The Impact of Online Class on University Students

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The Study Context
The landscape of education is evolving very fast and the aspects of distance learning becoming evident in most universities around the globe. This development is being driven by the widespread popularity and the acceptance of online classes offered in universities globally. This mode of education is characterized by having some nonhuman/human entities interacting online through a computer-based teaching systems in order to achieve the objectives of learning. The motivation behind online classes is that they have purported advantages, for instance being cheap to counter the increasing costs of post-secondary education, utilizing professional development, being effective in teaching university students, and the possibility of offering world class learning to anybody with broadband connections. But, the issue that remains unresolved is whether this mode of teaching can be effective enough to offer technical university courses like information technology. Any effective mode of learning delivery aims at improving perceived learning outcomes of students as well as ensuring that there is student satisfaction. Indeed, student satisfaction and perceived learning outcomes are the main indicators of the existence of effectiveness in learning. Due to scanty research on this topic, these two issues remains unresolved.
I am therefore studying the impact of online class on university students because I want to find out what/why/how online mode of teaching is effective in terms of perceived learning outcomes and students’ perceptions. This is because as mentioned, perceived education outcomes and students’ perceptions are the main measures of how effective any education program is. This mode of teaching has been in existences for a long time, but examining its effectiveness, someone will certainly conclude that something is still undone and therefore a need for it to be addressed. For example, can online technical course graduates fit in the current dynamic job market? Why do students still find it hard to pass their online examinations despite availability of resources? How can we authenticate the people sitting for online exams? Are the results from such examinations credible? This are the issues we must address in order to make online classes effective.
Particulars to the Study
This study targets online fraternity in the education sector. These are students and teachers who make learning possible. The students involved in online are important stakeholders of this inquiry because it will be very easy to measure the effectiveness of online mode of teaching by getting an insight on their perceptions, any challenges encountered as well as recommendations for future improvements. Teachers on the other hand are the one who offer such programs, therefore in seeking to know impacts of online classes on the perceived learning outcomes, they will be important assets in getting this particular information. The study will specifically target not just any student and teacher, but particularly those who are directly involved in online teaching. These are students who are already enrolled in the online classes as well the teachers offering such programs. The mai...