When COVID-19 hit in 2020, schooling moved online, and for good reason. But now that lockdown is over and students have been in school fully in-person for a few years, there’s little benefit to online classes.
Forbes reported that when COVID hit, 73.4% of students were taking exclusively online classes, and in the fall of 2020, 74.7% were either in fully online classes or some online, with the rise of hybrid formatting. Between the fall 2020 and fall 2021 semesters, most campuses reopened and online learning decreased by 21.3%, according to the Forbes report which was written with data from the National Center for Educational Statistics.
This makes sense — in 2021 and 2022, many schools stayed at least asynchronous (work done on the student’s own time) or blended (half in-person and half-online). My high school went fully in-person for the 2021 school year, but the others in my area brought half the students in on some days and had them Zoom from home the rest of the week.
St. Thomas did something similar; according to the St. Thomas Newsroom, the university planned to resume fully in-person classes by the fall of 2021, meaning that for the academic year after COVID-19 started — 2020-2021 — students stayed at home.
Now, after online courses are no longer required, students continue to take them; one St. Thomas senior, Ian Olynick, took a fully-online course over J-term 2023.
“I didn’t have enough time in my schedule to squeeze in a language class, so it was more feasible to do so over a J-term online class than one that was in person,” Olynick said.
Online classes are beneficial in certain circumstances. It is possible that students who aren’t willing to move would want to go to school where they already live, especially older students starting or returning to school later in life. If there isn’t a college where they currently live, online classes would allow them to get an education somewhere else without having to move.
Online classes offer flexibility. Those who work can take classes part-time, and similarly, current students like Olynick are able to take classes outside of a usual semester without having to take on more years of schooling.
But with all these benefits, there are more impactful downsides.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators explained that during COVID, 76% of the 22,519 undergraduates surveyed reported that they lacked motivation for online schooling, and 56% of the 7,690 graduate students agreed. Students additionally felt a lack of interaction with classmates, inability to learn in an online format and distracting home environments or lack of access to study spaces, the report found.
My personal experience with online learning during the pandemic was not a good one. I am usually interested in what I am learning, but during the lockdown, my engagement levels were low and I dreaded joining Zoom classes each day.
Some St. Thomas students feel similarly; in addition to his Zoom class, Olynick has also taken a half-credit online class at St. Thomas. He said it allowed for more time in other areas of study, but it came with some drawbacks.
“This disallowed for any class engagement with my peers, which proved to be a barrier when we needed to participate in a group assignment,” Olynick said.
Olynick said the best format for him is in person.
“The ability to ask questions, socialize and get constructive feedback was much more beneficial than being reduced to an image on a screen,” Olynick said.
According to Statista’s Online Education report, the number of online education users in the U.S. is expected to be 87.6 million by 2029. More specifically, the online university education market is supposed to reach 12.6 million users in that same year.
Statista reported in 2022 that out of 1,517 18 or older American students, 47% reported that the quality of online instruction in higher education is the same as in-person, but 43% reported it is worse. Only 8% found it better for them.
I am appalled that so many students continue to use online courses as a form of college education after quarantine, even following what seemed to be a bad learning environment.
Ashley Binstock, a senior at St. Thomas, is currently taking an online class and a blended class, and has taken both class formats in the past. She said that she chooses class formats largely by what is offered, but tries to factor in work, extracurriculars and overall responsibilities.
“While fully-online courses are great because it gives me even more schedule flexibility, I believe the benefits of meeting in person outweigh this,” Binstock said.
Binstock, who is an environmental science major, chooses in-person classes for some STEM courses. She said in-person is better for those due to the speed and in-depth extent of course material that may require students to ask immediate questions; however, her favorite format is blended classes because they provide extra flexibility while also allowing for class time.
Binstock also sees the benefits of fully in-person classes:
“I probably learn better from in-person classes just because there is a higher level of accountability and I am more likely to make sure I am paying attention in class compared to if I am working in my bedroom,” Binstock said. “For all classes, what you put in is what you get out, but this is especially relevant for online and asynchronous courses where sometimes it is just you in your room trying to figure things out.”
Olynick had similar things to say.
“I feel like I learn better in-class than I do outside of class because I am able to ask questions as needed, respond to prompts more effectively and discuss subject material with other students,” Olynick said.
These are all elements that affect student learning, but another concern I have with online classes is the professors. I believe that a professor’s connection with students can make or break how the students think of their teacher and how well they do in the class. Some professors cannot effectively teach a class via an online format because they can’t connect with students as they may never meet their students in person, especially in a class where it is just students submitting work and the professor grading that work. Some online classes don’t truly involve teaching, which can be detrimental to a student’s understanding of the material.
Binstock believes that professors teach better in an in-person setting because they can “feed off their students’ energy,” while Olynick said professors can do well in both online and in-person.
“On the one hand, online allows for students not to interrupt or raise objections,” Olynick said. “On the other, in-person classes allow for natural progressions of thoughts and ideas to be presented.”
Each semester that I register for classes, I find online, asynchronous and blended courses as options. I tolerate blended classes due to the extra work time on days where there is no in-person class. However, I’ve also taken a fully-Zoom J-term class where I felt disconnected to the professor and my classmates, and the three-hour class period was too long for my attention span.
I appreciated the fact that because I was not on campus, I could still take a class over that term, but I would not take a similar class in the future.
According to data given to The Crest by Trent Brager who works in the office of institutional data, analytics and reporting, there are 1,317 total undergraduate classes in the current semester — Fall 2025. St. Thomas offers nine total course methods, some used and some not. Within those, there are three online options: online asynchronous, online some synchronous and online sync distributed.
The data holds that this semester, there are 1,119 in-person classes, 80 asynchronous, 10 some synchronous and 3 sync distributed. Obviously, more students are taking in-person classes, but students like Binstock take multiple formats within one semester.
Drew Puroway, Associate Director of Academic Counseling at St. Thomas, wrote in an email to The Crest that, while most students do not want an entirely online schedule, many want at least one online class and feel that asynchronous courses allow for more schedule flexibility. Puroway also mentioned that online asynchronous classes fill up quickly if they are for a student’s core or major requirements.
“I have talked to a good number of students who eschew online sections as not good for their learning,” Puroway wrote. “However, this is an individual thing.”
Though the NASFAA research suggests that students do worse when taking online classes, Puroway said that from what he remembers about COVID research, student success is not related to class format.
“Students who were generally stronger did fine; students who generally struggled, struggled,” Puroway wrote.
In general, I can see some benefits of online classes, but for a school like St. Thomas where most students attend right after high school and are able to move to a new city, that format shouldn’t be as prominent. Students should want to pay for an education that both they and their professors are fully invested in, and in-person classes are the way to do that.
Bridget Schmid can be reached at schm1520@stthomas.edu.
