Between the killer homework load, the never-ending extracurriculars, and the chaos of sports, the last thing a student needs is another 8:15 a.m. bell. That’s why for many students, the flexibility, speed and convenience that online classes provide sounds like a miracle. But research from Education Next suggests that convenience may come at a cost: students in online classes tend to learn less, struggle to stay focused, and earn lower grades, dropping, on average, nearly 2%, the equivalent of falling from an A– to a B+. Is this trade-off worth it for the speed and convenience of an online class?
For Gifted Education Specialist Chris Holmes, teaching online has never felt the same as teaching in person.
“My teaching style is rooted in connection and being online; it’s so much more difficult to make meaningful connections with students,” Holmes said. “I did my best, but it just wasn’t the magic that you can create in person.”
He said that while he could still teach content online, what made his in-person classes special was lost.
“I would teach content and direct instruction to a large group in a similar way, but when I teach in person, I’m able to make those connections while I’m doing that, and you can’t do that to the extent that you’d like to be able to online,” Holmes said.
Holmes has seen how easily students can lose focus when they are not physically present in a classroom, and doubts that students learn as much online as they do face-to-face.
“It’s harder to be engaged when you’re in an online class, [since] learning is all about engagement and motivation. If either of those, or both of those, is waning, then learning is going to decrease. So, I can’t imagine that you’d learn better online than in person.”
Still, Holmes recognizes that convenience is the biggest reason why students continue to choose online classes.
“It allows us to be able to live our lives in a way and take the classes in ways that we couldn’t if we were in person,” Holmes said.
Junior Henry Dong has experienced both sides of online education and can immediately notice the difference in learning as a result.
“I don’t get to do as much in an online class as I do in person,” Dong said. “I think the biggest distinction you have is in-person, you have more hands-on activities, whereas online, the only thing you do [are] worksheets and assignments.”
He also finds that motivation depends entirely on an individual’s level of interest.
“I took AP Chinese online, and I’m one of the students who would always have my camera on, and I’d be listening and be participating, but I know that if we were getting into a denser part of the lecture and if I needed a break, I can just turn off my camera, do whatever I need to do and return,” Dong said. “But I also sometimes found it hard to keep myself on track for the rest of class.”
In Dong’s experience, accountability is one of the biggest weaknesses of online learning.
“I’m taking Personal Finance online right now, and there is an instructor, but he doesn’t really check on you, so I haven’t done anything for the first quarter, because it’s not really due until April, and I’m bogged down with other things,” Dong said. “There’s less accountability, it takes less time, but also means that you’re not going to spend time on it.”
Sophomore Elise Waheed, who has taken multiple online courses, described a similar experience with connection.
“Overall, it does depend on how big the class is,” Waheed said. “I don’t normally interact with teachers or students very often, just because I also don’t feel much of a need to.”
Finally, Holmes circles back to what he perceives is the biggest loss for students, human connection.
“One of the [main points] students say they like about school is that they like their friends, they like the extracurriculars,” he said. “You take friends out of that when you’re online, it’s really hard to have that connection that you have in the classroom.”
He also emphasizes how difficult it is for students to feel cared for when that interaction disappears.
“Sometimes high school teachers get you really focused on the content, because we’re required to focus on the content, and therefore we don’t have the opportunity to develop those connections,” Holmes said. “But then you take that online, and it’s even more exacerbated. You really don’t feel like you’re [being seen] unless the teacher explicitly reaches out to you.”
Besides Zoom-based online classes, there are also asynchronous classes, where students study the material at their own pace. Holmes views these non-live classes as presenting an even greater problem for student connection and learning, offering a blunt assessment.
“I think [asynchronous classes] have very little educational value, other than for you to get credit and eventually some kind of degree or certificate,” he said. “I don’t think from an integrity standpoint or intensity or depth of learning standpoint, that it’s got anything to offer.”
Waheed agreed that the lack of structure is both a strength and a weakness.
“I think that there has to be a balance,” she said. “If it’s fully autonomous, sometimes I need help. Other times, if I really understand it more and I just want to dig deeper than what the class is teaching me, having more autonomy and being able to just freely research on my own is preferable.”
Despite the current hurdles, Holmes believes online learning is an inevitable part of education’s future.
“I do believe [learning] is going to be more virtual, but you have to have [a] human connection,” Holmes said.
For him, the challenge is not stopping the shift, but ensuring the community can “figure out a way to adjust” because technology will push us into a different area, whether we are ready or not. The key, he insists, is molding virtual education into something that helps students at a deep level, rather than simply delivering content faster.
“Content is one thing, but asking students questions to stimulate their thinking and then teaching them to ask questions, that probably is the greatest value,” Holmes said. “If you, as a teacher, can construct an environment online where you’re doing that, then I think there can be tremendous value with online education, but that’s a challenging skill, and if you can do that, it’s pretty special.”
