Learning Online: What Works and What Doesn't, Explained

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Learning Online: What Works and What Doesn't

Educational Psychology · Chapter 11: Technology, Digital Tools, and the Future of LearningSection 11.2 · lesson 98 of 10010 min · free with a free account

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Earn 3 college credits for Educational PsychologyRecommended for credit by NCCRS · Psychology 120 · self-paced · one payment, lifetime access
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In this lesson

Synchronous and asynchronous design, the evidence, and the equity problem.

  • Compare synchronous and asynchronous online learning
  • Summarize what the research finds, and its caveats
  • Apply the Community of Inquiry framework
  • Explain the homework gap as an equity issue

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,207 words). Read along, or search it.

Technology, Digital Tools, and the Future of Learning

Learning Online

Almost everyone in education has now taught or learned online. Very few of them did it by design. This section separates what the evidence supports from what we assume. We start with the two basic modalities. Synchronous, in real time, and asynchronous, on your own schedule. Then what the largest meta-analysis actually found. And why its headline is routinely misquoted. Then who online learning works for, and who it does not. Then the design strategies that reliably raise engagement. And finally equity, which is the hardest problem in the set.

The Reality

A Decade of Adoption, in a Few Weeks

Online learning has existed in some form since the late nineteen nineties. Then the pandemic of twenty twenty and twenty twenty-one arrived. It compressed a decade of gradual adoption into a matter of weeks. Schools, colleges and training institutions moved fully online. And they did it with very little preparation. The results were widely variable, which is the honest summary. For some students and teachers, the potential was genuinely revealed. Digital learning environments did things classrooms could not. For many others the experience was very different. Particularly for those from under-resourced communities. For them it exposed deep structural inequities. So the useful question is not whether online learning works, but when.

Synchronous

What Real Time Buys, and Costs

Synchronous online learning happens in real time. Students and teachers connect simultaneously by video conference. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are the common platforms. What synchronous preserves is the social fabric of education. Real-time interaction allows immediate feedback. It allows spontaneous discussion, and it builds community. Research consistently links those factors to persistence and satisfaction. Think about what immediacy means concretely. A student makes a conceptual error during a live session. The instructor can intervene right then, before it sets. But synchronous learning demands a fixed schedule. And that conflicts with the flexibility that draws students online. For working adults and caregivers, required attendance is a real barrier.

Asynchronous

What Flexibility Buys, and Costs

Asynchronous learning removes the fixed schedule entirely. Students engage with content on their own time. Within defined windows, but at hours they choose. Designed well, that offers three real advantages. Students engage with content at their cognitive peak. They can revisit complex material as many times as they need. And they contribute to discussions with greater deliberation. There is research support for that last one. Asynchronous posts tend to be longer and more substantive. They are also more equitably distributed across the class. More equitable than verbal contributions in a live session. The caveat, and it is a large one, is design. Passive video with minimal interaction produces low engagement and high attrition.

Compared

Six Dimensions, and the Blend That Wins

Six dimensions where the two modalities differ. On timing, synchronous is fixed and real-time. Asynchronous is student-paced and flexible. On feedback speed, synchronous is immediate. Asynchronous feedback arrives in hours or days. On equity, synchronous creates time-zone barriers. Asynchronous is the most flexible for access. On autonomy, synchronous is low and asynchronous is high. Each modality has a best research outcome, and they differ. Synchronous produces community and belonging. Asynchronous produces deeper written reflection. Combined, they produce the strongest outcomes of all.

Classroom Example

One Course, Three Time Zones

Here is one instructor combining both, at scale. Professor Chen teaches an undergraduate educational psychology course. She has one hundred and eighty students, across three time zones. The asynchronous core is a set of micro-lectures. Each one runs fifteen minutes, released Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Each is paired with embedded comprehension questions. The synchronous layer is deliberately small. Twice a week, groups of twelve students meet for fifty-minute seminars. In those seminars they apply concepts to case studies. The design keeps synchronous interaction in manageable doses. That preserves community and accountability at the same time. And it respects the scheduling constraints her students actually have. Her end-of-semester surveys rank the course in the top ten percent for satisfaction.

The Evidence

Read the Caveat, Not the Headline

The landmark study here is a meta-analysis by the Department of Education. It examined over one thousand empirical studies of online learning. And it reached a conclusion that generated headlines. Students in online conditions performed modestly better on average. Better than those receiving face-to-face instruction on the same content. That sentence gets quoted constantly, and it is incomplete. The authors themselves cautioned about two things. First, the effect was driven primarily by blended and hybrid conditions. Not by purely online instruction. Second, methodological weaknesses made definitive conclusions difficult. More recent meta-analyses have refined the picture considerably. Effectiveness depends on design quality and student-instructor interaction. And on self-regulation, age, motivation and prior academic preparation.

Who It Works For

Age, Autonomy, and Scaffolding

So who does online learning actually serve well? Outcomes are strongest at post-secondary and professional training levels. Those students are typically older and more self-directed. And crucially, they enrolled voluntarily. At the K through twelve level, outcomes are considerably more variable. Younger students need stronger external scaffolding to stay engaged. Research on fully online virtual schools is sobering. It generally finds lower achievement than brick-and-mortar peers. With particularly concerning outcomes in mathematics. Two psychological mechanisms explain a lot of this. Self-determination theory points to reduced feelings of relatedness. And self-regulation is harder without scheduling cues or peer accountability. Students with less self-regulatory capacity fall behind, and it compounds.

What Works

Five Strategies, and One Number

Research has identified five strategies that reliably raise engagement. First, frequent low-stakes assessments. They create accountability, and they force retrieval practice. Second, instructor presence. Regular announcements, timely feedback, visible participation in discussion. Third, collaborative activities that create interdependence among students. Fourth, chunked video content, six to nine minutes per segment. Fifth, explicit instruction in online learning skills at the outset. The chunking rule has a theory behind it. Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning says working memory is limited. Lectures longer than nine minutes lose the majority of student attention. Videos of four to six minutes with embedded questions hold it far better. At the course level, the Quality Matters rubric covers forty-two standards.

Community

Three Presences, and One Human Variable

One of the most robust findings in this literature concerns community. Social connection predicts satisfaction, persistence and performance. The Community of Inquiry framework names what has to be present. It was developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. Teaching presence is the design and facilitation of learning. Social presence is students projecting authentic identities into the community. Cognitive presence is constructing and confirming meaning through discourse. All three have to be deliberately cultivated. None appears by default. There is one more variable, and it is stubbornly human. Instructor immediacy is communicating psychological closeness and warmth. Arbaugh and Hornik studied it in online MBA courses. It was the strongest predictor of perceived learning and satisfaction. It outperformed course content, technology quality and interactive design.

Equity

The Homework Gap

The equity implications of online learning cannot be overstated. The homework gap is the name for the central problem. It is the disparity between students with and without home internet. That gap predated the pandemic by years. But the shift to remote learning in twenty twenty threw it into relief. Federal Communications Commission data from twenty twenty-one is stark. It estimated roughly twenty-one million Americans lacked broadband access. The highest rates were in rural communities and low-income urban areas. Students without reliable devices faced a structural disadvantage. And no amount of instructional quality could fully compensate for it. That is why the fix is not only a pedagogical one. It requires infrastructure investment, device lending, connectivity partnerships. Better teaching helps. It does not substitute for a connection.

About Educational Psychology at UPI Study

Educational Psychology (Psychology 120) is a self-paced online course of 100 video lessons in 11 chapters, from memory, conditioning and child development to motivation, individual differences, assessment, instruction and educational technology. It carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits.

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Why take it here

Why students take Educational Psychology with UPI Study

How people learn, and how to teach themEducational Psychology explains how students learn, develop and stay motivated, and how teachers assess and support them. It is a standard course in education and teaching degrees and a common psychology elective.
Credit at a fraction of the priceThe same 3 credits can cost $750 or more at a US college. Here it is one payment, self-paced, with lifetime access.
Finish your degree soonerTransfer credits reduce the courses you still owe, so you can graduate earlier or lighten a heavy semester.
Strengthen an applicationA completed college-level course on an official transcript shows admissions and scholarship committees you can do the work.
Study on your own scheduleNo start dates, no deadlines. Watch the lessons, practice, and take the final when you are ready.
130,000+students helped with college creditsACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Where the credit goes

Universities that work with NCCRS

Educational Psychology carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Thomas Edison State UniversityThomas Edison State UniversitySigned partnerUniversity of the PeopleUniversity of the PeopleSigned partnerCharter Oak State CollegeCharter Oak State CollegeSigned partnerStrayer UniversityStrayer UniversitySigned partnerColumbia Southern UniversityColumbia Southern UniversitySigned partnerIndiana TechIndiana TechSigned partnerPenn StatePenn StateWorks with NCCRSSouthern New Hampshire UniversitySouthern New Hampshire UniversityWorks with NCCRSSUNYSUNYWorks with NCCRS +many more cooperating universitiesFind my college →

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Learning Online: What Works and What Doesn't

What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous online learning?
Synchronous online learning happens in real time, with students and teachers meeting together by video conference, while asynchronous learning lets students work through content on their own schedule within set windows. Synchronous sessions offer immediate feedback and build community; asynchronous work offers flexibility, the chance to revisit material, and more deliberate, substantive discussion posts. Combining the two tends to produce the strongest outcomes.
Is online learning as effective as face-to-face instruction?
Online learning can be as effective as face-to-face instruction, but results depend heavily on design and on the learner. A large U.S. Department of Education meta-analysis found online students performed modestly better on average, yet the effect came mainly from blended conditions and the authors warned of methodological weaknesses. Outcomes are strongest for older, self-directed learners, while fully online K-12 virtual schools generally show lower achievement.
What is the Community of Inquiry framework?
The Community of Inquiry framework, developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer, says effective online learning needs three kinds of presence: teaching presence, the design and facilitation of learning; social presence, students projecting authentic identities into the group; and cognitive presence, constructing and confirming meaning through discourse. None appears by default, so each must be deliberately cultivated through course design and facilitation.
What is the homework gap?
The homework gap is the disparity between students who have home internet access and those who do not. It existed before the pandemic but became stark during remote learning in 2020; Federal Communications Commission data from 2021 estimated that roughly 21 million Americans lacked broadband, especially in rural and low-income urban areas. Closing it requires infrastructure, device lending and connectivity partnerships, not only better teaching.

About the Educational Psychology course

How many college credits is Educational Psychology?
Educational Psychology (Psychology 120) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does Educational Psychology cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 100 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does Educational Psychology take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 100 lessons total about 15 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
How do my credits reach my college?
When the course shows 100% complete, request the official transcript from your dashboard. It is sent to the college you name, and you can send it to more than one. Check your college first with "Find my college" on this page, or ask Athena.

Ready for the full course? Earn 3 credits in Educational Psychology.

100 video lessons, a quiz after each one, and the graded work that earns the credit. Recommended for credit by NCCRS.

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Educational Psychology
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