Experience shows that online learning can be successful in schools

Experience shows that online learning for schoolchildren can work effectively.

Victorian students, teachers and parents have now experienced more than 160 days of ‘remote and distance learning’ as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the thought of education outside of the classroom is contributing to negative emotions and reactions among many.

Students are struggling to understand what they are expected to do without the usual presence of their teacher, parents are realising how complex and involved it can be to educate young people, teachers are challenged with adapting their face-to-face teaching practices to online settings and school principals are trying to develop standards and expectations on the fly.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Many people don’t realise that Victoria’s largest school, Virtual School Victoria (VSV), is a fully online school which has been teaching students remotely since 1990. Run by the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the VSV has more than 5,000 primary and secondary students enrolled in over 300 subjects.

VSV is just one of a growing number of virtual learning opportunities including the Victorian School of Languages and the Victorian Virtual Learning Network that are offered by a range of schools across Victoria which attract students for a variety of reasons. Some young people enrolling in Victoria’s virtual schools have chronic health conditions, others may be in a regional school where they may be the only student interested in undertaking a particular VCE subject, others are elite young sportspeople or performers. For these reasons and more, virtual schooling presents opportunities for thousands of young people to receive an education that they would otherwise miss out on.

So why is it that we don’t have the same strong, negative reactions towards this form of online education?

Since 2020, I’ve been working on the Leading Virtual Learning Teacher Course in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. I’ve worked with 100 teachers in schools like VSV, providing them with insights as to what teachers working in virtual schools do differently to teachers who are required to shift to online teaching as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In contrast, teachers working in virtual schools consider the long-term connections between technologies and various other aspects of their work, such as the relationships with their students and designing learning activities. Through my research I have found that when compared to teachers who are required to rapidly shift to online learning, teachers in virtual school have a complex and interconnected understanding of the use of technologies, managing relationships between teachers and students, actively critiquing their teaching practices and the technologies they use, understanding online instructional design principles. This last aspect is particularly important for teachers working in online contexts.

So what works in online learning?

Research over the past two decades has revealed the way teachers present information online has substantial impacts on learning. We know it takes people approximately 25 per cent longer to read information on a screen compared to the same information presented on a printed page. Effective online teachers recognise that providing students with more time or less information is important to ensure we’re not overloading learners.

Similarly, much of our communication in face-to-face settings draws upon non-verbal cues such as the intonation in voice, facial expression and body language. If teachers present lots of information to students via text, opportunities for students to make meaning can become lost. In contrast, effective online teachers will present information to learners using a variety of media including audio and video resources that can provide additional cues making it easier for students to understand the information.

How might we make things better?

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in the ways in which we develop teachers. It is imperative that teachers are armed with research-backed strategies that make teaching and learning engaging, enjoyable and effective. Providing teachers with opportunities to better understand what works when teaching online but more importantly why it works is important not only while we work through the current challenges in providing ongoing education for all students but also for the tens of thousands of students who rely on online learning for their education in an ongoing way.

The teachers working on Victoria’s virtual schools are proof that online teaching and learning can work really well and provide young people with opportunities that they would otherwise not have. As one teacher working in a virtual school highlighted:

“I think virtual schooling is incredibly important. If I was to pinpoint one way that highlights just how important digital learning is. It’s increasing urbanisation and an increasing gap between regional and metropolitan students. Anybody who thinks that digital and virtual learning is not a way to try to bridge that gap, you know, have got rocks in their head. I live in regional Victoria, I’m very passionate about life in the regions. And I think that those students deserve every chance they can get.”

In contrast to the negative reactions that many now have to the notion of online teaching and learning, it is my hope that the important work undertaken by Victoria’s virtual teaching workforce can provide examples of what is possible in this important component of Victoria’s education system.

Mike Phillips is the associate professor of digital transformation in the Faculty of Education, Monash University.