Online learning benefits many different kinds of students for many reasons, including the flexibility offered by asynchronous learning (the ability to participate in class anytime), the convenience of working from home, and the ability to balance work, school, and family life, among other commitments.This has to calls from students across the country for more online education options or more online courses at their schools.
But some students avoid online courses.Why?
- First, lack of technological confidence deterred some students, especially nontraditional students, from taking online courses, according to a Boston University study. This means that students worried that they would not be able to master all the computer skills necessary to succeed in online courses. To be fair, some earlier Learning Management Systems may have been cumbersome, but advances in educational technology have hopefully resolved this.
- Second, some students may avoid online courses because they think they cannot learn in an online format, that their brains do not “work” that way. If that’s the case for you, don’t worry. Most research shows that there is no such thing as “learning styles,” and you probably already possess all the skills you need to succeed in an online course. Also, online courses are not static and flat. They offer many different kinds of learning activities and provide many different opportunities to learn, so you can probably find an online learning experience that helps you take advantage of your best learning skills.
How Do People Learn?
There has been an enormous amount of research on how people learn; it has been a subject of human interest since the beginning of human society. From ancient philosophers such as Socrates to great philosophers Rene Descartes and modern thinkers such as psychologist B.F. Skinner and educator Maria Montessori, an understanding of how people learn has been viewed as fundamental to understanding the human body, improving society, and bettering human relationships. The Brain Sciences Program at Brown University, for example, investigates the relationship between biological chemistry and the learning process, and claim that “the mechanisms of learning and memory are at the essence of how the brain works.”
This expansive interest has led to diverging and often competing theories of learning, but today, most learning experts have identified at least seven different learning preferences that people exhibit when processing new information:
- Visual or spatial learners prefer learning through pictures, maps, charts, etc.
- Aural learners benefit from sound, including listening to lectures or music.
- Verbal learners are more comfortable learning from and expressing themselves through words, either through reading or speaking.
- Physical learners are “hands-on learners.”
- Logical learners apply reason or systems to comprehend new material.
- Social learners gain knowledge best through working with other people.
- Solitary learners do best when they work on their own rather than in a group.
One important thing to remember about these different learning preferences is that most people possess more than one and possibly all of them, depending on the context and content of material. For example, I usually prefer to be a verbal or logical learner, but there are times when I need visual aids to really understand things.
Why E-Learning Works for All Learners
Online education offers many different learning options for every kind of learning preference specifically because it is online. For example, the Illinois Online Network states that one of the benefits of online courses is that “the online environment lends itself to a less hierarchical approach to instruction which meets the learning needs of people who do not approach new information in a systematic or linear fashion.”
This flexibility, in which instruction is delivered through many different kinds of activities that students can engage in at different times, also allows students to take different approaches to the course material. For example, visual learners can learn from interaction with online material, and the interactivity of online work benefits physical learners and social learners, who can join in on discussion boards. To those students who require more time to process and respond to information, such as logical learners, that is an important difference. Rather than have to answer on the spot, in a traditional classroom, students who prefer to apply a systematic method of thinking through material are given the space to do so, without penalty. And for students with disabilities, online learning often offers greater opportunities for success.
How to Try an Online Course
This all means that students need not fear that online learning only offers one “way” to learn that they will not be able to master. The best thing to do if you are curious about how you might adapt to or function in an online course is to try a free online course. If you are already enrolled at a brick-and-mortar campus, like Florida International University or Regent University, chances are your school offers a free sample online course, to introduce you to the format and process of online courses.
Fully online colleges and universities also offer free online courses. Capella University offers a free week-long mini-course in both their undergraduate and graduate divisions. Test Drive College also provides you with the opportunity to take a free online course to see if you can benefit from online education.
In other words, give yourself a chance, and don’t give in to what may be incorrect assumptions about how you can learn best!
Facebook Comments