[LIVE] Chat with Scott Hindell, Lead Coach at M Accelerator
Why Online Learning Often Fails – Tips for Instructors
Technology has, over the last 200 years, transformed how we live our lives and yielded us an extraordinary present. The global transformation process has been especially dramatic in the last quarter of this span of time. Today, the internet enables us to connect, control, and learn in ways like never before. However, despite the massive upside potential of the internet to enhance the learning process, glaring failures have made it difficult for the medium to be fully realized
The potential of, and unfortunately more so, disappointments of online learning is under scrutiny now more than ever as recent news of COVID-19 has put the world in lockdown.
In this article we will discuss the reasons why most online training programs struggle to fully meet their goals, featuring an interview with a seasoned instructor from UCLA and M Accelerator, C. Scott Hindell.
The problems that plague the virtual space as a learning environment can be distilled to issues revolving around technical and practical limitations, the inability of programs to engage students as they would in real person, and low transparency leading to weak overall accountability.
Technical Difficulties and Limitations
Online learning programs require a certain level of “computer literacy” on the part of both the instructor and students. With technology changing rapidly, it can be hard for people to keep up with new devices and software. Oftentimes, it is assumed that those involved know how to best use the technologies but this isn’t the case in reality. The gaps in technical faculty mean that inefficiencies will persist as the programs transpire.
Weak Engagement
Even though online learning programs give students the great benefit of being able to learn virtually anytime and anywhere, they just can’t seem to draw the same level of engagement from students as live sessions do.
There just seems to be something missing in online environments that weakens retention among students.
Programs have struggled to recreate “meaningful interaction between students and instructors” in the manner and consistency that live programs do. This leads to more serious problems such as lower completion rates. Studies show that students will steadily drop out of online programs regardless of how much of the programs they have completed.
Low Transparency and Accountability
The issue of accountability has yet to be effectively addressed when it comes to virtual learning programs. This can range from those taking the program, to the instructors, administrators, and even developers.
It’s hard to regulate and establish standardization across the now not so nebulous medium because all the programs are decentralized in nature. This is certainly in part due to weak transparency measures in place to make sure there’s accountability across all involved parties in the learning process.
Responsibility is often squarely rested on the shoulders of the students learning with little accountability measures for instructors and administrators. Italicize or bold
Material Overload
In addition to that, “misconception relating to cognitive load” on the part of instructors can lead to overburdening students with work in virtual learning programs. This can be especially true of learning programs that are newly transitioned to the online space because it can be easy to add more material when the constraints of time and space have been relaxed. But adding more material doesn’t necessarily equate to more learning, it might prove to be counterproductive and even detrimental to the learning experience.
https://maccelerator.la/