What every student needs to know about eLearning

The complex realities of higher education have become increasingly turbulent in the last month. It’s no secret that the path to higher ed paints a different picture for every student, but recently, the institutions students trust to guide their learning are grappling with the same uncertain feelings.

Still, true online education has a long history of research, with more than 20 years of modern best practices that have been adapted since the iPhone brought computing to the everyday user’s pockets.

Related content: 3 reasons to embrace the shift to virtual learning

It’s critical for today’s students to understand the ways in which online education was developed in order for them to feel confident in making informed decisions on how to proceed with their education — and take advantage of well-structured institutions to deliver on these best practices. Students should not only consider, but embrace, these key areas of effective online education in order to best approach eLearning in times of flux.

True online learning provides an innate structure of support

In today’s landscape, online higher ed has widespread structure and support. Because the model of online learning was built around an assumption of distance between student and teacher, when done right, eLearning is the epitome of organization. Online learning supports the process of student-to-teacher communication with explicit instruction on information, assignments and expectations. In fact, a Shift Learning report recently found that eLearning increases retention rates to 25-60 percent compared to an 8-10 percent retention rate in face-to-face learning settings.