Evidence-Based Tips For Choosing Online Learning (Part 1)

December 3, 2020 · online learning

(originally posted on LinkedIn) How people find and consume learning has undergone a seismic shift during the pandemic, with online learning rising in importance [1]. Learners of all ages have been thrust into this new reality, with many schools incorporating some degree of remote learning. For individuals seeking professional enrichment and advancement, the flexibility and convenience of online learning has been valuable as they seek to keep skills up-to-date or to gain new skills.

Within this landscape of rapid change and increased awareness of online options, people are faced with a dizzying array of choices. Between massive online open course providers and providers specializing in specific subject areas ranging from data science to medicine [2], there are now over 13,000 online courses [3], and choosing the right one(s) for you can be a challenge.

How do you evaluate what’s “inside the box” of the options you are considering? By the end of this short article series, you will have a set of evidence-based tips for evaluating any online option that you may be considering - guidelines which, if you take them into account, can help set you up for success in an online learning experience.

Part 1 (this article) covers defining your goals and understanding motivational elements - the parts of the overall learning experience that keep you moving through and ultimately completing a course. Parts 2 and 3 will dive into learning science - the “secret sauce” that can turn a decent online course into an outstanding one that stays with you.

As associate dean for online learning at Harvard Medical School, I evaluate online learning options on a routine basis as well as direct a team that creates unique online courses focusing on foundational and cutting-edge topics in medical science. As a lifelong learner, I also take online courses myself. It is from these perspectives (creator, evaluator, consumer) that I want to share “insider” knowledge of what you should be looking for in your next online learning experience.

Before we dig in, though, it may be helpful to clarify some terminology. Phrases such as “distance learning,” “remote learning,” “virtual learning,” or “online learning” have been used somewhat interchangeably to refer to learning where at least some portion involves the internet. Within that broad bucket of terms has fallen everything from college classes being taught live over video conferencing, to webinars, to entirely asynchronous online courses. For the purposes of this series, I will be focusing on and using the term “online learning” for options that are entirely online (no in-person component) and primarily asynchronous (not requiring being online at a specific day/time for a live session).

Even within that narrower definition, there are still a significant number of choices depending on your topic of interest. I’ll assume that you have found one or more candidate courses that you’re evaluating.

Goals

A useful first step is to be explicit about your goals, including understanding what motivates you. Are you looking for a survey of a topic or greater depth? Are there specific sub-topics that you are interested in? How applied (e.g. with real-world examples) does the course need to be? Do you need a certificate or other evidence to demonstrate achievement, for example, for reimbursement or promotion or for job-hunting?

Specifics that can help with understanding whether an online course is aligned with your goals include outlines or syllabi, course descriptions, “meet the faculty” web pages or videos, course previews that give access to course material, learner testimonials, and FAQs that describe certificates, potential grading criteria, and time commitment.

Have a checklist of the attributes most important to you, and look for evidence of these elements - for example, whether each course incorporates real-world applications of the material - as you look at previews or descriptions of the course material.

Motivational Elements

With competing demands that may include job and family, persisting in an online course can be a challenge. External motivation can be a powerful factor in driving you to stick with it. Certificates demonstrating completion or even achievement provide a goal that makes a difference in reaching the finish line. A study of 39 MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) found a median completion rate of about 7% [4] across all participants. However, for those paying with the intent of earning a verifiable certificate, the completion rate was shown to be significantly higher [5] - close to 60%. But 60% is still far from 100% - what else makes a difference?

The way online courses are designed and delivered can affect your chances of completing. A clear structure, including a schedule with timing of material that is progressively released along with a final deadline, provides a powerful force for getting you to allocate time for learning. Many of us have had the experience of trying to learn on our own from a textbook, where the only timeline is self-driven. One of our online students described her prior experience of buying a used immunology textbook, only to find it gathering dust, before turning to the online course and its clear guidance and pacing.

Similar to having a clear structure and schedule, how your progress is shown to you can also be motivational. Does an online learning platform have checkmarks or some other clear indicator to show you what you’ve accomplished so far? What about how you have scored on quizzes? Having a “dashboard” or set of “signposts” can help you stay on track. Even the simple idea of showing how much of the course you’ve completed and what you’ve skipped over can lend an aspect of gamification to the learning process and take advantage of powerful psychological principles [6].

Communication can also help; by this, I mean that focused, personalized “nudges” in the form of emails or other communication in the learning platform can serve as timely reminders to let you know if you’re on pace. The course designers should have a good idea of how far you should be at what point in a course period, and surfacing those reminders for you is a bit like having a fitness coach who is making sure you stay on track with your workouts.

In summary, you should take a look at these elements in evaluating an online course and make sure that the information you find is well-aligned with your aims:

  • Course description
  • Course outline or syllabus
  • Faculty information, e.g. “Meet the Faculty” videos or bios
  • Course previews or sample material - what types of videos, questions, and other elements does the course contain? Are all videos in the same format or is there variety to help you explore the material from multiple angles? Are there real-world examples to give the material applied context?
  • Question-asking - how will you get your questions answered if you are unclear on a concept? Are there discussion forums? Are they exclusively peer-to-peer or are there staff knowledgeable in the subject area fielding questions?
  • FAQs including time commitment, grading criteria, and certificates
  • Course pacing and flexibility in timing

Doing a little bit of information-gathering ahead of signing up will give you a better idea of what to expect and whether a course will fit your individual purposes.

In part 2, we will look at how the science of learning can inform what you take away from an online course; if your goal goes beyond engagement or enjoyment and you want to come away with durable, useful learning that you can successfully apply, you need a course that is more than just a collection of videos. When course designers have paid attention to cognitive science by including elements like tests, interactivity, and authentic examples, and have brought them together into an overall arc of learning, the depth of learning can be dramatically different. Principles like spaced repetition and interleaving can supercharge your learning.

In the next two installments, you’ll learn what distinguishes an outstanding online learning experience from a merely adequate one. Part 2 covers assessment and active learning, while Part 3 goes in-depth on course elements including visuals and multimedia, as well as use of real-world and authentic examples.

References

[1] - Li, C. and Lalani, F. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how [Online]. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/ (Accessed: 9 November 2020).

[2] - Harvard Medical School, HMX. https://onlinelearning.hms.harvard.edu/hmx

[3] - Shah, D. (2019). By The Numbers: MOOCs in 2019 [Online]. Available at: https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2019/ (Accessed: 9 November 2020).

[4] - Jordan, K. (2014). Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive open online courses. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(1), 133-160. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v15i1.1651

[5] - Chuang, I., & Ho, A. (2016, December 23). HarvardX and MITx: Four years of open online courses - Fall 2012-Summer 2016. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2889436

[6] - Nobel, C. (2017). People Have an Irrational Need to Complete ‘Sets’ of Things [Online]. Available at: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/people-have-an-irrational-need-to-complete-sets-of-things (Accessed: 9 November 2020).