Have you seen the ads promoting “attending class in your pjs?” You know, the ones with happy, perky college students earning valuable degrees effortlessly while lounging around eating mid-morning cereal?
Okay, well,— hello reality!—most of us know online classes don’t go quite like that.
Still, there are some great things being said about getting an education online. These classes have worked well for non-traditional students, students with busy work schedules, students with great family responsibilities, and self-motivated learners.
It certainly seems that online classes are here to stay, and some people can’t say enough about how fabulous they are.
According to a new study done by folks (aka Di Xu and Shanna Smith Jaggars) at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College of Columbia University, it may be time to rethink the “online is always awesome!” attitude.
In other words,time to wake up and face reality.
Some findings from the Di Xu and Shanna Smith Jaggars study include:
- “students who enrolled in online courses . . . were more likely to fail or drop out of the courses than were those who took the same courses in person”
- “students who took online courses early in their community college careers were slightly but statistically significantly less likely than were other students to come back for subsequent terms”
- “students who took higher shares of coursework online than did their peers were slightly but statistically significantly less likely either to finish a degree or certificate or to transfer to a four-year institution”
You gotta be a little careful with these online classes, huh?
The authors of this new study are not telling us to get rid of online education entirely. It’s more like they’re sending a warning that these wonderful, “easy” online classes are not for every student, not for every instructor, and not to be taken lightly . . . or lying down in pjs.
In addition to this timely warning the authors of this study offer suggestions for community colleges to make online classes a success instead of a failure.
- Require a student assessment before entrance into online classes. Don’t let students start on the journey of online education if they are not well suited to the task. An assessment of student online readiness seems like a brilliant idea to me.
- Train instructors better on how to teach online. If kids aren’t doing so hot with the classes, it’s definitely wise to check the quality of the teaching.
- Enhance student support. Campus technical support, online tutoring, and other services need to be accessible online and at all hours. Students who take online classes likely have crazy schedules; they will need these services, like their classes, at odd times and through online administration.
What other things would you suggest to make online classes more successful? Does your local community college assess students before allowing them to enroll online? Do you think such an assessment would really help?
Speak your mind in the comments, please!
