Convenience
and speed appear to be very important to college students who are taking—or
plan to take—all of their courses online.
A new
study conducted by Learning House, which operates online courses for
institutions, and Aslanian Market Research showed that 67% of online students
are using mobile devices to finish some portion of their course requirements.
Reading course materials and communicating with instructors are the most-common
activities. That suggests students are using their smartphone or tablet to
catch up on schoolwork in between other responsibilities, most likely when
they’re away from home.
Online
students gave lower ratings to scheduled class sessions conducted via webconferencing
than they did to other class activities they could access in their own time,
such as videos, slides, readings, interactive media, and discussion boards.
“When
students were asked about the features they deemed most important in the online
programs they chose or were considering, a double-digit share of their
responses went to innovations that can expedite their education,” noted a
summary of the study in Campus
Technology. Those innovations include year-round courses, self-paced
classes, accelerated courses, and online programs that can be completed in less
time than face-to-face classes.
The
survey also showed a growing number of online students have at least some
interest in exploring other new types of postsecondary education, such as
competency-based education, stackable credentials, and “textbook-free”
programs.
