September 9, 2021
The legitimacy of online learning vs traditional learning
Is an online degree as legitimate as a traditional brick-and-mortar qualification? The short answer is yes. Once perceived as a second-rate substitute for traditional on-campus learning, online degrees are coming of age in a post-pandemic world.
Since the early 2000s, distance learning has become a popular alternative (or addition) to traditional in-classroom education. In 2020, the pandemic forced a near-universal shift to virtual learning, and online education experienced the most significant boost since its inception. In 2021, almost all graduates entering the job market completed at least part of their degrees online.
However, despite the leaps and bounds made in technology advancements, digital literacy and pedagogy strategies, there is a lingering stigma around the topic – that online degrees are substandard, easy to acquire, or possibly even fraudulent. A 2009 study found that employers and hiring managers had an overall negative perception about online degrees, citing a perceived lack of rigour and an increased potential for academic dishonesty as common concerns. In short, anyone with an online degree was considered less qualified than someone who spent four years on campus in an actual classroom.
Fast forward to 2021. Are online degrees still considered less credible than degrees earned in person, or have the events of 2020 created a tipping point for the legitimacy of online education? As the pandemic endures, how will online degrees be viewed against their traditional counterparts, and will they carry the same weight in a professional environment as a four-year, on-campus degree?
Today, a growing number of prestigious brick and mortar universities have embraced online learning. Moreover, with platforms like Coursera proving that online learning companies can successfully partner with established universities to deliver quality degrees, employers are beginning to recognise the value of online learning more widely.
Good news for online degree holders entering an increasingly competitive job market, a report by Northeastern University’s Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy (CFHETS) found that many hiring managers no longer view online degrees or credentials as inferior to those earned on campus.
The way we work has changed significantly. Remote working has increased by 44% in the last five years, and that is not accounting for the massive upswing in remote working due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As companies continue to embrace remote working arrangements, employers are changing their posture on remote learning and are starting to recognise the benefits online learners can bring to the workplace. Hiring managers are beginning to value the skills and experiences involved with distance learning, including digital literacy, strong time management skills, and the ability to work independently.
For some time, online education has been the logical option for students who cannot physically attend classes, particularly those with full-time careers, family obligations, or who live far from campus. Today, it is no longer their circumstances driving students to study their degrees online – they are choosing remote learning over in-person studying. In the United States, recent research by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows declines in enrolment across nearly all categories of institutions since 2020. In contrast, online institutions experienced a marked increase in both undergraduate and graduate enrolments.
This spike in interest is only in part due to stay-at-home orders during the 2020 pandemic when 98% of universities moved a majority of classes online and forced the shift to e-learning. Students are increasingly choosing to study online because they realise that it is a better way to learn. Research has found that students retain 25-60% more material when learning online, versus the much lower 8% to 10% information retention rates of face-to-face training. Furthermore, students can learn faster online than in the classroom. E-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting. This is because students have more autonomy over their learning and can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading material, skipping sections, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.
In a 2018 survey, 85% of students who had previously enrolled in face-to-face and online courses reported that their online experience was either the same or better than the classroom course. That included 37% who felt it was a superior experience. As the benefits of online learning become more widely recognised and evidence of student success more known, these figures will grow.
The online education field, while maturing, is still relatively young. To meet the changing needs of an ever-evolving student force, higher education institutions need to connect with their learners where they are – online. Looking ahead, online delivery is poised to continue to claim a larger share of all higher education activity. EdTech is enabling universities to engage students in innovative ways through the introduction of new technologies and methodologies, like mobile learning, augmented reality, podcasting, learning analytics, gamification and more.
It’s important to note that whilst fully online programmes and courses will certainly be a key driver of this evolution, hybrid degree programmes allow students to get the best of both worlds. Online resources are readily available to students, supplementing traditional instruction (rather than replacing it). Students can meet with professors in person, collaborate with peers in class, and still benefit from the flexibility of online classes. And research shows they work. As reported in one study, students (at nearly all levels of achievement) do just as well in hybrid classes as they do in traditional classrooms.
In a 2018 survey by Northeastern University Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy, hiring leaders identified recommendations for colleges and universities to pursue to ensure the quality and utility of online credentials in hiring. These include:
Degrees still have great value in the hiring process. To help legitimise online degrees and credentials, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to continue tracking employer perceptions of candidates who have pursued their education online. If online learners, especially those who choose not to pursue a traditional four-year degree, prove successful over time on the job, the impact on online learning could be profound.
*Your email address will not be published.
The future of work: how universities can prepare students for an uncertain future
More people than ever are going to university. In the UK, well over a third of all 18-year-olds (37.8 percent) enrolled on a full-time undergraduate course last year, according to UCAS. And, while some students are drawn to higher education to increase their academic knowledge and enjoy the university experience, most will also be looking to improve their employment and earning prospects. Government figures for 2020 show a graduate employment rate of 86.4 percent, with median graduate earnings standing at £35,000 (£9,500 more than their non-graduate counterparts).
Creating a rich social and cultural experience for online degree learners
Much of the discussion around the recent global shift from campus-based to remote-learning models has centred on the quality of online programmes of study – more particularly on how universities can effectively motivate, support, and assess individuals as part of a dispersed student population.
Breaking the bias: addressing the higher education gender pay gap
As participation continues to widen in the UK’s higher education sector with increasing numbers of applications from previously underrepresented sectors, many gender-based anomalies remain. For example, while women are much more likely to go to university than men (as well as to complete their studies and to achieve a good degree), figures show that women graduates cede their professional advantage in a matter of months.
EdTech: How technology is empowering universities to deliver high-quality online programmes
When universities were compelled to pivot from providing primarily campus-based programmes of study to delivering remote-first instruction, teachers and students alike found themselves navigating systems largely designed to deliver a facsimile of the traditional classroom experience, relayed via videoconferencing and other related connectivity tools.
Successful strategies for designing and delivering high-quality online learning
As demand grows for online learning options that are as comprehensive and effective as their campus-based counterparts, forward-thinking higher education organisations are exploring strategies that will help them deliver high-quality, full-featured programmes of study in remote, blended and hybrid formats.
The great unbundling: diminishing or democratising higher education?
Back in 2011, academic eyebrows were raised when news of a ‘no-frills’ higher-education path in an offshoot of Coventry University emerged, offering degree-level qualifications for around half the price of traditional universities. Students at the Coventry University College (CUC) were promised modular study routes in a variety of professional programmes, with part-time, full-time, and accelerated options, as well as the opportunity to pay in instalments.
Taking the lead: tackling the challenges of moving campus-based courses online
Events of the last two years have heralded unprecedented developments in the higher-education sector, forcing organisations to transition to remote learning at a highly accelerated pace.
Aiming high: 10 ways universities can optimise the student experience in 2022
As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its third year, the temporary disruptions that rocked higher-education provision in the early weeks of 2020 have since escalated into the existential challenges the sector is facing today.
University career services: A critical tool in a competitive climate
It’s a tricky time for graduates. As class-of-2021 graduates collide and compete with their 2020 peers, who lost out due to the pandemic-induced suspension of graduate programmes, fewer opportunities are being spread even more thinly across a bumper crop of applicants in super-competitive jobs market – with predictably diminishing returns.
How online learning can support a more inclusive approach to higher education
The challenges presented by the pandemic have prompted a sector-wide re-think of higher-education provision in a radically changed world. It’s also sparked fresh discussions on how universities and other institutions can use what they’ve learned over the past eighteen months to deliver more assertively on access and participation and to accelerate recovery.
Can online education help plug the global skills gap?
Employment rates have been hitting the headlines recently, as businesses everywhere struggle to recruit staff in a number of key areas.
What’s driving universities to go online?
The pandemic pushed distance learning into the mainstream as lockdown shuttered school and college campuses all over the world in spring 2020. Once the province of a relatively small cohort of specialist organisations, online study became the de-facto option for millions of students almost overnight.
COMMENTS
No comments found.