From a Learner’s Perspective: The Effectiveness of Online Learning and The Reasons Behind Outperforming Classroom-Based Learning

Online learning has become the current trend in the educational sector worldwide. Amid the rise of the covid-19 pandemic, most educational organizations and universities chose distance learning policies for their students, teachers, and workers. That was actually a recommendation by UNESCO that encouraged schools and teachers to use online delivery systems and even shared a long list of systems that help institutions do their teaching over distance. That has been the case in order to diminish the spread of coronavirus (Shehzadi et al., 2020). As per those recommendations, the number of courses delivered online has increased remarkably. But, was this the beginning of the online learning rise? If not, then when did it begin? And how does it differ from face-to-face learning classrooms? And are the online educational tools and courses effective enough to replace traditional learning classrooms? Lastly, should we consider investing more in online learning systems?

?

Online learning is the term that is used to refer to all online teaching practices. Online learning has changed the way we teach and learn. Lessons that were limited to lectures, attendance, and physical objects before the digital age no longer needed to be developed that way. Teachers and students now have access to digital toolboxes, from exquisite devices for teaching students to online courses and digital textbooks. The features of online distance learning include digital learning tools, human-computer interactions, digital textbooks, and content which includes its delivery, administrative services, and progress measurement and evaluation. All these features help in the interaction and communication of all the elements in the online learning process (Seok, 2007a, 2007b, 2008). Online learning now is more visual and interactive and gives the opportunity to students to explore more opportunities of involving technology in their learning environment.

?Online distance learning is about to replace traditional classroom learning completely. It is proven effective as per statistics. Since the establishment of the first online learning program in 1989 by the University of Phoenix; which used the American online commercial service provider back then, CompuServe (Kentnor, 2015), many students considered online classes over traditional classes. It has become more convenient for them as it helps them work and attend courses simultaneously. In 2005, The number of courses delivered online witnessed a huge increment. The biggest share of that rise is credited to associate degree institutions where 72% of the benefited people agreed that online courses had been essential in their long-term strategies compared to 2003 when the share was 58% only; which was also massive back then. (Allen & Seaman, 2005).?these numbers have even increased during the covid-19 pandemic.

Presently, there are too many people who go for online learning over classroom learning, which helps them get educated without difficulty, especially for those who look forward to having a career path and need professional development. It is cost-effective when it is compared to post-graduate studies as post-graduate studies are quite expensive and non-affordable for most high school graduates (Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2013). Online learning also helps connect students worldwide with top educational institutions. The moment you have an internet connection is the moment you are ready to proceed with your studies and help establish your professional career path (Bartley & Golek, 2004; De la Varre, Keane, & Irvin, 2011; Gratton-Lavoie & Stanley, 2009; Koller & Ng, 2014; Lorenzetti, 2013) Online learning is considered a flexible solution for all students, especially for those who wouldn’t have the opportunity to obtain a degree or get the necessary qualifications for work.

However, some people disagree with the idea of online learning as it deprives students of peer-to-peer interactions as well as student-teacher bonds (Donovan, Mader, and Shinsky 286). There is also an advantage for traditional classrooms over online classrooms as the surrounding motivation is present. For those who need help from their peers and those who need support, would be easier for them to be in a classroom where they get to interact with their colleagues. Also; spot explanations and clarifications by instructors are present in traditional classrooms, unlike online learning where it differs from one system to another when it comes to on-spot clarifications by instructors even though most of the new online learning platforms are interactive and offer a wide range of connectivity with instructors and colleagues. That moves us to the next point where students are in need to be familiar with the internet to be able to access the course materials and keep up with the updates and assignments, so it’s not considered a solution for all until all students undertake internet literacy.

On the other hand, one of the cons of traditional learning is that the materials are not provided by instructors and are not always available, unlike online learning courses where the material is mostly provided in advance to all students (Sorenson and Johnson 116)

Anyways, It’s quite obvious that online learning has outperformed traditional classroom-based learning. A study published by The Learning House Inc. in 2018 illustrated that 85% of students who were enrolled in hybrid courses, that had an online course in addition to a classroom course, preferred the online course environment to the traditional classroom ones (Sorenson and Johnson 116)

Even though the effectiveness of online courses appears to be quite positive, there is one study done by a team of researchers from Stanford Research Institute International that stated a few interesting facts. The researchers have studied over 45 studies about online learning from 1996 to 2008 and came out with the following observation. They found that online learners performed way better than those in the traditional learning paths, but when it came to blended systems of online courses along with traditional courses, the performance was even more significant. Those researchers concluded that even though the blended systems showed a better result, there was no connection found for having this rise in performance related to having additional traditional courses added to the online learning paths (Bernard et al., 2004; Clark, 1994)

?

From the previous findings of researchers, it is concluded that online learning paths are currently on the rise and are frequently developed and more people are becoming more interested in taking the online paths over the traditional paths. The online knowledge delivery platforms have improved and become more interactive and easier for the students to use and learn from which made this huge increment in the number of students satisfyingly choosing online courses. There will be a few pros to face-to-face interactions. Still, as it’s not cost-effective and requires much attention, and is quite time-consuming, people are directed to choose the overperforming online learning paths and courses over the old traditional classroom-based learning paths.

References:

?Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2005). Growing by degrees: Online education in the United States. Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from https:// www.sloan-c.org/resources/ growing_by_degrees.pdf

?Bartley, S. J., & Golek, J. H. (2004). Evaluating the Cost Effectiveness of Online and Face-to-Face Instruction. Educational Technology & Society, 7(4), 167–175.

?Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Lou, Y., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Wozney, L., … Huang, B. (2004). How Does Distance Education Compare With Classroom Instruction? A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 379–439.

?Donovan, Judy, Mader, Cynthia and Shinsky, John. Constructive student feedback: Online vs. traditional course evaluations. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 5.3(2006): 284-292

?Dynarski, S & Scott-Clayton J (2013) Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research, The Future of Children, vol 23(1), pages 67-91.

?Kentor, H (2015), Distance Education and the Evolution of Online Learning in the United States, Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, Vol. 17, Nos. 1 & 2, 2015

?Seok, S. (2007a). Item validation of online postsecondary courses: Rating the proximity between similarity and dissimilarity among item pairs (Validation study series i - Multidimensional scaling) [Electronic version]. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from https://www.springerlink.com/ content/wxp 1 45x6 125q8j27

?Seok, S. (2007b). Standards, accreditations, benchmarks in distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 8(4), 387-398.

?Seok, S. (2008). Teaching aspects of e-learning. The International Journal on E-Learning, 7(4), 725741.

?Shehzadi, S., Nisar, Q. A., Hussain, M. S., Basheer, M. F., Hameed, W. U., & Chaudhry, N. I. (2020). The role of digital learning toward students' satisfaction and university brand image at educational institutes of Pakistan: a post-effect of COVID-19. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(2), 276–294.

Sorenson, Lynn, and Johnson, Trav. Online Student Ratings of Instructions. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2003. Print.

Date: 4th of April, 2022?

Written by: Mahmoud Sami Ramadan

Masters' Student at Liverpool John Moores University