The Effect of Student Relationships in Distance Learning Courses

       Are students in distance learning situations lacking relationships with their peers? How do the students themselves feel about this? Some students oppose this, believing that if there is a question or issue they would rather go straight to the professor who knows the most. Others think that establishing relationships and a community of learners is important when presented with collaborative learning assignments. Since issues of lack of motivation and a sense of isolation are common, student relationships amongst each other are important. There are several factors that can effect the interaction among students including the specific course, the teacher's style, the specific online program(blackboard), the student's style of learning and motivational factors. If students are not forced to interact with each other in an online course, the chances are that they wont. If a course is more difficult, students may reach out to others to try and understand the material further, if it is convenient for them. Since the class is online, it is extremely convenient to contact someone on the class list. You can do it on your couch in your pajamas! Teachers are very interactive with the student in their courses, give the circumstances. They create video lectures, and post materials including an overly detailed syllabus. Teachers can promote student-student relationships by creating assignments that require interaction such as discussion board posts offering opinions on the lesson topic.

      I have mixed feelings on the matter. On one hand, I appreciate independent learning and the flexibility of an online course. However, I feel as though I completely lose peer interaction on online courses, even with activities like discussion boards that are specifically designed toward interaction and debate. I also like forming relationships with my teachers so I can feel comfortable asking for help or even a recommendation letter. When classes are online, they are often very large in number and due to the presence of teaching assistants, I basically never speak with the actual instructor themselves. It also depends on the type of class. If this is a class I know I will have difficulty with, I will chose to take the class on-site. I appreciate and enjoy the classes that combine both traditional and virtual education systems. Does the stronger presence of online classes mean we are missing out on traditional education?

     Dependency on course management systems is often associated with laziness, technological glitches and the assumption that every person can easily access a technology system. With education becoming more expensive year after year, does virtual education unintentionally discourage those who don’t have access to technology from receiving an education at all? Also, since course management systems and online classes are so widely utilized these days, gaining the knowledge to operate these systems is almost common sense to those already in the educational system. Are we alienating those without this knowledge? I honestly do no know if I could picture the university setting without its dependence on technology, which I do admit scares me a little. However, considering everything the internet has done for us so far, the only way to go is up!