Online Learning Doesn't Have to be Your Favorite

Many of us have been through compulsory online learning of one sort or another that never would be ranked as the highlight of anyone’s day.  Anyone who’s worked in a field where workplace safety is part of the job description can probably tell you some fun stories of things they were really doing while “attending” a mandatory online training.  That kind of experience can forever place online learning low on the list of priorities.  

You may also feel that your learning style demands you be present in the face of an instructor and in the company of your peers.  But does that really mean you don’t learn anything in any other format?  If that’s true, what about the hundreds of millions of how-to videos with loads of views on YouTube?  Plenty of people are learning online, even if they don’t think of it as online learning.  

Online learning has been shown to be equally or more effective at achieving stated learning outcomes, with some caveats, as explained more thoroughly here https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/online. Online learning can also be wildly more cost-effective as travel time and costs are eliminated.  

A dislike of online learning simply isn’t a valid reason to continue to remain uninformed, unaware, or under-prepared for the challenges of today’s campus.  

Professional Development as a field has also changed dramatically in the last 15 years, largely due to improvements in and lower costs of online learning.  In addition, research has shown that most learners are better able to change behavior and improve effectiveness if they are highly motivated, both intrinsically and extrinsically.  One of the best ways to capitalize on intrinsic motivation is to provide answers (a.k.a learning) right at the moment that learner feels the acute need to better understand that topic.  Just-in-time learning, internal professional networks, job aids, and strategic knowledge management are highly effective practices to increase effectiveness of employees.  Online learning is the perfect medium for this. 

In recognition of this movement in the field and the research of adult learners, NASPA has invested in an ever-expanding online learning community that provides easily accessible and relevant information to student affairs professionals, regardless of membership status, regardless of location, and very frequently at significantly less cost than attending any in-person training. For the student affairs field to continue to advance, we must maintain a strong foundation of knowledge and provide easy access that knowledge at just the right time.  Online professional development can support that advancement.  

Online learning doesn’t have to be your favorite, but there are many reasons to keep it on your list of resources.

---

Stephanie serves as Director of Online Professional Development at NASPA.  Her career has been spent managing professional development of all kinds for a variety of fields including museums, performing arts, drug development, toxicology, and higher education just to name a few. You can find her on twitter at @NASPAopd.