Online courses
How to stand out in the digital classroom
Are you taking an online course this semester? Or a hybrid class—a traditional classroom with online learning components? If you haven’t yet ventured into the virtual classroom, you likely will.
Online courses can broaden students’ access to education at relatively low cost. Is there a downside? “[W]e are asked by students all the time: Are online courses hard? Am I going to do well in an online or hybrid course?” wrote researchers at Neumann University, Pennsylvania, in a recent study.
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Do online classes work?
The evidence is uneven, but much of it is reassuring:
- Students’ academic outcomes appear similar in online and face-to-face classes.
- The hybrid model can work slightly better than the traditional approach, some studies suggest.
- Whether the classroom is online or traditional is a less meaningful predictor of success than students’ drive and engagement.
Challenges & opportunities
For sure, distractions surround you (laundry, Candy Crush, cat). The biggest challenge might be sustaining your attention. Online students confessed to mind-wandering roughly 40 percent of the time, in a Harvard University study. (That problem was effectively addressed by routinely testing students on the material just covered.)
Virtual classes also have advantages. Self-conscious about speaking up in a regular class? Online, nobody’s turning to look at you. “Feel confident in your ability to succeed. If you believe you deserve an education, you will earn it,” says Dolan Williams, who teaches personal dimensions of education for Ashford University online. To stand out in an online classroom, see our slideshow CLICK HERE.
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