Online education sucks. But it doesn't have to.

I know, I know, not all online education sucks. But most of it does.

There's a lot of giddy excitement from Ed-tech companies about how enrolment is up in the last few months. More and more people are signing up for courses. More people are finishing courses, too. That's great. But did they actually learn anything? Those that are learning; acquiring new skills and knowledge, wonderful. However, we're probably talking about a minority group of self-motivated, digitally competent folks who are the ones streaking ahead. The majority are left behind. With online education that sucks.

If we were to survey a broad range of learners (K-12 students, university students, teachers, adults) abut their current experiences, I think we would hear the following issues come up time and again:

"My teacher is boring. He/she talks at me for too long and I get bored."

"I get distracted by other windows, tabs, devices. I struggle to concentrate."

"My kids have had it enough of it. I'm giving up and teaching them myself"

"I miss being around other people, in person, when I learn"

Here's the thing:

• It's not enough to create shiny, exciting contents. But we persist in over-investing in beautiful shiny things.
• It's not enough to measure success by X number of participants taking your course, or the number of people that logged in for your webinar. But we persist in measuring success like this.
• It's not enough to celebrate the cases of the hero that took 60 courses in a month and found himself a high paying job. But we continue to kid ourselves that if he/she can do it, then so can anyone!

Learning is the goal

In Coschool we are not experts in online education, but we are obsessed with learning, and we've been trying to figure out the magical combination of creating interesting content that engages and captures the attention of learners while also ensuring they learn.

The formula: engaging content + content that achieves learning

Often, online education does neither.

Sometimes, it achieves the first goal through shiny, exciting, gamified content.

But rarely does it achieve the second goal.

What works?

Creating vibrant, supportive communities between learners. Dedicating time to the development of trust, empathy, and networks between learners. In our Edumocion Movil course (100% online, 93% completion rate with teachers from across Colombia) we create mini groups called "Eduparceros" where learners get to know 3-4 others and stay connected throughout the process. It worked a treat. Here I am with some of them in the closing ceremony of Edumocion last week.

Planning VERY carefully your online classes. Nobody wants to be spoken at for 60 minutes. Building in time for activities, group discussion, Q&A, having a variety of speakers/teachers in the same class, using music/video/theater. Simple stuff, but a lot of us getting this wrong.

Adding elements of surprise/novelty. Mixing up the schedule with 20 minute tutorials, 40 minute webinars, fun challenges. Attention is the currency of online education? How do you keep it? And keep it engaged in meaningful ways.

Designing with your learners, not just for them. Now how many University teachers have taken the time to sit down with/survey their students to invite them to co-create some of their own learning experiences? Not many, I'm sure. This was something we weren't so good at when we started out but we've increasingly involved the teachers from previous cohorts of Edumocion in the design (and execution) of the course.

With COVID and distance-education here to stay for the foreseeable future... What are the best examples of online education you've experienced? What works? What doesn't?