Dissecting a Glowing Report on Online Learning

Johann Neem, professor of history, Western Washington University

The report “Making Digital Learning Work” (2018) concludes that combining face-to-face with online courses improves retention and graduation rates and makes college cheaper and faster. The report’s conclusions require more context. For example, the report argues that students who take some online courses graduate earlier than those who do not, but it’s not clear from the report whether the results are due to student, course or institutional factors. No doubt, online courses provide flexibility for nontraditional students. Yet the report opens with the promise that online courses can be used by institutions for “growing revenue.” Are schools incentivized to move online because it’s profitable? We need to know whether the results reflect something about the courses or the fact that institutions have underinvested in faculty and classrooms to meet students’ needs.