My professor asked if anyone had questions. The chat said “👍” and we all moved on.

Quick summary
The results are mixed, and whether online education is going to work for you largely depends on your personal circumstances (education level, employment status, mental state, capability of learning, work ethic, etc.).

Online education programs massively increased in popularity due to the covid pandemic, as many people were forced to stay at home. However, the interest in online education has remained strong even after students were allowed back on the campus.

What’s more, in the last few years, the stricter visa regulations in the the ‘Big 4’ study destinations (USA, UK, Canada, Australia) have led students to consider online education and transnational education instead of studying on-campus. Therefore, studying online is now not only a preference, but an unavoidable reality for many.

The strong interest in online education brought on a new set of challenges and advantages, and may have affected new student generations in ways we will only be able to understand in years, or even decades. The question of whether this style of education is effective, is, therefore, more important than ever.

What the research says

Online education grew in popularity in the mid-late 2000s

I’ve gone through many studies that dealt with the effectiveness of online education, some conducted more than 30 years ago.

Here are some interesting figures:

• Virtual learning was starting to gather pace around 2006-2009.
• In the fall of 2008, one quarter of all U.S. higher education students at the time (4.6 million) were taking at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2010).
• As of late 2009, 45 out of 50 U.S. states had at least one form of K-12 online program, or a full-time online school (Watson, et al., 2009).  

There are pros and cons to online education

Many studies highlighted numerous benefits of online education. For example:

• Online courses usually have lower tuition fees
• You didn’t have to live on-campus, which means lower cost of living as well
• Higher flexibility and more evening classes, which is great for people who work or have caretaking responsibilities
• Ability to learn at ones own pace
• More accessible for people with mobility issues or disabilities (for example, having Closed Captions allows people with hearing impairments to follow the lecture more easily)

However, being forced into online education was also a bit of a wake-up call. We have seen what the potential negatives are, too. To name a few:

• Decline in psychological and physiological well-being (Turmaud, 2020). 
• Mismatch between schools and programs with standardized testing (i.e. international programs for high school graduates – some schools conducted the final exams and some didn’t, some countries cancelled finals while others did not). As a consequence, the whole point of standardized testing – everyone competing on equal ground – was lost;
• Lack of in-person socializing (detrimental for children who are in the crucial points of their development and need to develop social skills).
• General unpreparedness of a lot of teachers and professors for online education, which led to student disengagement and lower knowledge acquisition.

Mixed results between different studies

The United States Department of Education posted a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies in 2010, outlining the benefits that online learning brings compared to the traditional face-to-face (F2F) teaching methods.

Key findings of study were that: 

• Students who took all or part of their course online (on average) performed better.
• Collaborative and instructor-directed courses were more effective than in those where online learners worked independently.
• The effectiveness depends on the content taught and learner types.
• Blended and purely online learning are comparable in terms of effectiveness.
• Video and online quizzes do not influence the amount of content learned.
• Online learning can be enhanced by interactions with learning media and encouraging reflection.
• Guiding questions influence the way students interact but not the amount they learn.

However, this report was partly disproven by a study from the same year, conducted by Shanna Smith Jaggars and Thomas Bailey (Community College Research Center), which claims that this favor of online courses in the report does not hold for the studies that pertain to fully online, semester-length college courses. For those courses, there is no trend in favor of online education. This study also points out that the report by the Department of Education considers studies that were taken by relatively well-prepared university students, so the outcomes may not transfer well for a more general population, and the type of course (online or in-person) may not have contributed to their final scores as much as it may initially appear. The report does not provide evidence that fully online delivery produces superior learning outcomes for typical college courses, and particularly those that concern low-income and academically unprepared students. Furthermore, another study from 2011 showed that the effects of moving full-semester classes online may have had a “robust negative impact of online course taking” for English and math courses (Xu & Jaggars, 2011). 

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning published a meta-review in 2003 – Differences Between Traditional and Distance Education Academic Performances conducted by Mickey Shachar and Yoram Neumann. 

Key findings:

• Most of the studies (66%) reviewed concluded that DE courses compare favorably with classroom-based instruction and enjoy high student satisfaction, regardless of the technology used to conduct the courses.
• Some studies have come to different conclusions (no difference or negative results compared to F2F), creating a mixed and confusing situation.
• The analysis presented “broad” measures of effectiveness of DE:
  • Academic Performance (Objective)
  • Satisfaction (Subjective)
  • Attitudes (Subjective)
  • Evaluation of Instruction (Subjective)
• Academic Performance of students enrolled in DE programs was higher than those enrolled in traditional F2F programs.

A Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of K-12 Online Learning written by Susan Patrick and Allison Powell and published in 2009 by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, concluded by acknowledging that online learning is an effective alternative to traditional F2F education. It cites the study conducted by Florida’s nonprofit “watchdog” TaxWatch, which found that FLVS (Florida Virtual School) is a more cost-effective use of taxpayer’s money, due to its performance-based education system and higher achievements of FLVS students compared to traditional schooling students.

The problem with online education research

Reading all of these studies feels like trying to walk over a frozen lake – you have to tread carefully, or a simple crack (vulnerability) in the methodology can slowly expand into a full-on hole that sinks you.

As far as I’ve seen, there are two problems with studies on this topic.

Firstly, it is quite difficult to evaluate trends across multiple schools, as certain types of students naturally gravitate to some schools (for example, highest performers tend to aim for more prestigious schools). Similarly, differences exist between vocational or specialized schools. What works better for a IT-oriented school, might not work for sports-focused schools, special ED schools and so on.

Secondly, many of these studies have trouble with confirmation bias. Just like with those covering the effect of screen time, many studies on this topic feel like they only exist to prove an already formed belief. For example, if I believe that online schooling is bad, I might end up valuing the outcomes that prove this belief, rather than trying to question it. This isn’t always malicious, of course. But it does hinder the quality of this type of research.

The issue of the Digital Divide

Aside from the above-mentioned points, however, it is also important to point out the problem of the Digital Divide (also known as the Digital Gap). This term refers to the gap between those who have access to telecommunications and information technologies, and those who do not.

One might assume that this is mostly a “third-world problem”, but it’s very much present in the West too. 59% of lower income American parents said their child may face digital obstacles for schoolwork (Vogels, 2020). Out of those, 40% reported that they might have to use public WiFi because of unreliable home network and 36% wouldn’t be able to complete schoolwork since they do not have a computer at home.

Here’s what you need to know to make a decision

So, what does all of this mean for you? Below is the summary of some ideas. Please keep in mind that this is by no means an exaustive list.

It is important to consider your own economic, family, social and health situation in order to determine whether online education would be effective for you. The list below is simply meant to give you ideas how to think about your own situation.

Bottom line

Ultimately, whether online education will work for you depends on:

• The field of study you’re pursuing (i.e. CS students fill fare better than fashion design or fine art students).
• Your socio-economic situation. If you need to work part/full-time or take care of another person, online education may be the right choice for you.
• What you’re trying to get out of your program. If you’re banking on your degree being a gateway to a high-value network, you may want to consider on-campus studies.

If the only thing you care about is the degree, then online education may work better since it generally takes less effort than traditional schooling.

If your goal is to learn as much as you can, then you might benefit from traditional schools more: if nothing else, you may establish some life-changing connections that will help you in your future career.