Misconceptions and Myths about Online Learning
There are a number of misconceptions and myths about online learning. As someone who loves being in a physical classroom, I must admit that I thought many of these misconceptions were true! However, online teaching and learning has changed a lot since the early days of distance education and mail-order classes. The following addresses some of the misconceptions about online courses and provides suggestions to ensure that myths don’t become reality.
1) Online courses are devoid of academic rigour.
This was always my number one concern. Are online courses easier? Do they lack an ability to foster intellectual curiosity and thoroughness that can be prompted by in-the-moment questions and discussion? While students’ workload may be distributed differently, engagement with course materials can be just as academically rigorous. Typically, “rigour”— whether in an in-person or online course—is determined by the intended course outcomes and facilitated through learning activities such as engagement with readings, questions, cases, problems, team projects, etc. Even a face-to-face course that allows students to passively receive information isn’t particularly rigorous. When designing any course, it’s important to consider: How are students being intellectually challenged in the course? What are they required to do to demonstrate their learning? How are students engaging with me, their peers, and the course materials?
For more about ensuring student learning online, check out “Creating Online Assessments for Learning.”
2) Online courses lack a sense of community.
Community and belonging can be created in a virtual environment! Online learning doesn’t have to be isolating or mysterious. During the MOOC heyday, it was revealed that completion rates for those massive online open courses were very low. This isn’t the case in online classes composed of university student cohorts, especially when learners are welcomed into a community. Social bonding and shared academic goals can be cultivated online through the development of an open environment, access to faculty support through multiple modes of communication, opportunities for peer interaction, and team-based collaboration on common problems or projects. It may take more planning to build a social connection with students online, but a sense of community can be just as strong in a virtual space.
For more about fostering social and academic community online, check out the blog post “Creating a (Virtual) Learning Community.”
3) Online courses facilitate academic dishonesty.
It’s possible to design any course, online or face-to-face, to avoid academic dishonesty. The majority of students don’t intend to “cheat” or plagiarize, and academic honesty can be encouraged through careful assignment design. It’s important to communicate clear expectations for every assignment, so students know how they can successfully demonstrate their learning. Providing instructions through multiple media (written, visual, and audio) helps students understand what’s expected of them. Assignment rubrics can also communicate your expectations to students and diminish the temptation to cheat. You may want to consider creating a scaffolded final project or portfolio for students, instead of requiring a final timed exam. Perhaps, if a midterm or final test is an integral part of your assessment, students can be allowed to access their course resources or maybe the students complete these evaluations in small teams.
For more about academic integrity online, check out “Academic Integrity in the F.A.C.E. Of Online Teaching.”
4) Online courses replicate distance education.
Online courses aren’t entirely self-directed the way distance education classes often were in the 1980s and 1990s. In most cases, post-secondary students aren’t tuning in to lectures on their television sets or accessing content through VHS tapes and workbooks mailed to their homes. Instructors have the ability to organize multiple ways to communicate with students and create opportunities for learners to collaborate with each other through the learning management system (e.g. Brightspace). Most students are used to social media platforms that allow for a range of interactions including chatting as well as sharing photographs and videos. You can capitalize on learners’ familiarity with sustaining online communities by engaging them through short videos, surveys, discussion threads, and peer-learning opportunities.
You can determine course progression by soliciting formative feedback and ascertain student learning by scaffolding assignments.
Similar to a face-to-face course, the online environment benefits from planning based on clearly articulated outcomes and goals. When a course is designed with intentionality, online learning can promote academic rigour, a sense of community, and academic integrity. If you’re looking for support with your online course, Dalhousie University’s Centre for Learning and Teaching can help you achieve your goals.
Other Resources:
Justin York (2017) 10 Common Misconceptions About Online Courses
Jeff Vallance & Barbara Wilson-Keates (2018) Dispelling the misconceptions of online education
Jody E. Jessup-Anger (2015) Online Courses – What is Lost, What is Gained and What about Something Called Rigor? from Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations of Learning Communities in Learning Communities from Start to Finish, Mimi Benjamin, ed. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.