Is Online Instruction Effective?

 Many teachers are on their second year of virtual instruction being alternated with in person as the number of COVID cases increase and decrease.  Most of us were thrown into the deep end back in the spring of 2020, without any training, any direction. We are on the second year after that are we are still bouncing back and forth.  

In the meantime, people has had a chance to conduct research on this topic.  It is obvious that when class has to go virtual, students miss out on the interpersonal interactions they normally experience in person.  

In regard to most online courses for high/middle school, and elementary are designed to resemble the in class structure. The teacher usually has a warm-up, the lesson, and offers chances to interact virtually before homework is assigned.  The teacher tries to include time to work with individual students. Unfortunately, online classes are not as effective as in-person classes for most students.

In one study, students were placed in either online or in person classes when they had to repeat the second semester of Algebra I.  The results indicated that the students who took the class in person did much better than those in the online version. In addition, those who took the online class felt it was more difficult than taking the same class in person.

Although some students do well in virtual or online classes, the majority do not. Students who have a weaker academic background tend to so much worse in online classes. There is evidence to support the idea that students who do really well in person will do well online but for those who struggle to learn math in person will so significantly worse when enrolled in an online class.

It is possible to design an online class to help lower performing students.  An online class needs to have a strong curriculum with strong teaching practices in place. It needs to have activities and teaching methods designed to engage students because they face more distractions with less oversight so they may not have the same motivation. Teachers need to set expectations such as responding to a specific number of questions or interacting with other students during class time. 

Unfortunately, students who have fewer resources at home, tend to learn less than they do when they are in school In addition, research shows that giving students access to virtual classes is better than nothing.  The biggest point of virtual classes is that it does provide a chance for teachers to interact with students but there needs to be improvements made to online classes to improve student learning.

I don't know if many students struggle with online because of the way the classes are organized due to districts trying to make it so virtual classes mimic in person classes or if it's just the distractions.  I'll be investigating that next.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.