ages 5 to 18.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also likely to have a lasting effect on lesson design. The constraints of the pandemic provided an opportunity for educators to consider new strategies to teach targeted concepts. Though rethinking of instructional approaches was forced and hurried, the experience has served as a rare chance to reconsider strategies that best facilitate learning within the affordances and constraints of the online context. In particular, greater variance in teaching and learning activities will continue to question the importance of ‘seat time’ as the standard on which educational credits are based 10 — lengthy Zoom sessions are seldom instructionally necessary and are not aligned with the psychological principles of how humans learn. Interaction is important for learning but forced interactions among students for the sake of interaction is neither motivating nor beneficial.

While the blurring of the lines between traditional and distance education has been noted for several decades 11 , the pandemic has quickly advanced the erasure of these boundaries. Less single mode, more multi-mode (and thus more educator choices) is becoming the norm due to enhanced infrastructure and developed skill sets that allow people to move across different delivery systems 12 . The well-established best practices of hybrid or blended teaching and learning 13 have served as a guide for new combinations of instructional delivery that have developed in response to the shift to virtual learning. The use of multiple delivery modes is likely to remain, and will be a feature employed with learners of all ages 14 , 15 . Future iterations of online education will no longer be bound to the traditions of single teaching modes, as educators can support pedagogical approaches from a menu of instructional delivery options, a mix that has been supported by previous generations of online educators 16 .

Also significant are the changes to how learning outcomes are determined in online settings. Many educators have altered the ways in which student achievement is measured, eliminating assignments and changing assessment strategies altogether 17 . Such alterations include determining learning through strategies that leverage the online delivery mode, such as interactive discussions, student-led teaching and the use of games to increase motivation and attention. Specific changes that are likely to continue include flexible or extended deadlines for assignment completion 18 , more student choice regarding measures of learning, and more authentic experiences that involve the meaningful application of newly learned skills and knowledge 19 , for example, team-based projects that involve multiple creative and social media tools in support of collaborative problem solving.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, technological and administrative systems for implementing online learning, and the infrastructure that supports its access and delivery, had to adapt quickly. While access remains a significant issue for many, extensive resources have been allocated and processes developed to connect learners with course activities and materials, to facilitate communication between instructors and students, and to manage the administration of online learning. Paths for greater access and opportunities to online education have now been forged, and there is a clear route for the next generation of adopters of online education.

Before the pandemic, the primary purpose of distance and online education was providing access to instruction for those otherwise unable to participate in a traditional, place-based academic programme. As its purpose has shifted to supporting continuity of instruction, its audience, as well as the wider learning ecosystem, has changed. It will be interesting to see which aspects of emergency remote teaching remain in the next generation of education, when the threat of COVID-19 is no longer a factor. But online education will undoubtedly find new audiences. And the flexibility and learning possibilities that have emerged from necessity are likely to shift the expectations of students and educators, diminishing further the line between classroom-based instruction and virtual learning.

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Lockee, B.B. Online education in the post-COVID era. Nat Electron 4 , 5–6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00534-0

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Remote Teaching: A Student's Perspective

By a purdue student.

As many teachers are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 required sudden, drastic changes to course curricula. What they may not be aware of are all of the many ways in which this has affected and complicated students’ learning and their academic experiences. This essay, which is written by a student enrolled in several Spring and Summer 2020 remote courses at Purdue University, describes the firsthand experiences (and those of interviewed peers) of participating in remote courses. The aim of this essay is to make teachers aware of the unexpected challenges that remote learning can pose for students.

Emergency remote teaching differs from well-planned online learning

During the past semester, many students and faculty colloquially referred to their courses as “online classes.” While these courses were being taught online, it is nonetheless helpful to distinguish classes that were deliberately designed to be administered online from courses that suddenly shifted online due to an emergency. Perhaps the most significant difference is that students knowingly register for online courses, whereas the switch to remote teaching in spring 2020 was involuntary (though unavoidable). Additionally, online courses are designed in accordance with theoretical and practical standards for teaching in virtual contexts. By contrast, the short transition timeline for implementing online instruction in spring 2020 made applying these standards and preparing instructors next to impossible. As a result, logistical and technical problems were inevitable. I've listed a few of these below.

"...students knowingly register for online courses, whereas the switch to remote teaching in spring 2020 was involuntary..."

Observed Challenges

When teachers are forced to adjust on short notice, some course components may need to be sacrificed..

Two characteristics of high-quality online classes are that their learning outcomes mirror those of in-person classes and that significant time is devoted to course design prior to the beginning of the course. These characteristics ensure the quality of the student learning experience. However, as both students and faculty were given little chance to prepare for the move to remote teaching in spring 2020, adjustments to their learning outcomes were all but unavoidable. Instructors were required to move their courses to a remote teaching format in the span of little over a week during a time when they, like their students, would normally be on break. It was a monumental challenge and one that university faculty rose to meet spectacularly well. However, many components of courses that were originally designed to be taught in person could not be replicated in a remote learning context. Time for the development of contingency plans was limited, which posed additional challenges for the remainder of the semester.

Students' internet connections play a big role in their ability to participate.

At the start of the remote move, many instructors hoped to continue instruction synchronously, but this quickly became infeasible due to technological and logistical issues (e.g., internet bandwidth, student internet access, and time differences). A large number of my fellow students shared internet with other household members, who were also working remotely and were also reliant on conferencing software for meetings. The full-time job of a parent or sibling may be prioritized over a student’s lecture in limited-bandwidth situations. Worse, students in rural areas may simply not have a strong enough connection to participate in synchronous activities at all. These common realities suggest that less technologically reliant contingency plans are necessary and that course material should be made accessible in multiple formats. For example, in addition to offering a video recorded lecture, instructors could also consider providing notes for their lecture.

"These common realities suggest that less technologically reliant contingency plans are necessary and that course material should be made accessible in multiple formats."

It’s also important to design assignments carefully in online courses. For example, group projects, which can pose challenges even when courses are held in person (e.g., in terms of communication, coordination of responsibilities, and access to needed materials), can nevertheless offer students valuable opportunities for personal growth. However, these challenges only become more significant when group projects must be completed remotely. In these cases, access to secure internet and needed materials becomes critical to student success. Partnered students may be in different time zones or may even have been affected by COVID-19 in a way that hampers their ability to contribute to the project. Therefore, teachers may find it advisable to provide students with the option to complete work that would normally constitute group projects as individual assignments.

Teachers underestimate how much harder it is to focus in online courses.

When students no longer share a single learning environment, environmental diffferences can cause significant differences in their engagement. Students forced to use their home as a mixed work/academic space may encounter distractions that wouldn't be a factor in a traditional classroom. These distractions challenge students’ abilities to focus and self-regulate. The shift to remote leadning may also disrupt students’ academic routines. Experts in educational psychology and learning design and technology I spoke to for this piece argued that students’ abilities to handle this transition is partly age-dependent. Older students may not only have more familiarity with online classes, but also with the sort of self-regulation and planning that is required for academic success in the university. Thus, age and course level should be taken into consideration when devising ways to engage, challenge, and support students in remote learning contexts.

"...age and course level should be taken into consideration when devising ways to engage, challenge, and support students in remote learning contexts."

When students are new to taking classes online, explicit prompting from the instructor can be needed to replicate the missing human interactions that normally spur enagagement in the classroom. Thus, it is especially important that instructors closely monitor online learning spaces like discussion boards, looking for appropriate opportunities to chime in. An expert in learning design and technology I spoke to said that instructors should ideally be in touch with their students twice per week. They should frequently outline course expectations and maintain some availability to answer questions. This is especially true in instances where course expectations change due to the shift to online learning. This expert also noted that it is important that instructors provide timely feedback on assignments and assessments. This communicates to students where they stand in their courses and helps students adjust their study strategies as needed.

Students need opportunities to connect and collaborate.

One of the most special parts about being a student at Purdue University is being part of a single large learning community made up of a spectrum of smaller learning communities. At Purdue, students can form bonds with classmates, neighbors, and roommates with a diverse range of skills and interests. Through these friendships and connections, social networks develop, providing emotional and academic support for the many challenges that our rigorous coursework poses.

The closure of the university's physical classrooms created a barrier to the utilization and maintenance of these networks, and it is important that students still have access to one another even when at a distance. One way in which instructors can support their students in remote learning contexts is to create a student-only discussion board on their course page where students can get to know one another and connect. Students may also have questions related to course content that they may feel uncomfortable asking an instructor but that can be easily answered by a classmate.

Many students are dealing with a time change/difference.

For personal reasons, I finished the spring 2020 semester in Europe. Navigating the time difference while juggling the responsibilities of my job, which required synchronous work, and my coursework was challenging (to say the least). One of my courses had a large group project, which was a significant source of stress this past semester. My partner, like many of my instructors, did not seem to understand the significance of this time difference, which often required me to keep a schedule that made daily life in my time zone difficult. When having to make conference calls at 10:00 p.m. and respond to time-sensitive emails well after midnight, work-life balance is much more difficult to achieve. This was abundently clear to me after dealing with time difference of merely six hours. Keep in mind that some students may be dealing with even greater time differences. Thus, try to provide opportunities for asynchronous participation whenever you can.

"Navigating the time difference while juggling the responsibilities of my job, which required synchronous work, and my coursework was challenging (to say the least)"

While flexibility is necessary, academic integrity is still important.

Both teachers and students in my courses expressed discomfort and concern over issues relating to academic integrity. Some students questioned why lockdown browsers (i.e., special browsers used to prevent students from cheating during exams) were not used. According to a learning design and technology expert I spoke to, the short timeline for the transition to remote teaching and learning made the incorporation of such software infeasible. In addition this software can be incredibly expensive, and many professors do not even know that it exists (much less how to use it effectively).

However, several students I spoke with reported that, in their efforts to maintain academic integrity via exam monitoring, some of their professors mandated that students take exams synchronously. This decision disregarded the potential for technical issues and ignored the time differences many students faced, placing unfair stress on students in faraway countries and those with poor connections. Other faculty took an opposite approach by extending the window of time in which students could take exams. Receiving changing and often unclear instructions led to confusion about what students' instructors expected of them. Incorporating this software more consistently in online or remote courses may be a good way to ensure both students and teachers are familiar with it in the future.

The most difficult part of this pandemic has not been the coursework, nor the transition the remote learning, but instead the many unknowns that have faced students and teachers alike. We at Purdue are lucky that our education has been able to continue relatively unabated, and we can be grateful for that fact that most of our instructors have done their best to support us. This coming fall, nearly 500 courses will be offered as online courses, and many others will be presented in hybrid formats. With more time to prepare, courses this fall can be expected to be of higher quality and to have more student-centered contingency plans. As long as it strives for flexibility and gives consideration to students’ evolving needs, the Purdue educational experience will continue to earn its high-quality reputation.

Thank you. Boiler up!

How does virtual learning impact students in higher education?

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, stephanie riegg cellini stephanie riegg cellini nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy.

August 13, 2021

In 2020, the pandemic pushed millions of college students around the world into virtual learning. As the new academic year begins, many colleges in the U.S. are poised to bring students back to campus, but a large amount of uncertainty remains. Some institutions will undoubtedly continue to offer online or hybrid classes, even as in-person instruction resumes. At the same time, low vaccination rates, new coronavirus variants, and travel restrictions for international students may mean a return to fully online instruction for some U.S. students and many more around the world.

Public attention has largely focused on the learning losses of K-12 students who shifted online during the pandemic. Yet, we may have reason to be concerned about postsecondary students too. What can we expect from the move to virtual learning? How does virtual learning impact student outcomes? And how does it compare to in-person instruction at the postsecondary level?

Several new papers shed light on these issues, building on previous work in higher education and assessing the efficacy of online education in new contexts. The results are generally consistent with past research: Online coursework generally yields worse student performance than in-person coursework. The negative effects of online course-taking are particularly pronounced for less-academically prepared students and for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees. New evidence from 2020 also suggests that the switch to online course-taking in the pandemic led to declines in course completion. However, a few new studies point to some positive effects of online learning, too. This post discusses this new evidence and its implications for the upcoming academic year.

Evaluating online instruction in higher education

A number of studies have assessed online versus in-person learning at the college level in recent years. A key concern in this literature is that students typically self-select into online or in-person programs or courses, confounding estimates of student outcomes. That is, differences in the characteristics of students themselves may drive differences in the outcome measures we observe that are unrelated to the mode of instruction. In addition, the content, instructor, assignments, and other course features might differ across online and in-person modes as well, which makes apples-to-apples comparisons difficult.

The most compelling studies of online education draw on a random assignment design (i.e., randomized control trial or RCT) to isolate the causal effect of online versus in-person learning. Several pathbreaking studies were able to estimate causal impacts of performance on final exams or course grades in recent years. Virtually all of these studies found that online instruction resulted in lower student performance relative to in-person instruction; although in one case , students with hybrid instruction performed similarly to their in-person peers. Negative effects of online course-taking were particularly pronounced for males and less-academically prepared students.

A new paper by Kofoed and co-authors adds to this literature looking specifically at online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in a novel context: the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. When many colleges moved classes completely online or let students choose their own mode of instruction at the start of the pandemic, West Point economics professors arranged to randomly assign students to in-person or online modes of learning. The same instructors taught one online and one in-person economics class each, and all materials, exams, and assignments were otherwise identical, minimizing biases that otherwise stand in the way of true comparisons. They find that online education lowered a student’s final grade by about 0.2 standard deviations. Their work also confirms the results of previous papers, finding that the negative effect of online learning was driven by students with lower academic ability. A follow-up survey of students’ experiences suggests that online students had trouble concentrating on their coursework and felt less connected to both their peers and instructors relative to their in-person peers.

Cacault et al. (2021) also use an RCT to assess the effects of online lectures in a Swiss university. The authors find that having access to a live-streamed lecture in addition to an in-person option improves the achievement of high-ability students, but lowers the achievement of low-ability students. The key to understanding this two-pronged effect is the counterfactual: When streamed lectures substitute for no attendance (e.g., if a student is ill), they can help students, but when streaming lectures substitute for in-person attendance, they can hurt students.

Broader impacts of online learning

One drawback of RCTs is that these studies are typically limited to a single college and often a single course within that college, so it is not clear if the results generalize to other contexts. Several papers in the literature draw on larger samples of students in non-randomized settings and mitigate selection problems with various econometric methods. These papers find common themes: Students in online courses generally get lower grades, are less likely to perform well in follow-on coursework, and are less likely to graduate than similar students taking in-person classes.

In a recent paper , my co-author Hernando Grueso and I add to this strand of the literature, expanding it to a very different context. We draw on data from the country of Colombia, where students take a mandatory exit exam when they graduate. Using these data, we can assess test scores as an outcome, rather than (more subjective) course grades used in other studies. We can also assess performance across a wide range of institutions, degree programs, and majors.

We find that bachelor’s degree students in online programs perform worse on nearly all test score measures—including math, reading, writing, and English—relative to their counterparts in similar on-campus programs. Results for shorter technical certificates, however, are more mixed. While online students perform significantly worse than on-campus students on exit exams in private institutions, they perform better in SENA, the main public vocational institution in the country, suggesting substantial heterogeneity across institutions in the quality of online programming. Interviews with SENA staff indicate that SENA’s approach of synchronous learning and real-world projects may be working for some online students, but we cannot definitively call this causal evidence, particularly because we can only observe the students who graduate.

A new working paper by Fischer et al. pushes beyond near-term outcomes, like grades and scores, to consider longer-term outcomes, like graduation and time-to-degree, for bachelor’s degree-seeking students in a large public university in California. They find reason to be optimistic about online coursework: When students take courses required for their major online, they are more likely to graduate in four years and see a small decrease in time-to-degree relative to students taking the requirements in-person.

On the other hand, new work considering course completion during the pandemic is less promising. Looking at student outcomes in spring 2020 in Virginia’s community college system, Bird et al. find that the switch to online instruction resulted in an 8.5% reduction in course completion. They find that both withdrawals and failures rose. They also confirm findings in the literature that negative impacts are more extreme among less-academically-prepared students.

Online learning in the fall and beyond

Much more research on virtual learning will undoubtedly be forthcoming post-pandemic. For now, college professors and administrators should consider that college students pushed online may be less prepared for future follow-on classes, their GPAs may be lower, course completion may suffer, and overall learning may have declined relative to in-person cohorts in previous years. These results seem particularly problematic for students with less academic preparation and those in bachelor’s degree programs.

The research is less clear on the impact of virtual instruction on college completion. Although course completion rates appear to be lower for online courses relative to in-person, the evidence is mixed on the impact of virtual instruction on graduation and time-to-degree. The negative learning impacts, reduced course completion, and lack of connection with other students and faculty in a virtual environment could ultimately reduce college completion rates. On the other hand, there is also evidence that the availability of online classes may allow students to move through their degree requirement more quickly.

As the fall semester approaches, colleges will need to make critical choices about online, hybrid, and in-person course offerings. Maintaining some of the most successful online courses will enhance flexibility at this uncertain time and allow some students to continue to make progress on their degrees if they get sick or cannot return to campus for other reasons. For those transitioning back to campus, administrators might consider additional in-person programming, review sessions, tutoring, and other enhanced supports as students make up for learning losses associated with the virtual instruction of the past year.

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The Research Alliance for New York City Schools

Exploring the Evidence on Virtual and Blended Learning

Chelsea farley (2020).

The Research Alliance has developed an overview of research and practical guidance on strategies to implement remote teaching and learning, as well as strategies that combine virtual and in-class instruction. While not a complete summary of the relevant literature, our overview provides links to a variety of useful articles, resources, and reports. We hope this material can inform school and district leaders’ planning and support their ongoing assessment of what has and has not been effective, for whom, and under what conditions.

Key Takeaways from the Research Alliance’s Review

• Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still an enormous need for data and evidence to understand how the school closures that took place in NYC and around the country—and how the various approaches to reopening—have affected students’ academic, social/emotional, and health outcomes. New research is needed to inform critical policy and practice decisions. (Below we highlight specific kinds of data that would help answer the most pressing questions.)
• Past research about online learning is limited and mostly focused on post-secondary and adult education. The studies that do exist in K-12 education find that students participating in online learning generally perform similarly to or worse than peers who have access to traditional face-to-face instruction (with programs that are 100% online faring worse than blended learning approaches). It is important to note that this research typically compares online learning with regular classroom instruction—rather than comparing it to no instruction at all—and that these studies took place under dramatically different conditions than those resulting from COVID-19.
• Studies of blended learning, personalized learning, and specific technology-based tools and programs provide hints about successful approaches, but also underscore substantial “fuzziness” around the definition of these terms; major challenges to high-quality implementation; and a lack of rigorous impact research.
• Teaching quality is more important than how lessons are delivered  (e.g., “clear explanations, scaffolding and feedback”);
• Ensuring access to technology is key , particularly for disadvantaged students and families;
• Peer interactions can provide motivation and improve learning outcomes  (e.g., “peer marking and feedback, sharing models of good work,” and opportunities for collaboration and live discussions of content);
• Supporting students to work independently can improve learning outcomes  (e.g., “prompting pupils to reflect on their work or to consider the strategies they will use if they get stuck”, checklists or daily plans); and
• Different approaches to remote learning suit different tasks and types of content.

Our overview highlights these and other lessons from dozens of relevant studies. It also underscores the need for more rigorous evidence about the implementation and impact of different approaches to remote and blended learning, particularly in the context of the current pandemic. To begin to fill these knowledge gaps,  the Research Alliance strongly encourages schools and districts—including the NYC Department of Education—to collect, analyze, and share data about :

• COVID-19 testing results,
• Professional development aimed at helping teachers implement remote and blended learning,
• Students’ attendance and engagement (online and in person),
• Students’ social and emotional wellbeing,
• Students’ and families’ experiences with remote and blended instruction,
• Teachers’ experiences with remote and blended instruction, and—critically—
• What students are learning, over time.

All of this should be done with an eye toward pre-existing inequalities—especially differences related to race/ethnicity, poverty, home language, and disability. These data are crucial for understanding how COVID-19 has affected the educational trajectories of different groups of students and for developing strong policy and practice responses. 

Read our full overview here . This document was initially released in May and updated in November of 2020.

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Original research article, insights into students’ experiences and perceptions of remote learning methods: from the covid-19 pandemic to best practice for the future.

• 1 Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute, San Francisco, CA, United States
• 2 Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair, NJ, United States
• 3 Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

This spring, students across the globe transitioned from in-person classes to remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented change to undergraduate education saw institutions adopting multiple online teaching modalities and instructional platforms. We sought to understand students’ experiences with and perspectives on those methods of remote instruction in order to inform pedagogical decisions during the current pandemic and in future development of online courses and virtual learning experiences. Our survey gathered quantitative and qualitative data regarding students’ experiences with synchronous and asynchronous methods of remote learning and specific pedagogical techniques associated with each. A total of 4,789 undergraduate participants representing institutions across 95 countries were recruited via Instagram. We find that most students prefer synchronous online classes, and students whose primary mode of remote instruction has been synchronous report being more engaged and motivated. Our qualitative data show that students miss the social aspects of learning on campus, and it is possible that synchronous learning helps to mitigate some feelings of isolation. Students whose synchronous classes include active-learning techniques (which are inherently more social) report significantly higher levels of engagement, motivation, enjoyment, and satisfaction with instruction. Respondents’ recommendations for changes emphasize increased engagement, interaction, and student participation. We conclude that active-learning methods, which are known to increase motivation, engagement, and learning in traditional classrooms, also have a positive impact in the remote-learning environment. Integrating these elements into online courses will improve the student experience.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the demographics of online students. Previously, almost all students engaged in online learning elected the online format, starting with individual online courses in the mid-1990s through today’s robust online degree and certificate programs. These students prioritize convenience, flexibility and ability to work while studying and are older than traditional college age students ( Harris and Martin, 2012 ; Levitz, 2016 ). These students also find asynchronous elements of a course are more useful than synchronous elements ( Gillingham and Molinari, 2012 ). In contrast, students who chose to take courses in-person prioritize face-to-face instruction and connection with others and skew considerably younger ( Harris and Martin, 2012 ). This leaves open the question of whether students who prefer to learn in-person but are forced to learn remotely will prefer synchronous or asynchronous methods. One study of student preferences following a switch to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that students enjoy synchronous over asynchronous course elements and find them more effective ( Gillis and Krull, 2020 ). Now that millions of traditional in-person courses have transitioned online, our survey expands the data on student preferences and explores if those preferences align with pedagogical best practices.

An extensive body of research has explored what instructional methods improve student learning outcomes (Fink. 2013). Considerable evidence indicates that active-learning or student-centered approaches result in better learning outcomes than passive-learning or instructor-centered approaches, both in-person and online ( Freeman et al., 2014 ; Chen et al., 2018 ; Davis et al., 2018 ). Active-learning approaches include student activities or discussion in class, whereas passive-learning approaches emphasize extensive exposition by the instructor ( Freeman et al., 2014 ). Constructivist learning theories argue that students must be active participants in creating their own learning, and that listening to expert explanations is seldom sufficient to trigger the neurological changes necessary for learning ( Bostock, 1998 ; Zull, 2002 ). Some studies conclude that, while students learn more via active learning, they may report greater perceptions of their learning and greater enjoyment when passive approaches are used ( Deslauriers et al., 2019 ). We examine student perceptions of remote learning experiences in light of these previous findings.

In this study, we administered a survey focused on student perceptions of remote learning in late May 2020 through the social media account of @unjadedjade to a global population of English speaking undergraduate students representing institutions across 95 countries. We aim to explore how students were being taught, the relationship between pedagogical methods and student perceptions of their experience, and the reasons behind those perceptions. Here we present an initial analysis of the results and share our data set for further inquiry. We find that positive student perceptions correlate with synchronous courses that employ a variety of interactive pedagogical techniques, and that students overwhelmingly suggest behavioral and pedagogical changes that increase social engagement and interaction. We argue that these results support the importance of active learning in an online environment.

Materials and Methods

Participant pool.

Students were recruited through the Instagram account @unjadedjade. This social media platform, run by influencer Jade Bowler, focuses on education, effective study tips, ethical lifestyle, and promotes a positive mindset. For this reason, the audience is presumably academically inclined, and interested in self-improvement. The survey was posted to her account and received 10,563 responses within the first 36 h. Here we analyze the 4,789 of those responses that came from undergraduates. While we did not collect demographic or identifying information, we suspect that women are overrepresented in these data as followers of @unjadedjade are 80% women. A large minority of respondents were from the United Kingdom as Jade Bowler is a British influencer. Specifically, 43.3% of participants attend United Kingdom institutions, followed by 6.7% attending university in the Netherlands, 6.1% in Germany, 5.8% in the United States and 4.2% in Australia. Ninety additional countries are represented in these data (see Supplementary Figure 1 ).

Survey Design

The purpose of this survey is to learn about students’ instructional experiences following the transition to remote learning in the spring of 2020.

This survey was initially created for a student assignment for the undergraduate course Empirical Analysis at Minerva Schools at KGI. That version served as a robust pre-test and allowed for identification of the primary online platforms used, and the four primary modes of learning: synchronous (live) classes, recorded lectures and videos, uploaded or emailed materials, and chat-based communication. We did not adapt any open-ended questions based on the pre-test survey to avoid biasing the results and only corrected language in questions for clarity. We used these data along with an analysis of common practices in online learning to revise the survey. Our revised survey asked students to identify the synchronous and asynchronous pedagogical methods and platforms that they were using for remote learning. Pedagogical methods were drawn from literature assessing active and passive teaching strategies in North American institutions ( Fink, 2013 ; Chen et al., 2018 ; Davis et al., 2018 ). Open-ended questions asked students to describe why they preferred certain modes of learning and how they could improve their learning experience. Students also reported on their affective response to learning and participation using a Likert scale.

The revised survey also asked whether students had responded to the earlier survey. No significant differences were found between responses of those answering for the first and second times (data not shown). See Supplementary Appendix 1 for survey questions. Survey data was collected from 5/21/20 to 5/23/20.

Qualitative Coding

We applied a qualitative coding framework adapted from Gale et al. (2013) to analyze student responses to open-ended questions. Four researchers read several hundred responses and noted themes that surfaced. We then developed a list of themes inductively from the survey data and deductively from the literature on pedagogical practice ( Garrison et al., 1999 ; Zull, 2002 ; Fink, 2013 ; Freeman et al., 2014 ). The initial codebook was revised collaboratively based on feedback from researchers after coding 20–80 qualitative comments each. Before coding their assigned questions, alignment was examined through coding of 20 additional responses. Researchers aligned in identifying the same major themes. Discrepancies in terms identified were resolved through discussion. Researchers continued to meet weekly to discuss progress and alignment. The majority of responses were coded by a single researcher using the final codebook ( Supplementary Table 1 ). All responses to questions 3 (4,318 responses) and 8 (4,704 responses), and 2,512 of 4,776 responses to question 12 were analyzed. Valence was also indicated where necessary (i.e., positive or negative discussion of terms). This paper focuses on the most prevalent themes from our initial analysis of the qualitative responses. The corresponding author reviewed codes to ensure consistency and accuracy of reported data.

Statistical Analysis

The survey included two sets of Likert-scale questions, one consisting of a set of six statements about students’ perceptions of their experiences following the transition to remote learning ( Table 1 ). For each statement, students indicated their level of agreement with the statement on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (“Strongly Disagree”) to 5 (“Strongly Agree”). The second set asked the students to respond to the same set of statements, but about their retroactive perceptions of their experiences with in-person instruction before the transition to remote learning. This set was not the subject of our analysis but is present in the published survey results. To explore correlations among student responses, we used CrossCat analysis to calculate the probability of dependence between Likert-scale responses ( Mansinghka et al., 2016 ).

Table 1. Likert-scale questions.

Mean values are calculated based on the numerical scores associated with each response. Measures of statistical significance for comparisons between different subgroups of respondents were calculated using a two-sided Mann-Whitney U -test, and p -values reported here are based on this test statistic. We report effect sizes in pairwise comparisons using the common-language effect size, f , which is the probability that the response from a random sample from subgroup 1 is greater than the response from a random sample from subgroup 2. We also examined the effects of different modes of remote learning and technological platforms using ordinal logistic regression. With the exception of the mean values, all of these analyses treat Likert-scale responses as ordinal-scale, rather than interval-scale data.

Students Prefer Synchronous Class Sessions

Students were asked to identify their primary mode of learning given four categories of remote course design that emerged from the pilot survey and across literature on online teaching: live (synchronous) classes, recorded lectures and videos, emailed or uploaded materials, and chats and discussion forums. While 42.7% ( n = 2,045) students identified live classes as their primary mode of learning, 54.6% ( n = 2613) students preferred this mode ( Figure 1 ). Both recorded lectures and live classes were preferred over uploaded materials (6.22%, n = 298) and chat (3.36%, n = 161).

Figure 1. Actual (A) and preferred (B) primary modes of learning.

In addition to a preference for live classes, students whose primary mode was synchronous were more likely to enjoy the class, feel motivated and engaged, be satisfied with instruction and report higher levels of participation ( Table 2 and Supplementary Figure 2 ). Regardless of primary mode, over two-thirds of students reported they are often distracted during remote courses.

Table 2. The effect of synchronous vs. asynchronous primary modes of learning on student perceptions.

Variation in Pedagogical Techniques for Synchronous Classes Results in More Positive Perceptions of the Student Learning Experience

To survey the use of passive vs. active instructional methods, students reported the pedagogical techniques used in their live classes. Among the synchronous methods, we identify three different categories ( National Research Council, 2000 ; Freeman et al., 2014 ). Passive methods (P) include lectures, presentations, and explanation using diagrams, white boards and/or other media. These methods all rely on instructor delivery rather than student participation. Our next category represents active learning through primarily one-on-one interactions (A). The methods in this group are in-class assessment, question-and-answer (Q&A), and classroom chat. Group interactions (F) included classroom discussions and small-group activities. Given these categories, Mann-Whitney U pairwise comparisons between the 7 possible combinations and Likert scale responses about student experience showed that the use of a variety of methods resulted in higher ratings of experience vs. the use of a single method whether or not that single method was active or passive ( Table 3 ). Indeed, students whose classes used methods from each category (PAF) had higher ratings of enjoyment, motivation, and satisfaction with instruction than those who only chose any single method ( p < 0.0001) and also rated higher rates of participation and engagement compared to students whose only method was passive (P) or active through one-on-one interactions (A) ( p < 0.00001). Student ratings of distraction were not significantly different for any comparison. Given that sets of Likert responses often appeared significant together in these comparisons, we ran a CrossCat analysis to look at the probability of dependence across Likert responses. Responses have a high probability of dependence on each other, limiting what we can claim about any discrete response ( Supplementary Figure 3 ).

Table 3. Comparison of combinations of synchronous methods on student perceptions. Effect size (f).

Mann-Whitney U pairwise comparisons were also used to check if improvement in student experience was associated with the number of methods used vs. the variety of types of methods. For every comparison, we found that more methods resulted in higher scores on all Likert measures except distraction ( Table 4 ). Even comparison between four or fewer methods and greater than four methods resulted in a 59% chance that the latter enjoyed the courses more ( p < 0.00001) and 60% chance that they felt more motivated to learn ( p < 0.00001). Students who selected more than four methods ( n = 417) were also 65.1% ( p < 0.00001), 62.9% ( p < 0.00001) and 64.3% ( p < 0.00001) more satisfied with instruction, engaged, and actively participating, respectfully. Therefore, there was an overlap between how the number and variety of methods influenced students’ experiences. Since the number of techniques per category is 2–3, we cannot fully disentangle the effect of number vs. variety. Pairwise comparisons to look at subsets of data with 2–3 methods from a single group vs. 2–3 methods across groups controlled for this but had low sample numbers in most groups and resulted in no significant findings (data not shown). Therefore, from the data we have in our survey, there seems to be an interdependence between number and variety of methods on students’ learning experiences.

Table 4. Comparison of the number of synchronous methods on student perceptions. Effect size (f).

Variation in Asynchronous Pedagogical Techniques Results in More Positive Perceptions of the Student Learning Experience

Along with synchronous pedagogical methods, students reported the asynchronous methods that were used for their classes. We divided these methods into three main categories and conducted pairwise comparisons. Learning methods include video lectures, video content, and posted study materials. Interacting methods include discussion/chat forums, live office hours, and email Q&A with professors. Testing methods include assignments and exams. Our results again show the importance of variety in students’ perceptions ( Table 5 ). For example, compared to providing learning materials only, providing learning materials, interaction, and testing improved enjoyment ( f = 0.546, p < 0.001), motivation ( f = 0.553, p < 0.0001), satisfaction with instruction ( f = 0.596, p < 0.00001), engagement ( f = 0.572, p < 0.00001) and active participation ( f = 0.563, p < 0.00001) (row 6). Similarly, compared to just being interactive with conversations, the combination of all three methods improved five out of six indicators, except for distraction in class (row 11).

Table 5. Comparison of combinations of asynchronous methods on student perceptions. Effect size (f).

Ordinal logistic regression was used to assess the likelihood that the platforms students used predicted student perceptions ( Supplementary Table 2 ). Platform choices were based on the answers to open-ended questions in the pre-test survey. The synchronous and asynchronous methods used were consistently more predictive of Likert responses than the specific platforms. Likewise, distraction continued to be our outlier with no differences across methods or platforms.

Students Prefer In-Person and Synchronous Online Learning Largely Due to Social-Emotional Reasoning

As expected, 86.1% (4,123) of survey participants report a preference for in-person courses, while 13.9% (666) prefer online courses. When asked to explain the reasons for their preference, students who prefer in-person courses most often mention the importance of social interaction (693 mentions), engagement (639 mentions), and motivation (440 mentions). These students are also more likely to mention a preference for a fixed schedule (185 mentions) vs. a flexible schedule (2 mentions).

In addition to identifying social reasons for their preference for in-person learning, students’ suggestions for improvements in online learning focus primarily on increasing interaction and engagement, with 845 mentions of live classes, 685 mentions of interaction, 126 calls for increased participation and calls for changes related to these topics such as, “Smaller teaching groups for live sessions so that everyone is encouraged to talk as some people don’t say anything and don’t participate in group work,” and “Make it less of the professor reading the pdf that was given to us and more interaction.”

Students who prefer online learning primarily identify independence and flexibility (214 mentions) and reasons related to anxiety and discomfort in in-person settings (41 mentions). Anxiety was only mentioned 12 times in the much larger group that prefers in-person learning.

The preference for synchronous vs. asynchronous modes of learning follows similar trends ( Table 6 ). Students who prefer live classes mention engagement and interaction most often while those who prefer recorded lectures mention flexibility.

Table 6. Most prevalent themes for students based on their preferred mode of remote learning.

Student Perceptions Align With Research on Active Learning

The first, and most robust, conclusion is that incorporation of active-learning methods correlates with more positive student perceptions of affect and engagement. We can see this clearly in the substantial differences on a number of measures, where students whose classes used only passive-learning techniques reported lower levels of engagement, satisfaction, participation, and motivation when compared with students whose classes incorporated at least some active-learning elements. This result is consistent with prior research on the value of active learning ( Freeman et al., 2014 ).

Though research shows that student learning improves in active learning classes, on campus, student perceptions of their learning, enjoyment, and satisfaction with instruction are often lower in active-learning courses ( Deslauriers et al., 2019 ). Our finding that students rate enjoyment and satisfaction with instruction higher for active learning online suggests that the preference for passive lectures on campus relies on elements outside of the lecture itself. That might include the lecture hall environment, the social physical presence of peers, or normalization of passive lectures as the expected mode for on-campus classes. This implies that there may be more buy-in for active learning online vs. in-person.

A second result from our survey is that student perceptions of affect and engagement are associated with students experiencing a greater diversity of learning modalities. We see this in two different results. First, in addition to the fact that classes that include active learning outperform classes that rely solely on passive methods, we find that on all measures besides distraction, the highest student ratings are associated with a combination of active and passive methods. Second, we find that these higher scores are associated with classes that make use of a larger number of different methods.

This second result suggests that students benefit from classes that make use of multiple different techniques, possibly invoking a combination of passive and active methods. However, it is unclear from our data whether this effect is associated specifically with combining active and passive methods, or if it is associated simply with the use of multiple different methods, irrespective of whether those methods are active, passive, or some combination. The problem is that the number of methods used is confounded with the diversity of methods (e.g., it is impossible for a classroom using only one method to use both active and passive methods). In an attempt to address this question, we looked separately at the effect of number and diversity of methods while holding the other constant. Across a large number of such comparisons, we found few statistically significant differences, which may be a consequence of the fact that each comparison focused on a small subset of the data.

Thus, our data suggests that using a greater diversity of learning methods in the classroom may lead to better student outcomes. This is supported by research on student attention span which suggests varying delivery after 10–15 min to retain student’s attention ( Bradbury, 2016 ). It is likely that this is more relevant for online learning where students report high levels of distraction across methods, modalities, and platforms. Given that number and variety are key, and there are few passive learning methods, we can assume that some combination of methods that includes active learning improves student experience. However, it is not clear whether we should predict that this benefit would come simply from increasing the number of different methods used, or if there are benefits specific to combining particular methods. Disentangling these effects would be an interesting avenue for future research.

Students Value Social Presence in Remote Learning

Student responses across our open-ended survey questions show a striking difference in reasons for their preferences compared with traditional online learners who prefer flexibility ( Harris and Martin, 2012 ; Levitz, 2016 ). Students reasons for preferring in-person classes and synchronous remote classes emphasize the desire for social interaction and echo the research on the importance of social presence for learning in online courses.

Short et al. (1976) outlined Social Presence Theory in depicting students’ perceptions of each other as real in different means of telecommunications. These ideas translate directly to questions surrounding online education and pedagogy in regards to educational design in networked learning where connection across learners and instructors improves learning outcomes especially with “Human-Human interaction” ( Goodyear, 2002 , 2005 ; Tu, 2002 ). These ideas play heavily into asynchronous vs. synchronous learning, where Tu reports students having positive responses to both synchronous “real-time discussion in pleasantness, responsiveness and comfort with familiar topics” and real-time discussions edging out asynchronous computer-mediated communications in immediate replies and responsiveness. Tu’s research indicates that students perceive more interaction with synchronous mediums such as discussions because of immediacy which enhances social presence and support the use of active learning techniques ( Gunawardena, 1995 ; Tu, 2002 ). Thus, verbal immediacy and communities with face-to-face interactions, such as those in synchronous learning classrooms, lessen the psychological distance of communicators online and can simultaneously improve instructional satisfaction and reported learning ( Gunawardena and Zittle, 1997 ; Richardson and Swan, 2019 ; Shea et al., 2019 ). While synchronous learning may not be ideal for traditional online students and a subset of our participants, this research suggests that non-traditional online learners are more likely to appreciate the value of social presence.

Social presence also connects to the importance of social connections in learning. Too often, current systems of education emphasize course content in narrow ways that fail to embrace the full humanity of students and instructors ( Gay, 2000 ). With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to further social isolation for many students, the importance of social presence in courses, including live interactions that build social connections with classmates and with instructors, may be increased.

Limitations of These Data

Our undergraduate data consisted of 4,789 responses from 95 different countries, an unprecedented global scale for research on online learning. However, since respondents were followers of @unjadedjade who focuses on learning and wellness, these respondents may not represent the average student. Biases in survey responses are often limited by their recruitment techniques and our bias likely resulted in more robust and thoughtful responses to free-response questions and may have influenced the preference for synchronous classes. It is unlikely that it changed students reporting on remote learning pedagogical methods since those are out of student control.

Though we surveyed a global population, our design was rooted in literature assessing pedagogy in North American institutions. Therefore, our survey may not represent a global array of teaching practices.

This survey was sent out during the initial phase of emergency remote learning for most countries. This has two important implications. First, perceptions of remote learning may be clouded by complications of the pandemic which has increased social, mental, and financial stresses globally. Future research could disaggregate the impact of the pandemic from students’ learning experiences with a more detailed and holistic analysis of the impact of the pandemic on students.

Second, instructors, students and institutions were not able to fully prepare for effective remote education in terms of infrastructure, mentality, curriculum building, and pedagogy. Therefore, student experiences reflect this emergency transition. Single-modality courses may correlate with instructors who lacked the resources or time to learn or integrate more than one modality. Regardless, the main insights of this research align well with the science of teaching and learning and can be used to inform both education during future emergencies and course development for online programs that wish to attract traditional college students.

Global Student Voices Improve Our Understanding of the Experience of Emergency Remote Learning

Our survey shows that global student perspectives on remote learning agree with pedagogical best practices, breaking with the often-found negative reactions of students to these practices in traditional classrooms ( Shekhar et al., 2020 ). Our analysis of open-ended questions and preferences show that a majority of students prefer pedagogical approaches that promote both active learning and social interaction. These results can serve as a guide to instructors as they design online classes, especially for students whose first choice may be in-person learning. Indeed, with the near ubiquitous adoption of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning may be the default for colleges during temporary emergencies. This has already been used at the K-12 level as snow days become virtual learning days ( Aspergren, 2020 ).

In addition to informing pedagogical decisions, the results of this survey can be used to inform future research. Although we survey a global population, our recruitment method selected for students who are English speakers, likely majority female, and have an interest in self-improvement. Repeating this study with a more diverse and representative sample of university students could improve the generalizability of our findings. While the use of a variety of pedagogical methods is better than a single method, more research is needed to determine what the optimal combinations and implementations are for courses in different disciplines. Though we identified social presence as the major trend in student responses, the over 12,000 open-ended responses from students could be analyzed in greater detail to gain a more nuanced understanding of student preferences and suggestions for improvement. Likewise, outliers could shed light on the diversity of student perspectives that we may encounter in our own classrooms. Beyond this, our findings can inform research that collects demographic data and/or measures learning outcomes to understand the impact of remote learning on different populations.

Importantly, this paper focuses on a subset of responses from the full data set which includes 10,563 students from secondary school, undergraduate, graduate, or professional school and additional questions about in-person learning. Our full data set is available here for anyone to download for continued exploration: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId= doi: 10.7910/DVN/2TGOPH .

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

GS: project lead, survey design, qualitative coding, writing, review, and editing. TN: data analysis, writing, review, and editing. CN and PB: qualitative coding. JW: data analysis, writing, and editing. CS: writing, review, and editing. EV and KL: original survey design and qualitative coding. PP: data analysis. JB: original survey design and survey distribution. HH: data analysis. MP: writing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We want to thank Minerva Schools at KGI for providing funding for summer undergraduate research internships. We also want to thank Josh Fost and Christopher V. H.-H. Chen for discussion that helped shape this project.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.647986/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords : online learning, COVID-19, active learning, higher education, pedagogy, survey, international

Citation: Nguyen T, Netto CLM, Wilkins JF, Bröker P, Vargas EE, Sealfon CD, Puthipiroj P, Li KS, Bowler JE, Hinson HR, Pujar M and Stein GM (2021) Insights Into Students’ Experiences and Perceptions of Remote Learning Methods: From the COVID-19 Pandemic to Best Practice for the Future. Front. Educ. 6:647986. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.647986

Received: 30 December 2020; Accepted: 09 March 2021; Published: 09 April 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Nguyen, Netto, Wilkins, Bröker, Vargas, Sealfon, Puthipiroj, Li, Bowler, Hinson, Pujar and Stein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Geneva M. Stein, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Covid-19 and Beyond: From (Forced) Remote Teaching and Learning to ‘The New Normal’ in Higher Education

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

What Students Are Really Thinking About Online Learning

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Today, several students from my classes “wrap things up” in the final post of this series.

“The temptations are REAL!”

Lee Xiong is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

School has been tough. Transferring to all online learning has been the biggest challenge this year for me. As a student, I’d say I’ve usually kept up with all my work for all my classes. The biggest change I’ve seen in myself is becoming less focused with my school work.

Being in a physical classroom is tremendously different from learning online. In a classroom, most of your focus is there, unlike virtually, the temptations are REAL! Yes, self-discipline is good to learn, but when having all this thrown at you, you can’t blame the student for not wanting to work... at least that’s my opinion.

This online learning has affected me personally because during this time, I found myself turning in assignments weeks late. It wasn’t because I was having trouble, it was because I had no motivation and energy to do them. This isn’t the norm for me. Without a routine schedule, I felt lost. That makes me sound like a robot, but I think it’s because it’s been that way since we were so small, change this big is affecting me to the max.

This has taught me that online learning will not be for me in the future! Maybe for one or two classes, but overall I plan for my school life to be set in a physical classroom for the most part. Although this has been a challenging time for school and out in the real world, remembering to stand tall will get us through this together.

“Learning at school is best for me”

Evelynn Vang is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

The online learning experience as a student for me has been fine. I sometimes find myself not interested in doing my assignments and I feel like I’m lazy. I still do the assignments, but I sometimes end up turning in my assignments late. It’s like I’ll do the assignments whenever I feel like doing it.

I can say that there is a reason for this, and that is where I am doing my school work. My home is not a learning environment like at school, where there are teachers, other students, learning tools, desks/tables, chairs, a library, lots of space, and those who you can get support from. At home is like a sleeping or resting environment. In a classroom, I can focus more on my assignments/work and get engaged in the subject. Whenever I’m in a classroom, I feel prepared to learn and get my brain pumped; at home, I feel like it’s very hard to be prepared because I’m always getting distracted. Whenever I need help, my teachers or classmates are there for me. When I have a question at home, I have to wait for a response.

I do have to say that whenever I’m at school, I always feel nervous in class. Now that I’m at home learning, I don’t feel nervous. From my online learning experience right now, I would not choose more online learning in the future because in a school, a classroom is a learning environment. Also, I feel like it’s easier to communicate with my classmates/groups for projects, teachers, counselors, and principal. Learning at a school is best for me.

“I have many responsibilities at home”

Diana Lopez is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

As a student, my online learning experience hasn’t been great. This new learning system has its perks, such as more time to do assignments in the comfort of your home, not having to wake up so early to go to school, and ensuring the safety of the staff as well as the students. Despite these benefits, there are downsides of this method of learning. For example, I have many responsibilities at home, such as taking care of my younger siblings, cooking meals, cleaning up after them, etc. I also find it harder to have any motivation when I’m doing school assignments. When I’m surrounded by all these other temptations like my phone or other electronics, I lose any will to do work.

The environment at home is different from the workspace students have at school. A classroom provides a quiet academic place to do work while a household can be loud and cause students to lose concentration or not even work at all. Additionally, I find that simply reading the instructions for an assignment or lesson isn’t as engaging as when it’s explained by a teacher. The information is much easier to retain when heard rather than simply rushing to read the directions. If I could choose, in the future I would not like to do more online learning because I like having a teacher physically there to help me when I need it. Having a teacher presence helps me focus more on school work, engages me into learning, and the teachers help guide me through the work and are there for any questions I have.

“Online learning has been difficult”

Isabella Sandoval is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

Online learning has been difficult. I feel pressured to try and hurry to finish and turn in all of my assignments on time. Most of my assignments are due at the same time, and a lot of them are time- consuming.

Though, for the most part it’s difficult to adapt to since I’ve had my education in person with my teachers and classmates, I like how I can do the assignments on my own time. I could divide the day and time I complete my work, I can sleep in a little longer, and overall just be comfortable while in my own home. I feel that online learning is nothing compared to physical learning. With physical learning, I can talk to my teachers one on one and visually see and interact with everything. Whereas online, when I have a question, I either have to email or text my teachers, and sometimes they don’t see my message and/or take forever to respond.

In the future, I honestly would not mind doing online learning. Just for a little bit though, because it’s not that bad, it’s just the fact that I can’t physically talk to my teachers in person when I need help or have questions. Communicating with teachers online is what I feel is the most difficult part about online learning.

“My online experience has been interesting”

Brenda Hernandez is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

As a student, my online experience has been interesting. What I like about this experience is that I have more time to talk to my family and call or text some friends. I get to do school work from home and I have time for self-care. I like that I kind of get to choose which classes I should work on first and which I could wait to do after.

What I don’t like about it is that I am on a screen all day. I like electronics, but school has kept me from staring at a screen for hours. I also don’t like that I have more distractions at home. I live in a small apartment with five other people and four dogs.

This experience is different from being in a physical classroom because I socialize less now. In school, I get to hear the opinions and ideas of my friends and classmates. Some of my teachers would tell us to talk to the people around us about the lesson. Now, not everyone’s online at the same time. I have anxiety, which prevents me from texting some friends and some of my classmates. And if I did, they’d take a while to respond. Same with communicating with teachers.

In the future, if I could choose, I’d like to do a bit of online learning and the rest in an actual classroom. Although it depends on the class. I have noticed that some of the classes I’ve been able to complete at home since there isn’t anyone asking questions or reading the directions to stall me from beginning my work. In other classes, it has been more difficult since I’m more of a visual learner for that subject, and my teachers keep me on task.

“My online learning experience hasn’t been the best but not worst experience”

Laitak Briand is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

Being an engaging student during quarantine has been difficult. There have been a lot things that happened during the first weeks since school was canceled. Stores began to close down, parks being shut down, and people told to stay in the house 24-7 unless they needed their necessities.

What I liked about it, though, is that I have more time to do things that I said I wanted to do if I only had time. Now I have time to do things like spend time with family and resting. What I don’t like about online learning is that I have to still do homework even though we are in a pandemic and can’t leave the house.

The experience from doing online learning and going to school physically are vastly different. With online classes, if you need help you have to ask your parents or google. But when you go to school, there is a teacher that can help you. Also, my friends I can’t physically see them when I’m at home, but if I went to school, I could. In the future, if I had to choose to continue online learning or not, I’d choose not because I like to be somewhere I can ask someone near me for help and see if I did something right or wrong. In conclusion, my online learning experience hasn’t been the best but not worst experience I have ever had.

“There is nothing that I liked about it besides how supportive the teachers have been”

Na Lee Her is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

My experience with online learning is very stressful and hard. I felt this way because of how hard it is for me to understand the assignments and having to not be able to check with your teacher face to face if you are doing it correctly or not. It doesn’t make me confident because I want to make sure that I am actually doing the assignment correctly in order to deserve the credit for it.

Not only that, but having time to do the assignments is another problem. At home, there are many things to take care of, and it makes it hard for me to be able to do my assignments. This makes me turn in the assignment late or not turn it in at all. Last but not least, it is the lack of motivation that makes online learning hard. Not being able to be face to face with friends and teachers gives me no motivation and makes me unhappy about this. I am unable to get ideas from them, and it makes me lose hope because I don’t know what I will do to be able to complete the assignment and meet its requirement. It just makes me very worried and anxious to know that I may have done things wrong or to not know what to do.

During this time of online learning, there is nothing that I liked about it besides how supportive the teachers have been. If I were to choose online learning or learning face to face, I would rather choose learning face to face. I choose this because it is much easier and I get my questions answered right away. Not only that, but I can also get suggestions/ideas from my peers as well.

Thanks to Lee, Evelynn, Diana, Isabella, Brenda, Laitak, and Na Lee for their contributions!

(This is the final post in a multipart series. You can see Part One here , Part Two here , and Part Three here .)

Here is the new question-of-the-week:

What has your online learning experience been as a student? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it? How does it compare with your experience as a student in a physical classroom? In the future, if you could choose, would you want to do more online learning? If so, why? If not, why not?

In Part One , five students from the high school where I teach in Sacramento, Calif., shared their reflections.

In Part Two , contributions come from students in Austin Green’s 1st grade class in Utah and others connected with the Kansas State School for the Blind.

In Part Three , contributors came from my class; Ryan Jakacki’s class in Plymouth, Minn.; and Anne Magnin’s class in France.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

If you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn’t include ones from this current year.

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Race & Gender Challenges

Classroom-Management Advice

Best Ways to Begin the School Year

Best Ways to End the School Year

Implementing the Common Core

Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Studies

Cooperative & Collaborative Learning

Using Tech in the Classroom

Parent Engagement in Schools

Teaching English-Language Learners

Reading Instruction

Writing Instruction

Education Policy Issues

Differentiating Instruction

Math Instruction

Science Instruction

Advice for New Teachers

Author Interviews

Entering the Teaching Profession

The Inclusive Classroom

Learning & the Brain

Administrator Leadership

Teacher Leadership

Relationships in Schools

Professional Development

Instructional Strategies

Best of Classroom Q&A

Professional Collaboration

Classroom Organization

Mistakes in Education

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I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Student Opinion

Is Online Learning Effective?

A new report found that the heavy dependence on technology during the pandemic caused “staggering” education inequality. What was your experience?

By Natalie Proulx

During the coronavirus pandemic, many schools moved classes online. Was your school one of them? If so, what was it like to attend school online? Did you enjoy it? Did it work for you?

In “ Dependence on Tech Caused ‘Staggering’ Education Inequality, U.N. Agency Says ,” Natasha Singer writes:

In early 2020, as the coronavirus spread, schools around the world abruptly halted in-person education. To many governments and parents, moving classes online seemed the obvious stopgap solution. In the United States, school districts scrambled to secure digital devices for students. Almost overnight, videoconferencing software like Zoom became the main platform teachers used to deliver real-time instruction to students at home. Now a report from UNESCO , the United Nations’ educational and cultural organization, says that overreliance on remote learning technology during the pandemic led to “staggering” education inequality around the world. It was, according to a 655-page report that UNESCO released on Wednesday, a worldwide “ed-tech tragedy.” The report, from UNESCO’s Future of Education division, is likely to add fuel to the debate over how governments and local school districts handled pandemic restrictions, and whether it would have been better for some countries to reopen schools for in-person instruction sooner. The UNESCO researchers argued in the report that “unprecedented” dependence on technology — intended to ensure that children could continue their schooling — worsened disparities and learning loss for hundreds of millions of students around the world, including in Kenya, Brazil, Britain and the United States. The promotion of remote online learning as the primary solution for pandemic schooling also hindered public discussion of more equitable, lower-tech alternatives, such as regularly providing schoolwork packets for every student, delivering school lessons by radio or television — and reopening schools sooner for in-person classes, the researchers said. “Available evidence strongly indicates that the bright spots of the ed-tech experiences during the pandemic, while important and deserving of attention, were vastly eclipsed by failure,” the UNESCO report said. The UNESCO researchers recommended that education officials prioritize in-person instruction with teachers, not online platforms, as the primary driver of student learning. And they encouraged schools to ensure that emerging technologies like A.I. chatbots concretely benefited students before introducing them for educational use. Education and industry experts welcomed the report, saying more research on the effects of pandemic learning was needed. “The report’s conclusion — that societies must be vigilant about the ways digital tools are reshaping education — is incredibly important,” said Paul Lekas, the head of global public policy for the Software & Information Industry Association, a group whose members include Amazon, Apple and Google. “There are lots of lessons that can be learned from how digital education occurred during the pandemic and ways in which to lessen the digital divide. ” Jean-Claude Brizard, the chief executive of Digital Promise, a nonprofit education group that has received funding from Google, HP and Verizon, acknowledged that “technology is not a cure-all.” But he also said that while school systems were largely unprepared for the pandemic, online education tools helped foster “more individualized, enhanced learning experiences as schools shifted to virtual classrooms.” ​Education International, an umbrella organization for about 380 teachers’ unions and 32 million teachers worldwide, said the UNESCO report underlined the importance of in-person, face-to-face teaching. “The report tells us definitively what we already know to be true, a place called school matters,” said Haldis Holst, the group’s deputy general secretary. “Education is not transactional nor is it simply content delivery. It is relational. It is social. It is human at its core.”

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

What findings from the report, if any, surprised you? If you participated in online learning during the pandemic, what in the report reflected your experience? If the researchers had asked you about what remote learning was like for you, what would you have told them?

At this point, most schools have returned to in-person teaching, but many still use technology in the classroom. How much tech is involved in your day-to-day education? Does this method of learning work well for you? If you had a say, would you want to spend more or less time online while in school?

What are some of the biggest benefits you have seen from technology when it comes to your education? What are some of the biggest drawbacks?

Haldis Holst, UNESCO’s deputy general secretary, said: “The report tells us definitively what we already know to be true, a place called school matters. Education is not transactional nor is it simply content delivery. It is relational. It is social. It is human at its core.” What is your reaction to that statement? Do you agree? Why or why not?

As a student, what advice would you give to schools that are already using or are considering using educational technology?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Natalie Proulx joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2017 after working as an English language arts teacher and curriculum writer. More about Natalie Proulx

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Home » Blog » Virtual Learning Is the Way Forward for Educators

Virtual Learning Is the Way Forward for Educators

CHALKING THE LINE | BY DEBRA MEYER  | 6 MIN READ

One of the major consequences of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a disruption to traditional classroom learning and instruction. And yet, in many ways, the move to remote learning has highlighted what’s essential in the classroom (and what’s not).

The transition was not easy. A national health emergency in the spring forced the move online, and although educators had more time to plan for online and hybrid classes this fall, they faced many unknowns: changing rates of infection, chaotic decision-making, and more.

But if we examine what we are teaching and how we are teaching it, rather than when and where we are teaching, the pandemic has revealed possibilities we had not considered before.

We need to embrace new ways of teaching. We need to stop wishing we were back in a traditional classroom and focus our energy on more powerful learning possibilities and teaching strategies that are now in front of us.

We have learned a lot by going remote, but we could enhance our teaching even more if we leaned into virtual learning . The virtual approach is one we can—and should—take back to the physical classroom when we all return.

What Have We Learned from Going Online?

For me, remote learning has meant trying to re-create the traditional classroom online. Remote learning attempts to reproduce the organization, materials and activities in a different physical space. For example, most schools have continued to organize teachers and students in class groupings and follow modified school schedules, trying to replicate traditional teacher and student interactions in “Zoom classrooms.”

Many teachers have been creative in their remote classroom practices and these educators are to be celebrated. Their efforts highlight the essential learning interactions. For example:

• The importance of student-teacher relationships. Simple practices like greeting students and being authentic help to build these relationships, as this video celebrates .
• The value of student-to-student interactions. Teachers have successfully re-created many of the small-group student learning structures that support collaborative and higher-level learning, as seen in these breakout room examples .

Such remote learning success stories reveal the power of teacher imagination and the importance of innovation when adapting to change.

But what will happen to these remote teaching practices when students and teachers return to the traditional classroom?

Will we use them to include classmates who are at home, sick? Will we use them to connect to students from other communities? Could breakout groups begin to include peers from other schools or other countries?

How Virtual Learning Improves on Remote Learning

Virtual learning is designed to extend educational experiences. It does not try to replicate them. In virtual learning environments, students access resources and interact in ways they would not or could not in the physical classroom.

Many educators use virtual learning and have been for a while. Below are some examples from the WeAreTeachers website:

• Virtual field trips.
• Virtual science labs.
• Virtual read-alouds by authors who wrote the books.

It is important to highlight that these virtual learning links were designed to show different ways of learning—not to provide a new way of doing the same thing online. Also, these links were created prior to March 2020.

Virtual teaching not only presents opportunities for today’s remote learning environments but also promotes new ways of thinking about teaching, learning and the traditional classroom.

I’m advocating for more virtual learning now—and even more when all students and teachers are face-to-face again. And I offer these three reminders:

• Virtual learning is not “extra” or “same thing, but online.” It is a “different learning experience.” An important distinction that I’m making with using the term “virtual learning” is that it is not a traditional classroom activity moved online; rather, it is a learning experience integrated within the curriculum that is specifically designed to be experienced online. It lives online regardless of whether a classroom is face-to-face or remote. Students engage in core learning processes and outcomes in a virtual learning instructional sequence, which will require different types of computer technologies.
• Virtual learning personalizes the student experience. Another key distinction of virtual learning is that it is designed to individualize learning experiences—even though it can be experienced with others. What might that kind of personalization look like? Check out another example from WeAreTeachers.
• Virtual learning will be new for teachers, too! Teachers need professional development in this instructional approach. For the most part, we prepare teachers to learn new strategies primarily for the brick and mortar classroom. The development of instructional knowledge and strategies needs to be integrated with virtual learning as a pedagogical approach—one in which the classroom walls come down and individual learning pathways for students emerge in virtual spaces.

It may seem like I’m splitting hairs when distinguishing between remote learning and virtual learning. But I believe it is useful to view remote learning as “doing school” by changing the location, whereas virtual learning is “doing school” in a virtual environment regardless of location.

Assuming remote learning ends and we return to the classroom and push the desks back together, what new ways of teaching and learning will we return with? What traditional approaches will we no longer use because we’ve discovered better ways?

However you choose to answer these questions, this is why I believe we should be focusing on teaching virtually. Virtual learning doesn’t depend on location and opens up innovative and new possibilities—ones that can be incorporated into any educational format when students and teachers are fully resourced with 21 st century technology and professional development.

A Final Word on Equity

Whether face-to-face, remote or virtual, the pandemic has exposed the growing inequities in our educational system. We can now more easily see where school funding and community infrastructures have made connecting remotely all but impossible.

While some students have lost educational opportunities due to structural disparities and lack of resources, other students now have at-home tutors or work in learning pods to support and supplement their remote learning. These students’ schools are more likely to have the funding so they can continue specials subjects (e.g., art, music, physical education) and participate in extracurriculars.

The “educational debt” that Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings talks about only grows larger. We owe it to all the students not to leave them behind or the impact of the inequities will be with us for generations. It is essential that we not only think about how to return to “normal,” but also how we should redesign learning experiences and opportunities to make up for the ones that have been lost to so many students.

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What the Shift to Virtual Learning Could Mean for the Future of Higher Ed

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T ectonic shifts in society and business occur when unexpected events force widespread experimentation around a new idea. During World War II, for instance, when American men went off to war, women proved that they could do “men’s” work—and do it well. Women never looked back after that. Similarly, the Y2K problem demanded the extensive use of Indian software engineers, leading to the tripling of employment-based visas granted by the U.S. Fixing that bug enabled Indian engineers to establish their credentials, and catapulted them as world leaders in addressing technology problems. Alphabet, Microsoft, IBM, and Adobe are all headed by India-born engineers today.

Right now, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing global experimentation with remote teaching. There are many indicators that this crisis is going to transform many aspects of life . Education could be one of them if remote teaching proves to be a success. But how will we know if it is? As this crisis-driven experiment launches, we should be collecting data and paying attention to the following three questions about higher education’s business model and the accessibility of quality college education.

Do Students Really Need a Four-Year Residential Experience?

Answering this question requires an understanding of which parts of the current four-year model can be substituted, which parts can be supplemented, and which parts complemented by digital technologies.

In theory, lectures that require little personalization or human interaction can be recorded as multimedia presentations, to be watched by students at their own pace and place. Such commoditized parts of the curriculum can be easily delivered by a non-university instructor on Coursera, for example; teaching Pythagoras’ theorem is pretty much the same the world over. For such courses, technology platforms can deliver the content to very large audiences at low cost, without sacrificing one of the important benefits of the face-to-face (F2F) classroom, the social experience, because there is hardly any in these basic-level courses.

By freeing resources from courses that can be commoditized, colleges would have more resources to commit to research-based teaching, personalized problem solving, and mentorship. The students would also have more resources at their disposal, too, because they wouldn’t have to reside and devote four full years at campuses. They would take commoditized courses online at their convenience and at much cheaper cost. They can use precious time they spend on campus for electives, group assignments, faculty office hours, interactions, and career guidance, something that cannot be done remotely. In addition, campuses can facilitate social networking, field-based projects, and global learning expeditions—that require F2F engagements. This is a hybrid model of education that has the potential to make college education more affordable for everybody.

But can we shift to a hybrid model? We’re about to find out. It is not just the students who are taking classes remotely, even the instructors are now forced to teach those classes from their homes. The same students and instructors that met until a few weeks back for the same courses, are now trying alternative methods. So, both parties can compare their F2F and remote experiences, all else held equal.

With the current experiment, students, professors, and university administrators must keep a record of which classes are benefiting from being taught remotely and which ones are not going so well. They must maintain chat rooms that facilitate anonymized discussions about the technology issues, course design, course delivery, and evaluation methods. These data points can inform future decisions about when—and why—some classes should be taught remotely, which ones should remain on the campus, and which within-campus classes should be supplemented or complemented by technology.

What Improvements Are Required in IT Infrastructure to Make It More Suitable for Online Education?

As so many of us whose daily schedules have become a list of virtual meetings can attest, there are hardware and software issues that must be addressed before remote learning can really take off. We have no doubt that digital technologies (mobile, cloud, AI, etc.) can be deployed at scale, yet we also know that much more needs to be done. On the hardware side, bandwidth capacity and digital inequalities need addressing. The F2F setting levels lots of differences, because students in the same class get the same delivery. Online education, however, amplifies the digital divide. Rich students have the latest laptops, better bandwidths, more stable wifi connections, and more sophisticated audio-visual gadgets.

Software for conference calls may be a good start, but it can’t handle some key functionalities such as accommodating large class sizes while also providing a personalized experience. Even in a 1,000-student classroom, an instructor can sense if students are absorbing concepts, and can change the pace of the teaching accordingly. A student can sense whether they are asking too many questions, and are delaying the whole class. Is our technology good enough to accommodate these features virtually? What more needs to be developed? Instructors and students must note and should discuss their pain points, and facilitate and demand technological development in those areas.

In addition, online courses require educational support on the ground: Instructional designers, trainers, and coaches to ensure student learning and course completion. Digital divide also exists among universities, which will become apparent in the current experiment. Top private universities have better IT infrastructure and higher IT support staff ratio for each faculty compared to budget-starved public universities.

What Training Efforts Are Required for Faculty and Students to Facilitate Changes in Mindsets and Behaviors?

Not all faculty members are comfortable with virtual classrooms and there is a digital divide among those who have never used even the basic audio-visual equipment, relying on blackboards and flipcharts, and younger faculty who are aware of and adept in newer technology. As students across the nation enter online classrooms in the coming weeks, they’re going to learn that many instructors are not trained to design multimedia presentations, with elaborate notations and graphics. Colleges and universities need to use this moment to assess what training is needed to provide a smooth experience.

Students also face a number of issues with online courses. Committing to follow the university calendar forces them to finish a course, instead of procrastinating it forever. And online they can feel as they don’t belong to a peer group or a college cohort, which in real life instils a sense of competition, motivating all to excel. Anything done online suffers from attention span, because students multi-task, check emails, chat with friends, and surf the Web while attending online lectures. We’re parents and professors; we know this is true.

Can these mindsets change? Right now we are (necessarily, due to social distancing) running trial and error experiments to find out. Both teachers and students are readjusting and recalibrating in the middle of teaching semesters. The syllabus and course contents are being revised as the courses are being taught. Assessment methods, such as exams and quizzes are being converted to online submissions. University administrators and student bodies are being accommodative and are letting instructors innovate their own best course, given such short notice. Instructors, students, and university administrators should all be discussing how the teaching and learning changes between day 1 of virtual education and day X. This will provide clues for how to train future virtual educators and learners.

A Vast Experiment

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced a global experiment that could highlight the differences between, and cost-benefit trade off of, the suite of services offered by a residential university and the ultra low-cost education of an online education provider like Coursera. Some years ago, experts had predicted that massive open online courses (MOOCs), such as Khan Academy, Coursera, Udacity, and edX, would kill F2F college education—just as digital technologies killed off the jobs of telephone operators and travel agents. Until now, however, F2F college education has stood the test of time.

The current experiment might show that four-year F2F college education can no longer rest on its laurels. A variety of factors—most notably the continuously increasing cost of tuition, already out of reach for most families, implies that the post-secondary education market is ripe for disruption . The coronavirus crisis may just be that disruption. How we experiment, test, record, and understand our responses to it now will determine whether and how online education develops as an opportunity for the future. This experiment will also enrich political discourse in the U.S. Some politicians have promised free college education ; what if this experiment proves that a college education doesn’t have to bankrupt a person?

After the crisis subsides, is it best for all students to return to the classroom, and continue the status quo? Or will we have found a better alternative?

This article  was originally posted by Harvard Business Review.

Vijay Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, and faculty partner at the Silicon Valley incubator Mach 49. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His latest book is The Three Box Solution . His articles “ Engineering Reverse Innovations ” and “ Stop the Innovation Wars ” won McKinsey Awards for best article published in Harvard Business Review . His HBR articles “ How GE Is Disrupting Itself ” and “ The CEO’s Role in Business Model Reinvention ” are HBR all-time top-50 bestsellers.

Anup Srivastava holds Canada Research Chair in Accounting, Decision Making, and Capital Markets and is an Associate Professor at Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. He examines the valuation and financial reporting challenges of digital companies.

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The Positives of Virtual Learning That Nobody Is Talking About

Columns appearing on the service and this webpage represent the views of the authors, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, universities across the world pivoted to virtual learning, and a host of negative consequences quickly followed. Virtual learning exhausts students, exacerbates social class differences and mirrors the gender inequities that exist in in-person classes.

And yet for all its drawbacks, virtual learning has an equalizing power that is undeniable. More institutions of higher learning must leverage many of the features that virtual learning provides to reduce bias and increase accessibility and inclusion for students, and to improve learning outcomes in ways not possible in person.

In a physical classroom, the professor is at the podium and students choose their seats in the classroom. This may result in unconscious biases in both the professor and students about various students’ (front row or back benchers) abilities and motivations, creating the harmful Pygmalion effect with disparate effects on learning outcomes.

In a virtual setting, the teacher and students have the same class status and, importantly, cannot elect to be in any one seat, because the technology dynamically assigns seats, and these seats also change during the virtual class. Professors can use virtual learning etiquette rules and features such as chat windows and mute buttons, as well as the raising of electronic hands (and waiting for one’s turn to speak), to democratize classrooms. By using audio-only mode, teachers can also eliminate pernicious issues related to disabilities, including stuttering. Such issues are widely prevalent in in-person classrooms and harm learning outcomes.

Virtual learning also enables students to bring their full selves to the virtual classroom. In physical classrooms, professors of classes of more than 100 students find it challenging, if not nearly impossible, to know students’ names, to correctly pronounce them and to use correct pronouns. In virtual learning environments, technologies can be used to show students’ profile pictures, names, titles, pronouns and pronunciations. All of this enables students to bring their full identities into the open, enhancing their engagement and learning outcomes.

It also eliminates differences that hinder in-person learning. In in-person classrooms, students’ races and ethnicities; physical characteristics such as height, weight and disability; personality differences such as introversion and extroversion; and cognitive differences, such as autism spectrum or bipolar diagnoses, are more visible. This can create unconscious biases that can negatively affect student learning.

In virtual classes, visible differences in these categories are reduced and, in some cases, even eliminated. For example, introverts can engage fully through technology tools, including chat windows and response buttons. Moreover, through the creative use of free virtual backgrounds, faculty can eliminate surface-level differences among students in virtual classrooms that are conspicuous in in-person classrooms.

In-person classes are, by definition, at given geographic coordinates at a given time, making it difficult for students who have full-time jobs and family care responsibilities to attend classes, reducing access for those students. Teachers can use asynchronous class recordings and transcriptions of virtual classes to dramatically increase accessibility for such students.

And that’s not all. In-person events for professional networking for students and faculty entail substantial costs, such as registration fees, travel costs (exacerbated by asymmetric foreign exchange rates) and visa expenses. Virtual events, at much lower cost to both organizers and participants, increase access, previously constrained by geography and budgets, by leaps and bounds.

There are certainly drawbacks with virtual learning, but it also has a remarkable equalizing power, which can be leveraged by institutions of higher learning to reduce long-standing inequities. It is exceptionally fortunate that higher education institutions can achieve such an aspirational goal during a dispiriting worldwide pandemic. And it is upon colleges and universities to seize the moment.

And, when the pandemic crisis is over, we would be wise to hold on to the positive aspects of virtual learning that we have discovered, and to use it to create a new paradigm for higher education that is truly inclusive, unabashedly equitable and wholeheartedly accessible to all.

Raji Srinivasan is the associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

A version of this op-ed appeared in the San Antonio Express News , Austin American Statesman and the Abilene Reporter News .

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1. Introduction to Virtual Learning Design & Delivery

Michelle Rogers-Estable

Introduction

A review of what factors make up online, blended and technology enhanced learning, and approaches that improve student retention, engagement, and motivation.

Chapter Outcomes

After reading and reviewing this chapter, learners should be able to:

• Define virtual learning.
• List key factors of quality online learning.
• Outline the pros and cons of online learning.
• Know what is successful online learning.
• Identify components of high quality online learning.
• Understand importance of connections in successful learning moments.

Chapter Sections

• What is Virtual Learning
• Facilitating Quality Online Learning
• 21st Century Digital Learner
• End-of-Chapter Resources

Section 1: What is Virtual Learning?

Video: why is online teaching important.

Virtual learning

Virtual learning is defined as learning that can functionally and effectively occur in the absence of traditional classroom environments (Simonson & Schlosser, 2006). In a publication which examined the quality and extent of online education in the United States, Allen and Seaman (2003) defined a blended learning course as “having between 30% and 80% of the course content delivered online” while they considered an online course as having “at least 80% of the course content delivered online” (p. 6). In both definitions, it necessitates instructors having a clear understanding of the role of an effective online instructor, one which differs greatly from that of their face-to-face counterpart.

In their report, Transforming Higher Education (1995), Dolence and Norris assert that one of the consequences of what they view as the fundamental transformation from the Industrial Age to the Information Age is that social institutions – among them higher education – will also be transformed because of a change in “both what people need to learn and how they can and should learn.” Table 1 shows the different learning characteristics associated with both the Industrial and the Information Age as identified by Dolence & Norris.

Table 1-1. Synopsis of Industrial Age Learning vs. 21st Century Learning

Table Source: Adapted from Dolence and Norrice,  1995, p. 4

The characteristics described in Table 1-1 show the need to address the different instructor roles and requirements of students in distance and online learning. This is not always an easy task, and merely replicating the face-to- face methods online does not allow the learning experience to be maximized to full potential. Some fail to “make a transformational shift in their approach to teaching from one of disseminating information to one of creating learning environments where students co-construct knowledge through interactions” (Vaughan, 2010, p 61).

This transition from face-to-face to a blended or online method of creating a suitable learning environment for students challenges the instructor on a professional level and many are concerned about the change in roles and responsibilities, use of technology, relationships, presence, and a perceived lack of prestige (Redmond 2011).

Pelz (2004) outlined three main principles of effective online pedagogy. The first principle is centered on the fact that the instructor must give way to student-led learning in an online course due to the distance between the instructor and the student. The instructor can adjust the curriculum to be more student centered via letting students take charge of leading their own learning. Pelz mentioned several ways this can be done:

• Student led discussions
• Students find, discuss, and share web resources
• Peer assistance and teaching
• Peer grading and review
• Case study analysis as a group where students can learn from each other

The second Pelz (2004) principle of effective online pedagogy is that interactivity is the key to quality online learning. Students must have a way to connect with each other and to interact with the instructor, other students, and the learning materials.

The final principle is the need for presence. In an online course, the distance between the student, instructor, and learning materials can lead to higher rates of dropouts and less motivated learners. Through integrating approaches to increasing both student and instructor presence in the online course, students will be more engaged in the learning process. There are several different kinds of course presence that Pelz (2004) outlines:

Social Presence : It is essential that the instructor create an online learning community where each student can express their online personality, can feel welcome to share questions and ask for help, and can feel that they belong.

Cognitive Presence: Students need an environment where they are free to construct meaning through discus- sion and a community of inquiry.

Teaching Presence: Students need an expert’s guidance, and while online teaching requires students to become more autonomous, they will still need to feel that the instructor is present to answer questions, guide discussions, push learning, and manage the virtual classroom.

The communication strategies utilized in the blended or online course are vitally important to the overall success of the course, for student motivation and retention, to create instructor and student presence, and to offer connections in the virtual learning community.

In a study by Smith, Ferguson & Caris (2001),  a number of instructors were interviewed regarding their online  vs face-to-face teaching experiences. The educational opportunities and advantages of the web environment over traditional classes (p. 3) were mentioned as being of great benefit to students and instructors. Instructors said that in an online course they could assign readings from the Web, and electronic resources were integrated into the class with ease. Another rich learning experience is the ability to host guests from a distance, providing students with the ability to interact with experts in their field. Instructors also felt that threaded discussions lead to a deeper level of thinking, as they felt students think more deeply and profoundly when they have to write their thoughts, particularly for their peers. While not a favorite with students, an added advantage for instructors was that students in the online experience were responsible for their own learning. Many of these benefits come with potential challenges in a distance or online course. These challenges can be identified by the instructor in advance and can be discussed in the introductory stage of the course. For example, the ability to use online resources to deliver a course provides added value to the learning experience, but students require specific skills to filter useful and factual information from that which is less than reliable. In addition, while threaded discussions may lead to deeper level thinking, the reliance on written submissions may not appeal to all students. Anonymity in a blended or online course is often identified as an advantage which ensures equality among students, and between the students and the instructor, but it can also lead to misunderstandings which should be addressed by the instructor in a timely manner.

Tweet Chat: #govldd

Tweet one way you feel instructor presence in an online course can be effectively achieved.

Section 2: Facilitating Quality Online Learning

Video: what is active learning.

By: Mark Trego, NICC

“No Signigicant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” Dr. James Comer, Yale University

Many experienced instructors can find themselves in completely unknown territory when they first make the move from face-to-face to blended or online teaching. According to Bonk & Dennen (2003), without the necessary preparation and training, many instructors attempt to replicate existing course design and pedagogical practices when they make the transition. Yet what worked in the face-to-face venue will not work in online learning. Different approaches and techniques need to be learned in order to build an online learning community and to have effective connections and communication with online students.

In online courses or course components, presence is of vital importance to facilitate high quality learning. Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer (2001) define presence as “the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes.” They identify three key roles in teaching presence, and provide indicators for each category. These are presented in Table 1-2 below.

Table 1-2. Online Learning Components

Table  1-2  Source:          Adapted from Anderson, Rourke, Garrison & Archer, 2001

Instructor presence may be visible to students in the form of direct communication, in facilitating discussion, providing feedback and encouragement, addressing individuals who may not be fully engaged in the process,  or  it may be unseen in the form of the planning, management, and structural decisions made in advance of, or during the course delivery. Planning a blended or online course with these indicators in mind will ensure that students are presented with a high quality experience which will meet their needs.

Enhance Engagement and Motivation

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) was developed as a “lens to probe the quality of the student learning experience at American colleges and universities” (2007, p. 3). In defining student engagement as “the time and energy students devote to educationally sound activities inside and outside of the classroom, and the policies and practices that institutions use to induce students to take part in these activities,” decades of research was considered and five properties were identified. Effective educational practice provides properties for active and collaborative learning; student interactions with faculty members; level of academic challenge; enriching educational experiences; and supportive campus environment.

In a significant learning experience, Fink (2003, p. 6) suggests there is a process and an outcome; students will be fully engaged in their learning, with a high level of energy associated with the learning experience, and the meaning from this experience will be result oriented. He describes the characteristics of significant learning experiences below:

Table 1-3. Characteristics of Significant Learning Experiences

A well-designed and well-managed course, combined with an instructor who communicates and interacts effectively with students, and who delivers good quality learning experiences, can lead to increased learner motivation and facilitate increased student engagement in the course. In a study linking student engagement and course redesign, Vaughan (2010) found that when one faculty member redesigned the two major assessment activities to provide students with greater opportunities to collaboratively construct their own knowledge frameworks about key course concepts, student success and retention increased. In a follow-up with open-ended survey questions, students identified the sense of community which was developed through the redesigned assessment activities as the most effective aspect of the course (p. 65). While further study is needed in this area, it appears that redesigning all or parts of a course to foster increased levels of active and collaborative learning could potentially lead to increased student success and retention.

In her paper on the transition from face-to-face to online teaching, Redmond (2011) presents a chronology of different researchers’ views on the role of the online instructor.  She notes that despite different labels used by   the researchers, “the process of facilitating discussion appears to be a key role when teaching in the online space” (p. 1053). In blended or online courses, successful social interaction can lead to a breakdown of barriers, open communication, collaboration among learners and between learners and instructor, and as we have seen, allows students to become actively engaged in the learning process.

Redesigning a course to incorporate more active learning has the potential not only to solve the student boredom problem, but also to increase the quality of student learning (Fink 2003, p. 24). Gilly Salmon has researched a five stage model on increasing student motivation and engagement in online learning:

• Access and Motivation: Create easy to retrieve materials, and a welcoming and encouraging environment
• Online Socialization: Connecting through messages, and providing content that is relevant to students lives
• Information Exchange: Connecting learners to resources and supporting learning
• Knowledge Construction: Through lectures, readings, assignments, and facilitated learning students build and construct new knowledge
• Development : Through responding and offering outside resources students develop their learning outside the course

Source : Five Step Model of Online Learning: http ://w ww.g illy salm on.c om/f ive- stag e-mo del. html

In a blended or online course, active learning experiences are vital to increase motivation and engagement, which in turn can reduce student attrition. Instructors who are active communicators with their students, whether through individual feedback, a ’gentle nudge’ for those who are not fully engaged, or bringing a discussion to a rounded conclusion, will ensure that the instructor presence is replicated in the effort expended in preparing and structuring their course.

Tweet Chat: #virtuolearn

Tweet an approach that could support one of the Five Steps of Online Learning.

Section 3: 21st Century Digital Learner

Video: the unique challenges of 21st century learners.

By: MacArthur Foundation

There is one key concept that online instructors should always keep in mind: Equivalency .

An online course should be managed as the equivalent to a face-to-face course. If there was a group activity in  the face-to-face course, then there should be an online group activity. If the instructor explained the final project in detail, then they should in the online course as well. If there were lectures on critical or complex topics in the face- to-face course, then the same should be offered in the online course. The online and face-to-face courses should offer equivalent experiences.

In this section you will learn about some of the key skills an online instructor can use to support the learning of virtual students. We will look at some of the most common challenges online teachers experience and cover various tactics and approaches to managing online learning communities. Some of the topics covered will be:

• Virtual Instruction : How to manage instruction, tutoring, and lecturing in an online course
• At Risk : Connecting with at-risk students to offer support
• Learning Communities : The importance of building a strong learning community
• Communication : Communicating with students
• Feedback : Providing detailed feedback on work in an efficient and product way
• Efficiency : Use efficient tactics that offer great support on limited time
• Be Choosy : Cognitive overload and cognitive underload of student

Though the online teacher may never meet their students in-person, there are still many ways that an online instructor can connect with students and offer tutoring and instruction on the course topics. With advances in video, webinar, chat, and other Web 2.0 tools online, instructors have a wide variety of tactics at their disposal towards creating rewarding, engaging and interactive online learning experiences that can be equivalent to face-to-face learning.

The following are examples of various instructional strategies:

Video Screencasting : There are many free screencasting and video recording tools available to instructors. They can use them to screencast their own computer screen and show students how to do something online,  talk about PowerPoint slides, give a lecture, or video tutorials on a whiteboard. Using video and screencasting technology offers the online instructor a great opportunity for providing lecture materials and concept support just as they would in a face-to-face classroom. In fact, to put a PowerPoint into an online classroom without any lecture notes or a screencasted lecture to go with it is akin to standing in the back of a classroom and flipping through the slides without saying anything about them to the students. That is not teaching in a face- to-face course, and it is not teaching in the online course either. Use the many tools online to offer screencasted lectures of the PowerPoint slides to the online students, and then this offers the equivalent learning experience as they would get in the face-to-face course. An example tool:

• Screencast-o-matic ( http ://s cree ncas t-o- mati c.co m/ )
• Zoom ( http ://w ww.z oom. us/ )
• Facebook chat
• Google Talk chat
• Voice Thread – Asynchronous discussions with video ( http s:// voic ethr com/ )
• ThingLink – Make your images interactive ( http s:// thin glin k.co m/ )
• Popplet – Mind mapping and project planning ( http s:// popp com/ )
• Quizlet – Create fun study tools for students ( http s:// quiz let. com/          )

These are just a few of the ways that an instructor can create more interactive and engaging online learning experi- ences for students.

Online learning can have less personal connections and instructor guidance than face-to-face learning. For this rea- son, some students feel more disengaged from the learning, and online learning sees higher dropout rates than face- to-face learning does. Online instructors should create a plan of communication to connect with at risk students, and help them get back on track. Following are some tactics:

• Keep Track: Keep track of failing students, or a list of students that are behind on their work, and then call them and email them to connect and ask if they need help on the course topics.
• Office Hours: Offer ’office hours’ to help struggling students. This can be as simple as being online in a chat tool or webinar tool (see last section) to allow them a chance to ask questions and get help.
• Virtual Office Forum: Have a ’Virtual Office’ discussion forum in the online course, a place where students can ask questions and get guidance.
• Good Directions: Have detailed directions, grading rubrics, and tutorials in the course that students can access for help on completing course work.
• Be available: This does not mean you should have to answer an email at midnight, but it does mean logging in and checking for questions at least 4x a week.

Read the chapter in this eBook about Online Learning Communities , as it covers this topic in greater depth. In short, building a strong online learning community in which students feel connected to the instructor, their peers, and the content goes a long way to keeping students motivated and engaged in completing the course. There are many tactics one can utilize to build strong learning communities.

This topic will be covered many times throughout this eBook, as it is such an important aspect to quality online instruction. In a face-to-face course the instructor will be there in front of the students several times a week to remind them of upcoming due dates, to answer questions, and to guide the students. Remember our key concept, Equivalency. This should also be done in the online course for students. This can be emulated in the asynchronous course through weekly announcements in the course, via email, and information posted in the Virtual Office of the course. Through email and the forums instructors can have regular communication with students to help keep them on track, just like in a face-to-face course.

A part of good feedback is having a detailed grading rubric for students. In a face-to-face course instructors can go over requirements during lecture, but in an online course the equivalent solution would be to have a grading rubric. Through use of a grading rubric the students can see exactly what will be expected of them on the assignment. Next, the instructor should give detailed feedback on student work. For example, in a paper the instructor should use editing tools to provide in-line comments and suggestions. This, on top the grading rubric, gives the student clear guidance on how to improve on their skills. Offering chances to fix mistakes and resubmit work is also a fantastic way to encourage a reflective learning cycle among online students. Students also like to have instructors reply to their discussion posts as they want feedback on their work. Through interactive feedback an instructor can create a strong learning experience for students.

Online teaching can quickly become overwhelming. Finding ways to offer detailed and quality support, learning, and feedback, but through efficient and time-saving methods, will mean higher quality learning for less instructional time. For example, save all the course announcements, as they can be reused time and again. Create files of all tutorials and guidance videos, which can be used over and over. We will continue to discuss time-saving strategies throughout this eBook on each of the main topics covered.

In this book we will stress over and over that being choosy is the key to offering quality online learning design and delivery. Choose the right tools, for the right job, for the right need, for the right content. Choose the right teaching approaches, for the right learning needs, for the right learning content. Be choosy. If an instructor has too many tools in a course it can create cognitive overload of the students, who become overwhelmed and then they are learning to use tools rather than learning the course content. On the other hand, having too few means boring learning materials and few connection methods, and that loses student interest and dedication as well. Try to choose the right amount of tools for the needs of a given course and its topics. For example, giving the students ten ways to contact the instructor via ten different chat tools is too much. Just choose one. By making smart and efficient choices then the tools work for the course and students rather than the other way around.

Tweet about a tool that can be used to enhance student engagement, success, or motivation.

End of Chapter Resources

Critical thinking.

• Look up equivalency theory online. What is it? How is equivalency defined in this chapter? How is it important to the design of high quality online learning experiences?
• Consider your experience in the classroom and identify the main challenges to ensuring students are engaged in the learning process. How do you ensure students have the opportunity to be fully engaged in the online environment? How do you deal with students who are not engaged?
• Use the Internet to find different definitions of online learning, distance learning, eLearning, blended learning, virtual learning, and mobile learning. What are the similarities and differences between them? Are any critical factors are missing? Why or why not? What would be your definition of virtual learning?

Chapter Task

Student engagement in the classroom is a priority for all instructors. Reflecting on your prior learning experiences, what do you perceive as the challenges associated with student engagement? As an instructor, how would you ensure that students are engaged in the online or blended learning environment?

• Create a list of five effective online teaching skills
• Create a list of five effective skills for successful online learners
• Compare and contrast the two lists

Recommended Resources

Five Step Model of Online Learning: http ://w ww.g illy salm on.c om/f ive- stag e-mo del. html

• Virtual Learning : learning that can functionally and effectively occur in the absence of traditional classroom environments (Simonson & Schlosser, 2006)
• Blended Learning : Allen and Seaman (2003) defined a blended learning course as “having between 30% and 80% of the course content delivered online” while they considered an online course as having “at least 80% of the course content delivered online” (p. 6).
• Equivalency : the online course should offer an equivalent learning experience to a face-to-face course. Not the SAME learning experience, but equivalent

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2003). Sizing the opportunity: The quality and extent of online education in the United States, 2002 and 2003 . Retrieved from http ://s loan -c.o rg/r esou rces /siz ing_ oppo rtun ity. pdf

Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D.R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks , 5 (2), 1-17.

Bonk, C., & Dennen, V. (2003). Frameworks for research, design, benchmarks, training and pedagogy in web-based distance education. In M. Moor & W. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of Distance Education (pp. 331-348) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Dolence, M. G., & Norris, D. M. (1995). Transforming Higher Education: A Vision for Learning in the Twenty-First Century. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Society for College and University Planning.

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses . San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer W. (2000) Critical thinking in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. Internet and Higher Education , 11 (2) 1 – 14

National Survey of Student Engagement. (2007) Experiences that matter: Enhancing student learning and success

– Annual Report 2007 . Bloomington, IN: Center for Postsecondary Research

Pelz, B. (2004). Three principles of effective online pedagogy. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 8(3), 33-46. Retrieved from http ://s loan cons orti um.o rg/s ites /def ault /fil es/v 14n1 _pel z_0. pdf

Redmond, P., (2011). From Face-to-face teaching to online teaching: Pedagogical transitions. In G. Williams,

• Statham, N. Brown & B Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011 (pp. 1050-1060)

Salmon, G. (2013). Five-stage model of online learning . Retrieved from http ://w ww.g illy salm on.c om/f ive- stag e-mo del. html

Schlosser, A., & Simonson, M. (2006). Distance education: Definition and glossary of terms, 2nd ed . Greenwich, CO: Information Age Publishing.

Smith, G.G., Ferguson, D. L., & Caris, A. (2001) Teaching College Courses Online vs Face-to-Face . T.H.E. Journal. Retrieved from http ://t hejo urna l.co m/Ar ticl es/2 001/ 04/0 1/Te achi ng-C olle ge-C ours es-O nlin e-vs -Fac etoF ace. aspx ?Pag e=5

Vaughan, N. D. (2010). A blended community of inquiry approach: Linking student engagement and course redesign . Internet and Higher Education, 13(2), 60 – 65.

• Virtual Learning Design & Delivery. Authored by : Michelle Rogers-Estable, Cathy Cavanaugh, Michael Simonson, Triona Finucane, Andrew McIntosh. Located at : https://www.ck12.org/user:bWVzdGFibGUzN2VkdUBnbWFpbC5jb20./book/Virtual-Learning-Design-and-Delivery/ . Project : Virtual Learning Design & Delivery. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial

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The Importance of Virtual Learning Communities Essay

Introduction, the importance of virtual learning communities, challenges of building a virtual learning community.

Virtual learning communities are those “based on shared purpose rather than actual geographical location” (Lewis & Allan, 2004). The learners from different parts of the world are drawn together and they can form their learning groups formally or informally. This is facilitated by appropriate information and communication technologies such as the internet and video conferencing (Lewis & Allan, 2004).

Since virtual learning communities are based on real-time communication, the learners can be taught at the same time by a single instructor. Consequently, most online degree programs focus on building virtual learning communities to enhance their teaching and students’ learning process. This paper seeks to analyze the importance of virtual learning communities in an online degree program. The challenges likely to be faced while building such communities will be illuminated.

Initial Cohort Seminars

Most online degree programs have an initial course that focuses on introducing the students to the online learning process. Such courses facilitate the building of social relationships among the students. Through such relationships, the online instructor and the students can easily explore both social and academic challenges faced by distance students (Assaf, Elisa, & Fayyuoum, 2009).

To build strong relationships between the instructors and the students at the beginning of the program, they must interact for a long period. This means that the normal online class time needs to be extended through a system that facilitates a seamless exchange of information among the students and their instructors. This objective is best achieved through a virtual learning community that promotes unlimited exchange of ideas among the stakeholders in the learning process (Assaf, Elisa, & Fayyuoum, 2009). This is because the students can integrate their office hours with the learning process thus enabling them to access more information.

Continuous Mentor Involvement

According to the behaviorism theory, learning is enhanced if students can follow and master the facts or skills taught by the instructors (Lewis & Allan, 2004). This means that the instructor must be constantly in touch with his or her students to impart knowledge effectively. The virtual learning communities enable instructors in online degree programs to share knowledge with the students as well as get frequent feedback from them (Brown, 2001).

This helps in assessing the students’ progress as well as recommending timely remedies for the underperformers. In addition to this, the virtual learning communities enable the online degree programs to provide a student mentor. The mentor, through the virtual learning community, works closely with the learners throughout the program (Brown, 2001). Through the mentorship programs, students can acquire skills that enable them to overcome the challenges they face in learning. The motivations accruing from the mentorship programs thus facilitates a high completion rate.

Content-Based Learning

According to the constructivist theory, students learn new ideas through active interactions with their peers (Lewis & Allan, 2004). The virtual learning communities bring together students and instructors from different walks of life. Consequently, the students can share their diverse experiences, ideas, and skills seamlessly. The learning communities enable the instructors and the students to volunteer their questions (McEliath & McDowell, 2008).

The questions and their proposed answers are normally challenged by different students. This not only enhances a better understanding of the question or the topic under discussion but also facilitates the discovery of new ideas. Besides, the insights on the question or topic under discussion will be readily available to all the students using the learning community. Thus each participant will expand his or her critical thinking as they acknowledge diverse perspectives. This will enable them to “construct a fuller understanding of the topic of investigation” (McEliath & McDowell, 2008).

Instructor’s Role in Learning

Most online degree programs are characterized by an e-moderator who presents the course content to the students. In most cases, the e-moderator dominates the video conferences used to impart knowledge. In such a case, the students play a passive role in the learning process. However, this strategy of teaching is less effective since the students tend to lose interest in the course as they lose control over the learning process. To avoid this problem, the role of the e-moderator should shift from addressing the technical or social concerns of the students to facilitating the learning process.

This means that the moderator’s task should be limited to facilitating “exchange of information, knowledge processing as well as practical processing” (Vesely & Bloom, 2007). This can only be achieved if the moderator’s authority and control over the learning process is progressively shifted to the students. The students should have greater autonomy over the learning process to encourage active participation and better results. The virtual learning communities enable online degree programs to give students autonomy over the learning process (Vesely & Bloom, 2007). The students set the pace that suits their abilities while the e-moderator clarifies communication and encourage diverse perspectives from students.

Organization of Resources

Under normal circumstances, students usually categorize and organize online resources in different ways. Their diverse organization process is meant to suit their specific searching habits and conveniences (Williams & Humphrey, 2007). However, the lack of a standard method for organizing online resources makes it difficult to access such resources. Thus the online resources will not be of any value if they can not be accessed by the majority of the students and this leads to poor quality education.

In response to this challenge, many online degree programs embark on the use of virtual learning communities to distribute the learning materials as well as enabling students to share their learning materials effectively (Williams & Humphrey, 2007). The virtual learning communities not only use standard methods of accessing information but also have a dedicated support team that assists students to access the needed materials.

Despite the benefits of a virtual learning community to an online degree program, building it is often characterized by several challenges. Some of the challenges experienced by online degree programs in their attempt to build an effective virtual learning community include the following.

Communication Barriers

Since most students enrolled in online degree programs are from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, they tend to speak different languages. Most online degree programs use English as the official instructional language even though not all students are proficient in English. Lack of a good command of the language used in the virtual learning community can limit the students’ ability to share information with their peers as well as their instructors (Fontainha, 2008). Besides, the intended meaning of a text may change due to the improper use of language.

This presents a great difficulty in the learning process since information will not be shared seamlessly. Attempts to solve this problem through the translation capabilities of the internet have yielded little results since the internet can only translate English into a limited number of languages (Fontainha, 2008). In some cases, students with poor listening and writing skills have failed to benefit from the virtual learning communities by misinterpreting information. Thus presenting information in a manner that is highly understandable given the communication capabilities of the students is the main challenge in building a virtual learning community.

Diverse Technical Backgrounds

Users of virtual learning communities have diverse technological backgrounds. The students’ ability to use modern information and communication technologies depends on their prior exposure to such technologies in their countries of origin (Vesely & Bloom, 2007). However, due to disparities in economic development and technological advancements across the globe, some students have a richer technological background as compare to their colleagues. The consequence of this technological imbalance is that students with little exposure to modern communication technologies will not benefit from the virtual learning communities (Brown, 2001).

The greatest challenge thus is to develop a virtual learning community that takes into account the diverse technological background of its users. This has been difficult as most learning communities embark on modern and sophisticated technologies to enhance efficiency. Thus students who are not able to use the learning community due to their poor skills will have to invest in further training. However, such training further increases the cost of the online degree hence lowering its demand. From a learning perspective, the inability to use the virtual learning community will lead to poor learning outcomes (McEliath & McDowell, 2008). This is because the students will not be able to fully access all the needed information.

Technological Constraints

Due to disparities in financial status and technological advancement, students from various parts of the world use diverse equipment to access virtual learning systems (Fontainha, 2008). For example, students who use a fast internet based on optical cable technology will benefit more from the virtual learning community as compared to those who use outdated technologies. The computer operating systems used by the students might also not be compatible with the technology that supports the virtual learning community system. Thus the main challenge is developing a learning community software package that is compatible with a variety of both hardware and software packages. This has discouraged most online degree programs from using the learning communities.

Social Challenges

These include varying levels of understanding and the intentions of the users. Students have different levels of understanding. Consequently, some of them can not understand the course content if they do not get personalized instructions (McEliath & McDowell, 2008). Providing personalized instructions has always been difficult since most instructors focus on the “learning community as an entity rather than individuals” (Brown, 2001). Varying intentions of using the learning communities also limits the students’ ability to share information.

The above discussion indicates that a virtual learning community is a system that brings together learners from diverse backgrounds (Lewis & Allan, 2004). Most online degree programs have adopted it to enhance learning. Its main benefit is facilitating the seamless sharing of information and networking among students. However, implementation has been difficult due to the reasons discussed above. Thus to overcome the above challenges, the system should be flexible enough to accommodate the communication and learning needs of the students. Besides, real-time support should be available to enhance usage.

Assaf, W., Elisa, G., & Fayyuoum, A. (2009). Virtual eBMS: a virtual learning community supporting personalized learning. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 5(2) , 238-254.

Brown, E. (2001). The process of community-building in distance learning classes. Journal of Asynchronous Learning,5(1) , 18-35.

Fontainha, E. (2008). Communities of practise and virtual learning communications: benefits, barriers and success factors. Journal of Online Teaching and Learning, 3(2) , 120-130.

Lewis, D., & Allan, B. (2004). Virtual learning communities: a guide for practitioners. New York: McGraw-Hill.

McEliath, E., & McDowell, K. (2008). Pedagogical strategies for building community in graduate level distance education courses. Journal of Online Teaching and Learning, 4(1) , 117-127.

Vesely, P., & Bloom, L. (2007). Key Elemnts of building online community: comparing faculty and student perceptions. Journal of Online Learning and teaching, 3(1) , 234-246.

Williams, R., & Humphrey, R. (2007). Understanding and fostering interactions in threaded discussions. Journal of Asynchronous Learning, 11(1) , 129-143.

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The pros and cons of online learning

What to look for in an online course.

By: MIT xPRO

If you’re at a point in your life where you’re considering continuing your education, you may wonder if online learning is the right path for you.

Taking an online course requires a notable investment of time, effort, and money, so it’s important to feel confident about your decision before moving forward. While online learning works incredibly well for some people, it’s not for everyone.

We recently sat down with MIT xPRO Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager Luke Hobson to explore the pros and cons of online learning and what to look for in an online course. If you’re waiting for a sign about whether or not to enroll in that course you’ve been eying, you just might find it here.

Pros of Online Learning

First, let’s take a look at the true value of online learning by examining some of the benefits:

1. Flexibility

Online learning’s most significant advantage is its flexibility. It’s the reason millions of adults have chosen to continue their education and pursue certificates and degrees.

Asynchronous courses allow learners to complete work at their own pace, empowering them to find the optimal time to consume the content and submit assignments.

Some people are more attentive, focused, and creative in the mornings compared to the evenings and vice versa. Whatever works best for the learners should be the priority of the learning experience.

2. Community

When Luke asks people about their main reason for enrolling in a course, a common answer is networking and community.

Learners crave finding like-minded individuals who are going through the same experiences and have the same questions. They want to find a place where they belong. Being in the company of others who understand what they’re going through can help online learners who are looking for support and motivation during challenging times and times that are worth celebrating.

Some learners have created study groups and book clubs that have carried on far beyond the end of the course-it’s amazing what can grow from a single post on a discussion board!

3. Latest information

“Speed is a massive benefit of online learning,” and according to Luke, it often doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

“When we say speed, we don’t mean being quick with learning. We mean actual speed to market. There are so many new ideas evolving within technical spaces that it’s impossible to keep courses the way they were originally designed for a long period of time.”

Luke notes that a program on Additive Manufacturing , Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality , or Nanotechnology must be checked and updated frequently. More formal learning modalities have difficulty changing content at this rapid pace. But within the online space, it’s expected that the course content will change as quickly as the world itself does.

Cons of Online Learning

Now that we’ve looked at some of the biggest pros of online learning, let’s examine a few of the drawbacks:

1. Learning environment

While many learners thrive in an asynchronous learning environment, others struggle. Some learners prefer live lessons and an instructor they can connect with multiple times a week. They need these interactions to feel supported and to persist.

Most learners within the online space identify themselves as self-directed learners, meaning they can learn on their own with the right environment, guidance, materials, and assignments. Learners should know themselves first and understand their preferences when it comes to what kind of environment will help them thrive.

2. Repetition

One drawback of online courses is that the structure can be repetitive: do a reading, respond to two discussion posts, submit an essay, repeat. After a while, some learners may feel disengaged from the learning experience.

There are online courses that break the mold and offer multiple kinds of learning activities, assessments, and content to make the learning experience come alive, but it may take some research to find them-more on what to look for in an online course later in this article! Luke and his colleagues at MIT xPRO are mindful of designing courses that genuinely engage learners from beginning to end.

3. Underestimation

Luke has noticed that some learners underestimate how much work is required in an online course. They may mistakenly believe that online learning is somehow “easier” compared to in-person learning.

For those learners who miscalculate how long they will need to spend online or how challenging the assignments can be, changing that mindset is a difficult process. It’s essential to set aside the right amount of time per week to contribute to the content, activities, and assignments. Creating personal deadlines and building a study routine are two best practices that successful online learners follow to hold themselves accountable.

Experience the Value of Online Learning: What to Look For in an Online Course

You’ve probably gathered by now that not all online courses are created equal. On one end of the spectrum, there are methods of online learning that leave learners stunned by what a great experience they had. On the other end of the spectrum, some online learning courses are so disappointing that learners regret their decision to enroll.

If you want to experience the value of online learning, it’s essential to pick the right course. Here’s a quick list of what to look for:

• Feedback and connection to peers within the course platform. Interacting regularly with other learners makes a big difference. Luke and the MIT xPRO team use peer-reviewed feedback to give learners the opportunity to engage with each other’s work.
• Proof of hard work. In the online learning space, proof of hard work often comes in the form of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or specific certifications. MIT xPRO course participants who successfully complete one or more courses are eligible to receive CEUs , which many employers, licensing agencies, and professional associations accept as evidence of a participant’s serious commitment to their professional development.

Online learning isn’t for everyone, but with the right approach, it can be a valuable experience for many people. Now that you know what to look for in an online course, see what Luke and the MIT xPRO instructional design team have to offer by checking out the latest MIT xPRO courses and programs .

Originally published at http://curve.mit.edu on August 8th, 2022.

The pros and cons of online learning was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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