Online Courses Don't Work! What's the Alternative?

Approximately 4.6 million college students are taking at least one online course. However, many studies have been done examining the fact that online classes are not entirely effective and do not provide long lasting results for students. Some flaws of online courses include:

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Retain less Information:

• Studies show that delivery of courses lack engagement and involve a lot of memorization preventing students from retaining the information
• Students are unable to absorb and assimilate the main takeaways due to the lack of participation from students in the course

Poor Communication:

• Difficulties seem to arise when students can't ask questions, receive verbal instructions or obtain immediate feedback from their instructors
• Online courses can create student/professor misunderstandings, which lead to misinterpretation of tasks

Feeling Isolated:

• Students are unable to interact with fellow learners or teachers
• Studies show that the feeling of isolation is a huge stressor for students leading to lower retention rates
• Depending on the school, between 40%-80% of online students drop out
• Feeling isolated as a student may lead to feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, and a lack of confidence in the student's own abilities

Boring User Experience:

• Online learners need to be engaged in order to get the most out of the course
• Lack of interactivity and immersion to truly connect with the subject matter

Requires a Large Amount of Self Discipline:

• Students have so much freedom while “in class” that is could destruct a student’s focus so easily
• Students must be able to manage their time correctly, as well, as they are responsible for their entire learning process.
• Over 35% of students admitted that distraction from their cell phone increased during an online class compared to in a traditional class setting.

How to Overcome Shortages in Online Classes

The best way to overcome the challenges of an online class is to try and maintain the role of the student to the best of your ability. Although it may be difficult, it is important to find the easiest ways to communicate with an instructor when difficulties arise. As most of the communication will happen online, the student must find the best method to reach their instructor. In terms of time management, it is important for students to avoid distractions and complete tasks in a timely manner by closely following a syllabus or schedule and creating an efficient workspace. Setting a certain amount of time each day to the coursework will prevent cramming information and help students retain the information.

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How myQuest can Help You Conquer the Cons of Online Classes!

The popularity of online classes is rapidly growing, where there is a 150% increase in the number of students selecting online courses as a part of their education. Therefore it is important to make some changes to your online course style. 

myQuest makes online training seem much less intimidating as it breaks it up into levels and missions. Within each mission, there are so many features to help students along the way including:

1. Community Feature

myQuest’s community feature is so powerful since it serves as an illusion that students are in an actual classroom. This feature will help overcome student’s feeling of isolation in online classes as students can ask questions, share stories and pictures, and peers can mentor each other in this section.

2. Push Notifications

myQuest’s push notifications will make communication so much simpler. Instructors can easily send messages to all their students whether they are personalized messages, reminders, pictures, or videos. This makes it much easier for the students to contact their instructors during their course.

3. 1:1 Coaching

The MyJournal feature is so important for communication as well. This allows the instructor to see how the student is progressing and what their thoughts are along the way. This is the most effective way for the trainer to offer direction and tips specialized for each student.

4. Gamification

The gamification tool is important as it will raise students motivation and engagement rates. The point system incentives students to complete their missions with rewards and prizes.

5. Habits

The habit feature will help students develop healthy study habits assisting them through their course. The habit feature helps students form new habits by sending reminders and rewarding them for applying the new habits. This will help promote things like stronger time management skills.