How do students feel about online learning?

When colleges changed to emergency remote education in the past year certain online learning advocates worried that the hurried transition could result in students having negative perceptions regarding online instruction. Although more online courses for pre-pandemics were the result of months of meticulous planning and a significant expenditure, very only a few instructors took advantage of these benefits this spring.

Despite the risks and flaws of this urgent transition towards remote education, the majority of students would prefer the possibility of studying on the internet, as per new survey results.

The Digital Learning Pulse survey, launched today, is fourth in a string of surveys conducted by Bay View Analytics in partnership with Cengage and Cengage, the Online Learning Consortium, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies as well as The Canadian Digital Learning Research Association and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association.

The survey was completed by 772 faculty members and 514 academic administrators. 1,413 students enrolled at the U.S. higher education institution for in the autumn of 2020 and the spring 2021 semesters. These results are scheduled to be presented in the Cengage webcast scheduled for tomorrow.

A majority of students (73 percent) with a 73 percent percentage “somewhat” or “strongly” (46 percent) said they would like to attend certain online classes in the future. A smaller percentage from students, around 68 percent said they were interested in taking classes that provide both in-person and online instruction.

In the case of in-person classes In the case of in-person courses, 68 percent of students generally or in part agreed that they’d like have more technology used. Digital content as well as digital materials was well-liked with 67 percent saying they’d like to see more use of these resources.

For the spring 2021 and fall 2020 sessions, it included a question asking students, faculty members and administrators to grant an individual letter grade, ranging from A-F in order to gauge how well the the courses offered at their institution met the educational requirements. The students were not as raving about their experiences in the same way Jeff Seaman, director of Bay View Analytics, expected.

“There were a very small number of students who gave their courses failing grades,” Seaman added. Seaman. “But generally students were more positive about their courses than faculty or administrators.”

All in all the course of time, students, faculty and administrators received a grade of B — for the courses they taught during the fall 2020 semester and the spring 2021 semesters. The grades reflect a mix of teaching techniques, such as full-time online courses, hybrid, and face-to-face instruction.

Administrators, teachers, and students all listed the same top three obstacles to student achievement over the past two semesters, stated Seaman. Top of this list is “feelings of stress,” followed by “level of motivation” and the third one was “having time to do homework.”

Faculty, students, and administrators aren’t always as unified in their responses in their responses, according to Seaman. Seaman believes that faculty members and administrators might be more connected to the challenges students face because this is an increasingly important topic of discussion in the context of the pandemic.

Jessica Rowland Williams, director of Every Learner Everywhere and Every Learner Everywhere, agreed. “The pandemic has given us the unique opportunity to pause and listen to each other, and we are beginning to discover all the ways our experiences overlap,” she said.

Every Learner Everywhere offers free support to administrators and faculty on issues that relate with digital education. Alongside the issues faced by students, which were identified by the Bay View Analytics survey, teachers often have questions on how to keep students interested in learning environments that are virtual as stated by Rowland Williams.

The difficulty of keeping students interested was also highlighted throughout Every Learner Every where’s Student Speaks report, which was based on interviews conducted with 100 students from marginalized schools all over the U.S. about their experience of learning during the epidemic.

“As our campuses become more diverse, we must also acknowledge that the challenges our students face will be diverse and may also be unique to student populations. The next step we need to take when evaluating challenges is to disaggregate data to explore how different populations may be disproportionately impacted by the stressors listed,” said Rowland Williams. “I am hopeful that as we continue to uncover points of connection, they will serve to keep us grounded and curious as we also explore the ways our journeys and experiences are unique.”

Many of the objections to online education and learning that was expressed prior to the epidemic resulted from “unfamiliarity rather than distaste,” said Clay Shirky, vice provost for education technologies in New York University.

“What COVID-19 and the shift to emergency remote instruction did was burn off the fog of unfamiliarity,” Shirky said. Shirky.

At NYU there are discussions taking place about how to make the best aspects that remote education offers and make them more effective according to Shirky. Students want flexibility and choice as instructors, Shirky added.

There are some aspects that the process of transitioning from the pandemic can be more difficult for institutions when it comes to planning how classes will be taught than when it was first going in, explained Shirky. Certain faculty and students may be in a position that they can be able to return to classroom instruction in person However, not everyone has been vaccinated, or has the possibility of being vaccine-free. There are also limitations on visas in place that may stop students from coming into the country for a while.

The fact that students expressed they would like to continue their education on the internet in the future despite the circumstances is encouraging, according to Shirky.

The general perception of online education is that by investing more money and putting more effort into it, you’ll get a better product, according to Shirky. He believes there are two kinds of online education — both good and poor. However, they aren’t based on months of planning or the ability to afford extravagant videos.

“The most important thing is that faculty are engaged and care that their students learn something,” the professor said.

There’s still a the concern that emergency remote learning practices don’t reflect quality online instructional methods, said Jill Buban, vice president of digital strategy and online education at Fairfield University. A lot of students do not understand the difference between online and emergency remote learning she added.

“My hope is that many faculty come out of this experience, after much-needed rest, with new skills that they can use when they return their traditional learning environment,” Buban said.

The modifications could be as simple as inviting guest lecturers into the classroom via remote by using an educational management system, or a greater the use of digital textbooks as well as open educational resources for courses Buban said. Buban.

“If the past year can open more eyes to effective online teaching and learning practices, it will be a net positive for the future of postsecondary teaching and learning environments and will allow universities to be more agile,” Buban said.