Transition To Online College and Remote Learning: What's Working And What's Not


Friday, May 8, 2020

Never before has there been such a wide scale transition from on-campus classes to online, virtual learning classrooms. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the necessity for social distancing and Stay At Home orders in the US and across the globe. While nearly all US colleges and universities already had online classes or some online degrees available, not all were ready for the total transition to online education. Let’s take a look at what’s working and what’s not, according to college parents.



Social distancing measures and Stay At Home orders are shaping every day life in the US, as the nation continues to face one the most dangerous public health crises of the century. The novel coronavirus pandemic has had colleges and universities across the nation participate in a total transition to online learning and online education.

Nearly all US colleges and universities already offered online classes or online degrees prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. All colleges and universities have no had to make the massive switch to fully online learning.

Let’s talk about how college parents perceive the experiences of their students as they navigate the waters of a hasty switch to online education. It is, after all, the parents who pay for the majority of the pricy college tuition bill. College parents and their children will have to make major financial decisions this year as they evaluate whether or not the online education their children are receiving is worth the same price tag.

According to a survey conducted by Tyton Partners, an investment banking and strategy-consulting firm, parents are highly critical of the current remote learning experience. Their observations of their children’s experience are not the most positive, and many are doubtful of the quality of distance learning that their children are receiving at the current moment.

Tyton Partners did, however, notice a difference in parent satisfaction between two kinds of online learning.

Colleges and universities’ online education programs can either by synchronous or asynchronous.

What’s the difference between synchronous and asynchronous?


Synchronous learning refers to live online instruction delivery. This may look like live class meetings done using popular videoconference tools such as Zoom. Live instruction could mean lectures done online. It could mean live online discussion sessions led by the class professor.

Asynchronous learning refers to primarily pre-recorded lectures and other materials. Any type of instruction that is not live is considered asynchronous. This could be reading materials passed out via email. This could be a pre-recorded lecture shared through an online learning portal.

What did the Tyton Partners survey reveal?

Parents who reported at least some synchronous learning are significantly more satisfied than those who reported primarily asynchronous learning.


The 355 parents surveyed shared what primary method of online instruction delivery their children’s college institution was using.
  • 17% reported live regular class meetings as the primary method (Synchronous)
  • 56% reported a combination of live and recorded approaches as the primary method (Synchronous and Asynchronous)
  • 17% reported primarily pre-recorded lectures and other materials (Asynchronous)

How does parent satisfaction compare with each type of primary instruction mode?
  • Synchronous (Regular live class meetings) – 6.1 out of 10 satisfaction rating
  • Synchronous and asynchronous (Combination of live and recorded meetings/materials) – 5.9 out of 10 satisfaction rating
  • Asynchronous (Pre-recorded meetings/materials) – 4.8 out of 10 satisfaction rating

As seen, college parents exhibit most satisfaction with their children’s online learning experience if primary methods involve mostly synchronous learning or a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning. College parents are least satisfied with primarily asynchronous learning.

What does this imply for colleges and universities as they continue to develop their online education in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and need for social distancing measures?

Perhaps the use asynchronous measures work well for the time being as a Band-Aid. After all, many colleges and universities and their professors were not expecting the total switch to online learning. Many are still adjusting to the current way of life that social distancing has brought about. Not all colleges and universities were ready for this switch unlike other institutions that were already major online education providers before the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic such as Southern New Hampshire University, Point University and Purdue Global.

However, as time passes, colleges and universities are going to need to step up their game and provide a higher quality of online learning so that college parents and students are satisfied. After all, nobody likes to feel cheated out of their tuition money.




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