Who is Studying Online?
March 1, 2009
Yoni Ryan, Director of the Learning and Teaching Centre at the Australian Catholic University who reports to have conducted extensive research into online learning, says she knows many IT undergraduates who have a preference for online study. She believes it is because they were a bit “geekish” in high school and failed to develop the social skills that most of these students are pursuing degree programs online rather than are a traditional classroom setting.
I have not conducted any specific research that could refute Yoni’s claims, but these are certainly not consistent my experience. While teaching online, I have hosted many virtual meetings with online students and have not found them lacking in communication skills or unwilling to form relationships.
What I have observed about online students is an interest in what best practices are, how ideas can be implement, and an overall quest for information that is “actionable” rather than only theoretically relevant. I would describe the online students with whom I have interacted as being mature, professional, and career-oriented – not particularly “geekish” or shy. I have found online students to be relatively impatient and quite sensitive about issues related to scheduling and the timing of activities. I believe these characteristics are largely explained by the fact that so many online students also work and have family responsibilities.
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