Prior to the pandemic, online classes were a hard sell. During the pandemic, students had no other option if they wanted to continue their education. Higher education institutions were ill-prepared to deliver all of their courses online, and some classes simply defied online delivery. Now that the pandemic is over, have students changed their minds about online classes?
Last December, the Art and Science Group released a student poll on the issue. Overall, poll respondents (2,240 high school seniors) have a very limited appetite for online education. More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents want to take few or no classes online. While students do continue to register for online courses, they remain biased toward in-person delivery for several important reasons.
Interestingly, poll respondents were evenly divided (39%) on whether they believed it was easier to get better grades in online or in-person classes. Twenty-two percent of respondents thought the delivery mode would have no impact on a student’s grade. The question isn’t particularly interesting, nor are the responses. What is interesting about this question is that was the only area in which online classes held their own against in-person classes. In thirteen other poll topics, students clearly – and sometimes overwhelmingly – preferred in-person classes.
In case you might think that the thirteen other poll topics might be lightweights, guess again. Students ranked in person delivery higher in every aspect from taking class notes and academic rigor to more engagement with teachers and other students. Students also believed that in-person classes provided more consistency in the learning experience; were more likely to be offered by more prestigious institutions; improved the overall college experience; reduced students’ negative interactions with technology; and improved the students’ overall college social experience.
Online classes raise some serious value questions
That’s bad news for community colleges that want to hang their hats on online education. What the poll doesn’t touch on is how receptive other institutions are to accepting credits for education delivered online. In some subject areas, some universities won’t accept credits for courses taken online. That’s a problem for students who want to transfer. It seems that even universities acknowledge that there is scant equivalency between online and in-person delivery.
For community colleges, this calls into question the value of pursuing an online degree strategy. If students believe that in-person delivery offers more academic rigor, and universities raise questions about the equivalence of online courses to their in-person counterparts, what’s the draw in increasing the number of online degree programs? Is online education a limited-value pathway to a limited-value degree? And given the qualified personnel shortages in the workforce right now, is that really what we need more of?
Photo Credit: Nenad Stojkovic, via Flickr
