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FIVE  Traits to be a successful online student

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FIVE  Traits to be a successful online student

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Education

Virtual Learning Environment

Educational Technology

Distance Education

Higher Education

Learning Management Systems

Isolation / lack of socialization

Equity concerns with online learning

Impact on mental health

Quality of online learning

Impact on different sectors of society

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Addresses questions of how online learning will affect the long-term framework, culture and cost of education at all levels

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TWO  NYT Without college degree life is staggeringly shorter

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TWO  NYT Without college degree life is staggeringly shorter

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Opinion | Without a College Degree, Life in America Is Staggeringly Shorter

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There are two Americas, and they are divided by a college degree.

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THREE   Nature.com  Importance of instructors visual cues

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THREE   Nature.com  Importance of instructors visual cues

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Introduction

The dramatic increase in the use of online, multimedia lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of research aimed at optimizing these lesson formats. Multimedia lessons typically include static or dynamic pictures (e.g., illustrations, animations, videos) and printed or spoken words (e.g., on screen text, narration1). Learning from these lessons can be assessed based on students' retention, comprehension, or recall of factual knowledge, as well as their ability to match information, solve problems, or transfer information to novel content. Although instructors are often advised to minimize the number of extraneous visual features in multimedia lessons to avoid increased cognitive processing demands5,6, including some additional visual features in these lessons can facilitate learning (for review see Ref.7). For example, the presence of visual cues that direct students' attention to relevant lesson content reliably benefits learning (e.g., Refs.8,9). Several studies have demonstrated that instructor presence during multimedia lessons can similarly facilitate learning10,11, but other studies instead found no benefit or a detrimental effect of including the instructor in lessons. These mixed results suggest that additional factors shape individual differences in learning during multimedia lessons. In particular, students' selective attention skills, or their ability to efficiently allocate attention, may impact learning when multiple visual features are included in a lesson. While limited previous research has related individual differences in selective attention to learning outcomes when the instructor was present15, it is unknown how selective attention skills affect student learning during lessons that contain multiple additional visual features. To address this question, we assessed college students' selective attention skills and learning during video lessons that varied based on the presence or absence of visual cues and an instructor video.

Past work aimed at optimizing the design of multimedia lessons has been motivated by the idea that cognitive load, or the amount and nature of information that students process during lessons, can affect learning (for review see Refs.16,17). Cognitive load is influenced both by the intrinsic complexity of the learning task and by instructional design factors that shape the extraneous context in which learning occurs (e.g., Refs.16,18). For example, college students showed poorer comprehension and transfer of information from lessons that included extraneous text passages and/or images19, demonstrating that the presence of irrelevant visual features in multimedia lessons can hinder learning. These additional visual features may be detrimental for learning because they capture students' attention and distract from processing of primary lesson content23,24. These findings have led to recommendations that instructors minimize the number of extraneous or irrelevant features in multimedia lessons (e.g., Refs.5,6).

However, other studies have found that including additional visual features in multimedia lessons can benefit learning, even though these features may add to students' cognitive processing load7,25. For example, college students retained more information when a lesson narration was accompanied by a subset of the narrated text presented visually25,26. Using salient visual cues to direct students' attention to relevant information (i.e., "signaling") similarly benefits learning (for review see Refs.8,9). Multimedia lessons commonly use arrows, animations, or change the typography or color of the text on the screen to direct students' attention to relevant content (e.g., see Fig. 1A). For example, Ozcelik et al.29 cued relevant visual features during a lesson narration by briefly changing the color of labels within corresponding illustrations. These color cues elicited increased looking to the relevant features and enhanced college students' performance on transfer and matching tests29. Although these cues add to the total visual input, they may reduce cognitive load by directing students' attention to the most relevant information during learning30,31.

Examples of multimedia lessons with visual cueing and instructor video. Illustration of a multimedia lesson that includes ( A) visually cued text and ( B) an instructor video overlay.

In addition to visual cues, the presence of the instructor (e.g., via picture-in-picture, lecture capture, or transparent whiteboard presentations; see Fig. 1B) during multimedia lessons can similarly boost college students' retention and recall of information and their performance on transfer and skill achievement tests. This benefit may reflect increased engagement when the instructor is present34,35, indicated by students' effort during learning and their interest in and interaction with the learning material36,37. Consistent with this, young adults typically report that they prefer lessons and expect to learn more when the instructor is present11,38,39,40,41,42. However, other studies have found that college students showed either no benefit or poorer recall when the instructor was present during multimedia lessons. Several authors have argued that including the instructor only increases extraneous visual features that distract from learning44,45. Indeed, unlike visual cues that direct attention to lesson-relevant content, students spend less time looking at primary lesson content when the instructor is present10,11,13,39,42,46. Thus, while the presence of the instructor may benefit learning by increasing student engagement, there may also be a cost to learning due to increased processing of extraneous visual features.

Overall, these findings suggest that including some additional visual features in multimedia lessons can benefit students' learning. However, while visual cues robustly facilitate learning, the benefits of instructor presence have been less clear. These mixed findings suggest that additional factors may contribute to variability in learning outcomes when multiple features such as visual cues or the instructor video are present. Past research investigating individual differences in learning during multimedia lessons has largely focused on students' prior knowledge of the lesson topic (see for review). For example, visual cues facilitated learning among middle school students who knew less about the lesson topic, but instead interfered with learning for students who had more prior knowledge47. Several other factors that may affect these individual differences have been identified (e.g., age, working memory capacity, spatial abilities, motivation/interest in the lesson topic), but have not yet been studied in depth2,3. As a result, our understanding of the mechanisms that shape individual differences in learning during multimedia lessons remains incomplete.

One possibility is that selective attention skills may influence the extent to which students benefit from visual cues or the instructor video during multimedia lessons. Because cognitive resources are limited, effective learning requires prioritizing processing of information that is the most relevant for ongoing lessons. This attentional prioritization can be mediated by exogenous orienting that drives selection of perceptually salient information (e.g., signaling via a color cue) or by endogenous selective attention mechanisms that allow individuals to focus on task-relevant information while ignoring irrelevant inputs53,54. These endogenous selective attention skills are typically assessed via tasks that require individuals to ignore irrelevant stimuli to efficiently focus on a task-relevant target. For example, during the flanker task55, participants report the direction of a central arrow while ignoring surrounding arrows that appear in the same direction (congruent condition) or in the opposite direction (incongruent condition). Thus, during the incongruent condition individuals must suppress interference from the surrounding arrows to correctly identify the direction of the target arrow. Individuals who can efficiently engage selective attention to suppress this interference are faster and more accurate to respond during the incongruent condition.

Exogenous orienting skills develop relatively early in childhood56,57, whereas endogenous selective attention develops more gradually (e.g., Refs.). Although preschool-aged children show expected patterns of responses during the flanker task62, performance on this task and related endogenous selective attention tasks continues to improve through childhood and adolescence before peaking in early adulthood (e.g., Refs.). Although both exogenous and endogenous selective attention are mature by early adulthood, individual differences in these attention skills remain throughout adulthood, which may reflect factors such as working memory capacity and task performance strategies.

These individual differences in selective attention can have important implications for learning. Individuals typically learn less when task-irrelevant (i.e., distracting) information is present in the learning environment. Individuals with more efficient selective attention can selectively focus on information that is relevant to lessons, whereas those with poorer selective attention can be more susceptible to poor learning outcomes (e.g., Refs.19,71). Individuals with more advanced selective attention skills can also more effectively allocate attention to relevant information in the surrounding context (e.g., illustrations) during multimedia lessons72,73. These findings suggest that individual differences in selective attention skills may affect how students process additional visual features, such as visual cues and instructor presence, during multimedia lessons. College students showed enhanced retention and transfer of information when visual cues guided their orienting to relevant lesson content more efficiently29,74, suggesting that students' ability to engage selective attention to orient to relevant information may affect the extent to which they benefit from visual cueing. Kokoç et al.15 found that college students with more advanced selective attention performed better on a skill achievement test after viewing recorded video lectures that included the instructor, whereas those with poorer attention did not demonstrate this benefit. Overall, these results suggest that students with better selective attention may learn more effectively from multimedia lessons that contain additional visual features, despite the increased cognitive processing load.

In sum, research has shown that extraneous visual inputs in multimedia lessons can impair learning22,75, but has also identified visual features that can facilitate learning despite being extraneous to the primary lesson content. Specifically, students show improved learning when visual cues direct their attention to lesson-relevant information9,29. The presence of an instructor in multimedia lessons can also improve learning10,11, though these effects are less robust. However, past research has primarily examined effects of visual cues and instructor presence on learning independently, even though multimedia lessons commonly incorporate multiple visual features concurrently. As a result, the extent to which these features interact to influence learning is less clear. Johnson et al.77 found that middle-school students performed better on problem-solving tests following lessons that included two forms of visual cues (i.e., arrows and an animated pedagogical agent) that directed students' attention to relevant information. These results suggest that combining visual cues and instructor presence may provide additional benefits for learning. Alternatively, past research indicating that the instructor can capture attention and distract from other lesson elements suggests that students may have more difficulty efficiently allocating attention when both visual cues and the instructor are present. Finally, while limited research suggests that students' selective attention skills may influence the extent to which they benefit from visual cues or instructor presence15, it is unknown how selective attention affects learning during more complex multimedia lessons that combine these visual features.

To address these questions, we examined college students' learning from video lessons that varied in their use of visual cues and an instructor video. Figure 2 illustrates the study design. Students viewed pre-recorded video lessons that (1) included only the instructor's narration and the slide presentation (Uncued Narration condition), (2) additionally included visual cues in which the most relevant text appeared in bold, red font (Cued Narration condition), (3) included the instructor video but no visual cues (Uncued Instructor Video condition), and (4) included both the visual cues and instructor video (Cued Instructor Video condition). Students additionally rated their effort and engagement during the video lessons and completed a flanker task as an independent measure of selective attention. We assessed the relation between students' reported effort during the lessons, individual differences in selective attention performance, and the extent to which students benefited from the additional visual features during the video lessons. We expected that the visual cues and instructor video would facilitate learning, consistent with prior research. However, we also expected that these effects would depend on students' selective attention skills. Specifically, we predicted that individuals with poorer selective attention skills may have more difficulty effectively allocating attention when multiple additional visual features were included in a single lesson. In contrast, we expected that students with better selective attention skills may distribute their attention more effectively across the primary lesson content and multiple visual features and therefore benefit from the presence of these additional features to a greater extent.

Schematic illustration of the learning and selective attention tasks. ( A) Timeline of the learning and selective attention tasks; ( B) illustration of the four lesson conditions presented during the learning task; and ( C) illustration of the three trial types presented during the flanker selective attention task.

Results

Preliminary analyses

Preliminary bivariate correlations are reported in Supplementary Table 1. Satisfaction, efficacy, engagement, and effort ratings were highly correlated (r's > 0.41, p's < 0.001). Participants who indicated that the lessons were more difficult reported increased engagement (r = 0.20, p = 0.044) and reduced efficacy (r =  − 0.22, p = 0.024). Difficulty ratings were unrelated to satisfaction or effort (p's > 0.3). We therefore focused only on effort and difficulty ratings for ease of interpretation. Effort ratings were related to overall learning scores (r = 0.31, p = 0.001), but difficulty ratings were not (p = 0.194). There was also a trend-level correlation between RT cost scores and overall learning scores (r =  − 0.17, p = 0.09), indicating that participants with poorer selective attention skills tended to learn less across all lesson conditions. Finally, participants' effort and difficulty ratings did not vary across the lesson conditions (p's > 0.2). See Supplementary Results for details.

Learning outcomes

Participants showed overall moderate accuracy during the post-lesson assessments (M = 0.65, SD = 0.19). Performance on the learning assessment was reliably above chance (i.e., 0.25) for all lesson topics (p's < 0.001), indicating that participants successfully learned the material presented in all video lessons.

We next examined the extent to which learning from the video lessons was influenced by visual features of the learning task (i.e., visual cues, instructor video), selective attention skills, and perceived effort during the lessons. We examined accuracy on the learning assessments using a repeated measures ANCOVA with instructor presence (narration only, instructor video) and cueing (uncued, cued) as within-subjects factors. We included centered RT cost scores, centered effort ratings, and the RT cost x effort interaction term as covariates.

ANCOVA results indicated a main effect of perceived effort, F(1, 103) = 9.11, p = 0.003, η p ² = 0.08; Fig. 3. Consistent with the preliminary results above, participants who reported increased effort during the lessons performed better on all learning assessments (r = 0.29, p = 0.002). The main effect of RT cost scores was not significant (p = 0.19).

Relation between perceived effort and overall learning outcomes.

Results also indicated a cueing x perceived effort interaction, F(1, 103) = 4.01, p = 0.048, η p ² = 0.04. Participants who reported higher effort showed overall higher learning scores for both the uncued (r = 0.25, p = 0.01) and the cued lessons (r = 0.35, p < 0.001). To further examine this interaction we computed a difference score by subtracting each participant's overall accuracy during uncued lessons from their overall accuracy during cued lessons. More positive difference scores indicate improved learning during cued lessons compared to uncued lessons. Participants who reported overall higher effort learned more during cued lessons compared to uncued lessons (r = 0.22, p = 0.026; Fig. 4).

Relation between perceived effort and learning during cued vs. uncued lessons. Participants who reported higher effort learned more from lessons that included visual cues compared to those that did not.

Finally, results indicated a cueing × instructor presence × perceived effort interaction, F(1, 103) = 4.54, p = 0.035, η p ² = 0.04, which was further moderated by a significant four-way cueing x instructor presence × RT cost × perceived effort interaction, F(1, 103) = 5.04, p = 0.027, η p ²  = 0.05. To further explore this four-way interaction, we computed difference scores to determine the extent to which each participant's learning changed as a function of the additional visual features. We computed a Cueing Benefit score based on the difference in performance during the Cued Narration vs. the Uncued Narration conditions, an Instructor Benefit score based on the difference in performance during the Uncued Instructor Video vs. Uncued Narration conditions, and a Full Features Benefit score based on the difference in performance during the Cued Instructor Video vs. Uncued Narration conditions. Higher scores indicated an increased learning benefit when the additional visual features were added.

Follow-up analyses indicated a significant RT Cost x perceived effort interaction for the Cueing Benefit score, b =  − 0.001, t(103) =  − 2.29, p = 0.024, and a trend-level RT Cost × perceived effort interaction for the Instructor Benefit score, b =  − 0.001, t(103) =  − 1.72, p = 0.088. We used simple slopes analyses to examine the moderating effects of perceived effort on the relation between selective attention skills (i.e. RT cost scores) and Cueing Benefit scores. Among participants who reported higher effort during the lessons (i.e., effort ratings 1 SD above the group mean), there was a significant negative relationship between RT cost scores and Cueing Benefit scores, b =  − 0.002, t(103) =  − 3.70, p < 0.001; Fig. 5A. Results similarly showed a significant negative relationship between RT cost scores and the Instructor Benefit score among participants who reported higher effort, b =  − 0.002, t(103) =  − 2.52, p = 0.013; Fig. 5B. For these higher-effort participants, better selective attention skills (i.e., lower RT cost scores) were associated with an increased benefit from the addition of either the visual cues or the instructor video. In contrast, for participants who reported lower effort (i.e., effort ratings 1 SD below the group mean), selective attention skills were unrelated to learning benefits from either the visual cues or the instructor video (p's > 0.11). Finally, the RT Cost × perceived effort interaction was unrelated to the Full Features Benefit score (p = 0.389; Fig. 5 C), indicating that selective attention skills did not influence learning improvements when both visual cues and the instructor video were included in the lesson.

Simple slopes illustrating the interaction between selective attention and perceived effort on learning improvements in the presence of visual cues and/or the instructor video. Among participants who reported higher effort, those with better selective attention (i.e., lower RT cost scores) benefited more from the addition of only the ( A) visual cues or ( B) the instructor video. However ( C) selective attention skills did not moderate learning improvements when both visual cues and the instructor video were included in the lessons.

Discussion

We investigated the extent to which individual differences in selective attention skills influenced college students' learning when additional visual features (i.e., visual cues, instructor video) were present during online video lessons. Students viewed pre-recorded video lessons that varied based on the presence of (1) visual cues highlighting relevant lesson content and (2) a video overlay of the instructor. Participants also completed a flanker task as an independent measure of selective attention skills and reported their perceived effort during the video lessons. Learning outcomes were influenced by the visual features within the video lessons as well as individual differences in students' reported effort during the lessons and their selective attention skills. Students who reported increased effort learned more overall and specifically learned more from lessons with visual cues. Furthermore, among these students who reported higher effort, those who demonstrated more efficient selective attention benefited most from either visual cues or the instructor video. Because the observed effect sizes are moderate, it will be important for future research to both replicate and extend these findings. Nonetheless, the current results suggest that learning during multimedia lessons may depend on the visual features within the lesson and individual differences in students' effort and attention skills.

The current study demonstrated a link between students' perceived effort during the video lessons and enhanced learning, which is consistent with past research indicating that student engagement in the classroom relates to both motivation78,79 and learning outcomes. Student engagement can be divided into cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and agentic components. The measure of perceived effort in the current study overlaps most closely with behavioral and cognitive dimensions of engagement, which are typically assessed based on attentiveness, persistence, degree of effort, and psychological investment85,86. Both behavioral and cognitive engagement have been linked to enhanced learning87,88, but emotional and agentic dimensions of engagement also facilitate learning84,89. Although we focused on effort ratings in our analyses, students' reported effort was also correlated with ratings of learning efficacy, satisfaction, and engagement with the lessons. Thus, it is possible that there is a more global impact of engagement on student learning outcomes that is not specific to a single dimension.

Among students who reported higher effort, the presence of visual cues facilitated learning, consistent with past studies demonstrating that visual cues both increase attention to lesson content and improve learning. Consistent with this, students in the current study learned more when visual cues were added to the lesson, even when the instructor video was not included. In the current study we used typography and color cues (i.e., bold, red font), which we selected based on past studies (e.g., Refs.). However, multimedia lessons can include a range of other visual cues (e.g., animations, arrows9) and additional work is needed to determine whether the observed links between student effort, selective attention skills, and learning benefits from visual cues generalize across this broader array of cue types. Nonetheless, we observed an effect of cueing despite other design differences across the current and previous studies (e.g., lesson duration, novel content), which provides further evidence that the presence of visual cues reliably facilitates learning during multimedia lessons.

Previous work examining effects of instructor presence during multimedia lessons has yielded more mixed results. Several studies have found that the presence of the instructor facilitates students' learning, while others suggest that including the instructor has no benefit or may be detrimental for learning. In the current study we did not find an overall effect of instructor presence on students' learning outcomes. Although these results do not align with past work indicating that the instructor video boosts learning, they converge with a recent meta-analysis that found no overall benefit of instructor presence on learning76. Researchers have questioned whether the instructor video is an extraneous visual feature that may hinder learning by drawing attention away from primary lesson content or if the presence of the instructor instead provides salient social cues that can increase student engagement during learning. We found that perceived effort and difficulty ratings did not vary across lessons, suggesting that including the instructor video did not substantially impact engagement. However, in the current study the instructor used a neutral tone, maintained a neutral gaze, and avoided using gestures throughout the lessons. Although these neutral features were intended to maintain consistency across lessons, they may have dampened participants' engagement. It remains possible that the instructor video may have had a stronger overall learning benefit if it included features that were more socially salient (e.g., verbal cues, eye gaze, facial expressions, gestures). Future research will be needed to determine how varying these features within the instructor video affects students' attention, motivation, and learning at the both the group and individual level.

Although there was no effect of instructor presence at the group level, the extent to which students benefited from the visual cues or the instructor video depended on individual differences in selective attention skills and effort during the lessons. Among participants who reported higher effort during the lessons, those with more advanced selective attention skills benefited more from either visual cues or the instructor video, relative to their performance during the narration only condition in which these features were absent. This result is consistent with evidence that more advanced attention skills facilitated learning from lessons that required integrating information from multiple sources (i.e., text and corresponding illustrations72). King and Markant73 similarly found that children with more advanced selective attention looked longer at illustrations that were relevant to ongoing lessons, which in turn facilitated learning. Conversely, individuals with poorer selective attention learned less from video lessons that included the instructor video and looked longer at the instructor during these lessons15, suggesting that students with inefficient selective attention may have more difficulty attending to primary lesson content when the instructor is present. Although attention control is most often defined as the ability to focus on a target while ignoring irrelevant information (e.g., Ref.96), efficient attention control also involves flexibly shifting attention across task-relevant features or inputs97,98. The current findings suggest that more advanced selective attention skills may facilitate learning by allowing individuals to efficiently allocate attention across multiple relevant features that are available during multimedia lessons.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine both visual cues and the instructor video during the same lessons. At the group level there were no differences in learning across lesson conditions, suggesting that combining the visual cues and the instructor video did not facilitate learning beyond presenting either of these features alone. We also found that students' selective attention skills did not relate to learning during lessons that contained both visual cues and the instructor video. Instead, the combined presence of these visual features benefited learning to a similar extent for all participants who reported higher effort during the lessons, regardless of their selective attention skills. This contrasts with the lessons that included only one additional visual feature (i.e., visual cues or the instructor video), in which selective attention skills had a stronger effect on learning outcomes. These results may suggest that the combination of visual cues and the instructor video benefits learning more generally after accounting for individual differences in selective attention skills.

The current study extends previous work identifying additional visual features that benefit learning despite increased cognitive processing demands7. Like this previous research, we found that students learned more when additional features were available. However, the extent of this benefit depended on individual differences in students' selective attention skills and effort during learning. These results suggest that the same lesson design may not be equally beneficial for all students. Future research will be needed to determine how to optimize the design of multimedia lessons while accounting for these individual differences in attention and engagement. Our results suggest that students with more advanced selective attention who are engaged in ongoing lessons may benefit most from additional visual features, as they can efficiently allocate attention across these features and primary lesson content. However, the current results also suggest that combining visual cues and the instructor video may be optimal when individualized designs are not possible, since all students benefited from this approach when they were engaged with the lesson. It is also important to note that the current study only used relatively short, pre-recorded video lessons. Although this design aligns with the recommended duration for online instructional videos99, it is possible that selective attention skills may differentially impact learning during shorter or longer lessons. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the current results will generalize to other learning contexts, such as synchronous online or traditional classroom settings, that typically afford more opportunity for contingent interaction with the instructor and classmates and a wider range of contextual information (e.g., classroom decorations). Future research can further investigate how individual differences in selective attention and student engagement affect learning in these dynamic contexts. Finally, while this study focused on visual features, multimedia lessons require students to integrate both auditory and visual inputs. Additional research is needed to relate individual differences in selective attention to this multimodal processing, which will be especially important for understanding how learning from multimedia lessons may vary for different populations of students. For example, while participants in the current study had normal hearing and vision, other students may have sensory processing limitations that affect the extent to which they rely on vision or hearing during multimedia lessons. Future research can investigate how selective attention skills affect these students' processing of complex multimedia lessons.

Conclusions

The current study demonstrated that students who reported increased effort learned more overall and especially benefited from video lessons that contained perceptually salient visual cues. However, students' learning was also shaped by individual differences in their selective attention skills. Among those who reported higher effort, students who also demonstrated more advanced selective attention benefited more from the presence of either visual cues or the instructor video. Combining these visual features benefited learning to a similar extent for all students who were engaged in the lesson, regardless of their attention skills. Individual learning outcomes during multimedia lessons may therefore depend on interactions between both individual factors (e.g., engagement, selective attention skills) and extrinsic factors (e.g., the extent to which relevant visual features are available in the learning environment).

Methods

Participants

One-hundred and seven adults (81 F; M Age = 21.5 years, SD = 3.0 years) completed the study. We determined sample size based on a power analysis (power = 0.9, alpha = 0.05) which indicated that a minimum of N = 75 would be needed to detect effects similar to those observed previously. Based on self-report, 66.4% of participants were White/Caucasian, 9.3% were Multiracial, 9.3% were Asian, 6.5% were Hispanic, 4.7% were Black, and 3.7% identified as Other. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal hearing and vision, according to self-report. Nine additional participants were excluded from analyses because they did not complete both the learning and selective attention tasks (N = 6), their selective attention scores were > 2 SD above or below the group mean (N = 2), or due to technical error (N = 1). Because the test session was fully remote, all participants provided informed eConsent via REDCap100. Participants received a $15 gift card or academic credit after completing the study. All study protocols were approved by the Tulane University Institutional Review Board. All study methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Materials and procedure

Participants completed a fully remote test session via video conference between December 2020 and March 2021, during which they completed online learning and selective attention tasks hosted via Pavlovia.org (see Fig. 2A for the order of task completion). We used PsychoPy3101 to present the tasks in a full-screen web browser. The tasks required approximately 40 min to complete. We report all stimuli dimensions in percentage of the screen since we did not have detailed information about participants' computer displays. Participants did not see the experimenter during the task but could communicate with them verbally. We confirmed the validity of these online methods by conducting an initial pilot study (N = 25, M Age = 20 years, SD = 1.5 years), which replicated effects typically observed with flanker tasks in laboratory settings55,63 (see Supplementary Materials).

Learning task

Participants first completed a learning task in which they viewed four pre-recorded video lessons that conveyed novel content about the lives of fictional alien families (see Supplementary Materials). We developed novel lesson content to control for baseline subject knowledge. Participants in the pilot study (N = 25) showed successful learning but below ceiling performance (M Accuracy = 0.75, SD = 0.11; see Supplementary Materials) confirming that the lesson content was appropriately difficult.

Each lesson consisted of a pre-recorded slide presentation that included text, images, and narration by an instructor. Across lessons we manipulated the presence vs. absence of visual cues highlighting lesson-relevant text and the instructor video. For lessons with visual cues, the most relevant lesson text appeared in bold, red text as the instructor discussed it. We selected these typography and color cues based on previous research that identified benefits of visual cueing during multimedia lessons (e.g., Ref.90). We determined text relevance based on how closely it matched the correct answer for the corresponding assessment question (see Supplementary Table 2). For lessons that included the instructor video, we recorded the slide presentations with a picture-in-picture video overlay of the instructor in the top right corner of the display. The instructor video overlay constituted 2.6% of the display (11.8 cm × 6.6 cm on a 13-in. laptop). The same female instructor used a neutral tone to deliver all lessons. In all video recordings, the instructor appeared against a neutral background with their face and shoulders visible. The instructor's clothing and accessories were identical across lessons and the instructor maintained a neutral facial expression and looked directly at the camera throughout each lesson.

Participants viewed the video lessons across four conditions (Fig. 2B). During the Uncued-Narration condition, participants saw the slides and heard the instructor's narration. The Cued-Narration condition was similar but also included the visual cues to direct attention to relevant text. During the Uncued-Instructor Video condition participants saw the slides and the picture-in-picture overlay of the instructor video. Finally, the Cued-Instructor Video condition included both the visual cues and the instructor video. We developed 16 pre-recorded video lessons, with one video for each of the four lesson topics across each of the four lesson conditions. Because the videos were dynamic, lesson duration varied slightly across conditions (M = 4 min, 22 s; SD = 6.0 s; see Supplementary Table 3). The lesson phase comprising the four lesson conditions lasted 18 min.

At the beginning of the learning task participants were told that they would view four video lessons about the lives of alien families and answer questions about each video. They were not told when they would be tested. Initial analyses indicated that participants learned more from the first lesson compared to all others (p's < 0.001, d's > 0.4) but there were no differences across the remaining lessons (p's > 0.08). We counterbalanced the order of lesson conditions and the pairing of lesson topic and condition across participants to ensure that observed effects of lesson condition could not be attributed to this primacy effect. We also pseudorandomized the order of lesson topics to ensure that all possible stimuli combinations were evenly distributed across participants.

Engagement ratings

After each video, participants rated their perceived difficulty of the lesson, their level of engagement and effort invested in learning the content, their satisfaction with the lesson, and their perceived learning efficacy. We developed the rating scales based on research that used similar measures to evaluate students' satisfaction, motivation, and engagement during video lessons38,46. Participants used a 1 to 7 Likert scale to respond to each statement (see Supplementary Table 4). Each statement appeared in black text on a gray background with an illustration of the 1-7 scale included to anchor the ratings. Participants required 2 min to complete the engagement ratings for all lessons.

Selective attention task

After viewing all four video lessons participants next completed the flanker selective attention task. Stimuli included a central target arrow and two distractor arrows on the left and right sides of the target. The distractor arrows surrounding the central target appeared either in the same direction as the central arrow (congruent condition), in the opposite direction (incongruent condition), or as horizontal lines without directionality (neutral condition; Fig. 2 C). This resulted in a single row of five arrows that constituted 0.05% of the display, (i.e., 3 cm on a 13-inch laptop). The target and distractor arrows appeared 1 cm either above or below a central fixation cross. All stimuli were black images on a gray background.

Each trial began with presentation of the central fixation for a variable duration (1000, 1500, 2000, or 2500 ms) before the arrows appeared above or below the fixation for 350 ms. Participants could respond within 1700 ms after stimulus onset. Participants were instructed to focus on the central fixation and use key presses to indicate the direction of the central arrow ("J" = left; "K" = right). Participants completed 12 practice trials with audiovisual feedback and then completed 180 trials (60 per trial type) presented in random order, which required approximately 10 min to complete. Each trial type had an equal number of trials with arrows above and below the central fixation and with the central arrow pointing to the left and right.

Learning assessment

Finally, participants completed the learning assessment for all four video lessons after the flanker task. Participants answered 104 multiple-choice questions (26 for each lesson topic), which required approximately 10 min to complete. Each question mapped onto a single fact presented during the video lessons (see Supplementary Table 2). Each question and four answer choices appeared as black text against a gray background and remained visible up to 47 s. Participants used their keyboard to respond (M = 5.20 s, SD = 3.82 s), after which the trial advanced. Participants completed all questions in a single block in random order. Answer choices were pseudorandomized such that the correct answer (1, 2, 3, or 4) occurred the same number of times across all questions and for each lesson topic.

Data processing

Learning and engagement outcomes

For each lesson condition we computed an overall engagement score by averaging the ratings for the three engagement statements38. We measured learning outcomes based on accuracy during the post-lesson assessment.

Individual differences in selective attention

We examined performance on the flanker task as a measure of individual differences in selective attention. We computed accuracy based on the proportion of trials in which the participant correctly identified the direction of the central arrow. We also computed average response times (RT), excluding trials with inaccurate responses or those in which the response time was > 2 SD above the individual mean.

Initial analyses indicated that participants were slower and less accurate to indicate the direction of the central arrow during the incongruent condition compared to both the congruent and neutral conditions (p's < 0.001, d > 0.7; see Supplementary Materials). To assess individual differences in selective attention, we computed RT cost scores for each participant (i.e., incongruent RT-congruent RT). Reduced RT costs during the incongruent condition indicate more efficient selective attention, as individuals can more quickly suppress the surrounding distractors to respond to the central target arrow. Conversely, higher RT cost scores indicate increased difficulty filtering conflicting information.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the School of Science & Engineering at Tulane University and the Louisiana Board of Regents. We thank the members of the Learning and Brain Development Lab for assistance with participant recruitment and data processing. Stimulus images courtesy of Michael J. Tarr, Carnegie Mellon University, http://www.tarrlab.org/, as well as the free-use site PNG Mart, http://www.pngmart.com.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Neuroscience Program, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

Jill King & Taylor Marcus

2. Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 6400 Freret St., 2007 Percival Stern Hall #52, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

Julie Markant

3. Tulane Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

Jill King, Taylor Marcus & Julie Markant

Contributions

J.K.: Conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing-original draft, writing-review & editing, visualization. T.M.: writing-original draft, writing-review & editing. J.M.: Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resources, data curation, writing-original draft, writing-review & editing, visualization, supervision, funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Taylor Marcus.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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King, J., Marcus, T. & Markant, J. Individual differences in selective attention and engagement shape students' learning from visual cues and instructor presence during online lessons. Sci Rep 13, 5075 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32069-7
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Individual differences in selective attention and engagement shape students' learning from visual cues and instructor presence during online lessons - Scientific Reports

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Although some researchers recommend minimizing extraneous visual information in multimedia lessons, others have demonstrated that features such as visual cues and instructor videos can enhance learning. However, variability in selective attention skills may influence students' ability to benefit from these additional features.

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FOUR  Educ Psych Review/Improving Online Learning

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FOUR  Educ Psych Review/Improving Online Learning

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Study on how teachers can increase engagement during online learning

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SEVEN  For some Black students, remote learning means they can thrive

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SEVEN  For some Black students, remote learning means they can thrive

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For Some Black Students, Remote Learning Has Offered A Chance To Thrive

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Back when school was in person, eighth-grader Josh Secrett was always tired. Now, away from the bias he sometimes encountered in classrooms, he says, “I’m more energized. I want to do more things.”

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Dependence on Tech Caused ‘Staggering’ Education Inequality, U.N. Agency Says

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Heavy reliance on online remote learning during the pandemic drew attention away from more equitable ways of teaching children at home, a UNESCO report says.

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NINE  NYT: Assessing online college learning

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NINE  NYT: Assessing online college learning

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research shows blended or hybrid courses may work best for many students

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With Online Learning, ‘Let’s Take a Breath and See What Worked and Didn’t Work’ (Published 2022)

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The massive expansion of online higher education created a worldwide laboratory to finally assess its value and its future.

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SIX    WAPO Kids who have thrived - remote learning

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SIX    WAPO Kids who have thrived - remote learning

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Dalton McKittrick, 12, said teachers have been more invested in his emotional well-being during remote learning - and he likes it. (Lanya McKittrick/The Hechinger Report)
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John was having some trouble in class.

The seventh-grader had been diagnosed with ADHD and a language disorder that makes processing verbal and nonverbal cues a challenge. Despite extra support he received through his Individualized Education Plan for students with disabilities, John often felt overwhelmed by the chaos of his middle school classroom.
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"He just gets distracted," said his mother, Alex, who spoke on the condition that her last name be withheld to protect her son's privacy. "That's his biggest issue."

And then, suddenly, John was no longer in class. Like millions of other American schoolchildren, he was pushed into remote learning from home when the coronavirus pandemic hit in the spring.

But something surprising happened. John did better learning remotely than he had in person, the opposite of the experience of most students. He even received a certificate from his school, in a suburb of Boston, for excellence in remote learning, something given to only a handful of students.

"He misses friends, obviously, but at the same time, I can tell that there was a huge change in his stress levels, and he was able to concentrate on his schoolwork," said Alex. "He enjoyed learning again. Before, school was kind of tedious for him."

Remote learning has been a struggle for teachers and is expected to set back the learning gains of a generation of students. It has been particularly hard on children of color, kids from families who are financially insecure, and those without access to computers and technology at home.

But a small number of students have done unexpectedly well. In some cases, those students struggled with distractions in the classroom during in-person learning. In others, they had social challenges at school: They were anxious, easily drawn into conflicts with other students, or embarrassed to engage in front of their peers.

"The challenge of in-classroom [learning] can be the social interaction. And for some kids, that's actually really hard," said Lynette Guastaferro, chief executive of Teaching Matters, a nonprofit organization that focuses on increasing teacher effectiveness.

Some educators are wondering how the experiences of kids who have done better during remote learning can be applied to improve in-person learning in the future.

Takeaways might include having more social and emotional check-ins with students, increased inclusion of students with disabilities in general education class activities, wider use of technology, and accommodating unconventional techniques that individual students have found helpful.

"I know it's a pandemic. I know it's hellacious out there, I know it's hard. I'm not saying it's not all those things," said Lauren Katzman, executive director of the Urban Collaborative, a national network of more than 100 school districts focused on improving outcomes for students with disabilities. "I am saying there are opportunities that we're not thinking about clearly, and I want us to."

For John, the freedom to work at his own pace and manage his own time, along with a few incentives, played key roles in his success. When Alex allowed him to play video games on weekdays (not allowed before the pandemic), he started to get more involved in planning his schoolwork for the week, and frontloaded assignments so that he could take off Fridays, and sometimes even part of the day on Thursdays.

"He just kind of did that on his own, and saw the value of not procrastinating, like he normally would," Alex said.

Listening to music while he did his schoolwork was also important.

"He often said, 'I wish I could do this in school; I bet I could do so much better, and I could concentrate better,' " Alex said.

Allowing students such as John to listen to music in a classroom is a simple accommodation a school could make in order for a student to learn better, according to Katzman. "It doesn't cost anybody any money," she said. "You don't need any expertise in how to manage that. It's a simple thing."

She and other experts say some special education students, in particular, could benefit from schools taking lessons from distance learning back into the classroom.

For years, special education advocates have pushed to integrate more students with disabilities into general learning classrooms. Not all school districts have embraced this objective. But with remote learning, some schools have made an effort to hold general education activities that include kids with disabilities to build a sense of community, Katzman said. For example, a student with a disability might be included in a Zoom morning circle with general education kids, when in the past they would have spent that time in a special ed class with a smaller group.

"In some of my conversations with some district leaders across the country, they feel like it's gotten better for some kids because there's more inclusive practices, and they don't want to go back," Katzman said.

For some kids, online learning has also removed the social barriers that kept them from excelling.

Michael Allara, who teaches physics and chemistry at Fern Creek High School in Louisville, has seen this aspect of remote learning in action. Last school year, one of his students hesitated to ask questions in class; Allara surmised that she was afraid of looking foolish in front of her peers. She was struggling so much with the material that she was at risk of failing the course, a requisite for graduation.

That changed during remote learning. When she could interact with Allara remotely, the student became much more engaged. She emailed and texted him with questions, and they spoke on the phone. She passed the class and graduated from high school in May.

"These students online were much more willing to speak their voice," Allara said.

Sarah Ott, executive director of special education for the San Diego Unified School District, has noticed a similar trend among students who were very shy or anxious during in-person learning.

Online, these kids were able to ask questions of their teachers privately or enter digital "breakout rooms" with staff, in which they could get one-on-one instruction apart from other students.

"Kids with anxiety, some of them didn't come to school, and then they just didn't learn," said Ott, who now envisions a future with more options for those students.

Dalton McKittrick, 12, has benefited from some of the technology of remote learning.

He has low vision and is learning Braille. He also uses bilateral cochlear implants to hear and struggles to separate speech from the background noise of a busy classroom. Like John, he has an individualized education plan, or IEP.

Dalton said that it has been helpful to see his teachers directly in front of him on a computer screen during remote learning instead of across the room during in-person learning. On Google Meet in the spring, he attended digital breakout rooms with other students, separate from the "main room," which could be noisy. Additional breaks throughout the day, which allow him to step away from his computer for a few minutes, have also been welcome.

He said teachers have scheduled social check-ins with him more often than they did during in-person learning and seem more invested in his emotional well-being.

"It kind of felt good just having your teachers care for you more, because they don't want you to get sick, and they want you to get good grades and all that," Dalton said.

Guastaferro, of Teaching Matters, has seen how important small group check-ins with students can be. One teacher with whom she works started a "mood meter" with her third-grade students during remote learning. Kids could identify how they were feeling by picking from an array of faces that ranged in expression from excited and happy to neutral or sad and discuss their choice with their teacher. Having conversations about how students were feeling allowed the teacher to connect with them on a deeper level, and prompted those students to be more engaged during lessons.

For many educators, the forced pivot to remote learning has resulted in considering new ways districts can more closely tailor education to meet individual students' needs once the pandemic is over.

"What we learned from being online is that we, as the public school system, could also offer flexible options," said Ott of the San Diego district. "Kids don't have to be in a seat to learn. . . . We can offer different options for kids, and not just go back to this one track that we were in."

This story about remote learning was produced by the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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Remote learning has been a disaster for many students. But some kids have thrived.

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For some students who were distracted, bored or anxious in school, online learning has brought unexpected benefits.

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7 Elements of Good Online Course (Credo)

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7 Elements of Good Online Course (Credo)

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Suggests no significant difference in students' academic outcomes (with exceptions due to socioeconomic differences)

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Research shows few differences in academic outcomes between online and face-to-face university courses. A professor who’s been teaching online for years offers advice on good online courses.

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Student Perspectives (Acad Search Complete)

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Student Perspectives (Acad Search Complete)

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Perspective on online courses before pandemic

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For a while now, online education has been a good option for students who - for various reasons - can't access on-the-ground education. And although there are still examples of rudimentary online courses out there (think compliance training), both the technology and the pedagogy powering online learning have gotten considerably better over the last decade. And now, fairly suddenly it seems, there are a growing number of cases where online education is actually outperforming its traditional classroom counterpart. Evidence of student success and, indeed preference, for the online classroom is mounting - and this will serve widespread benefits for all of us.

A Babson/College Board study in 2012 showed a glimmer of early recognition of quality in online education. The survey revealed that 77% of academic leaders thought online education was equal to or superior to learning in a physical classroom. Over 69% of chief academic officers believed online learning is a critical part of long-term education strategies.

A 2018 study conducted by Learning House, Inc., showed 85% of students who had previously enrolled in both face-to-face and online courses felt their online experience was either the same or better than the classroom course. That included 37% who felt it was a superior experience.

Examples of online degrees outperforming traditional degrees can be found across the globe and across students of all ages. In the U.K., University of Essex's online degrees placed in the top 18% of all U.K. institutions with a 91 score in the National Student Survey (NSS) run by Britain's higher education regulator.

The average first-time pass rate for distance learners at law schools taking California's First Year Student Law Exam (FYSLE) was slightly more than twice traditional law schools in the state-34.8% versus 17.1% based on publicly available data for the last ten FYLSE administrations. Purdue University Global's Concord Law School, the first fully online law school in the country, witnessed a first time pass rate of 45% at the most recent FYSLE administration.

Kaplan's Test Prep unit recently surveyed MCAT students to find out how its in-person versus Live Online students rated their experiences. The ability to interact and chat with instructors in real time was paramount for both groups. Curiously, some of the students taking in-person classes questioned the value of having to be somewhere at a certain time. So real-time interactivity, rather than place, seems to be emerging as the defining factor behind student preferences.

On a broader basis among high school students, the Test Prep team has been seeing a consistent six to eight point favorable difference between Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for its Live Online Programs versus their in-person counterparts. There are a number of contributing factors, which include a team-teaching model where students are supported by several instructors and the ability to tap the best talent globally for each class.

Gallup released a study last April, which compared the outcomes of Western Governors University (WGU) graduates with graduates from other institutions. WGU's competency-based education model, where all courses are fully online, stacked up better than more traditional colleges. WGU graduates full-time employment rate exceeded the national average by almost 20 percentage points; their grads are nearly twice as likely to be thriving in their wellbeing, and were more likely to be engaged employees. To date, WGU remains the highest scoring institution measured by Gallup in the percentage of graduates saying they had a mentor who encouraged their goals and dreams. So much for the myth that mentoring is relegated to in-person, on-campus and smaller-sized institutions.

Students are increasingly turning to online courses because they have become a better way to learn.

Online courses offer students greater control over their own learning by enabling them to work at their own pace.

More engaging multimedia content, greater access to their instructor and fellow classmates via online chat, and less likelihood of outside scheduling conflicts can contribute to improved retention metrics.

Online courses also tend to include more frequent assessments. The more often students are assessed, the better their instructors can track progress and intervene when needed.

I experienced all this myself when I completed a six-week online program through Columbia Business School this past fall. As a busy executive with a demanding travel schedule and a young family - the only way I was able to take such a course was online. And it proved to be an incredibly valuable and timely experience - highly relevant to my new job. I was able to do many of the lecture portions from my iPhone while sitting on a plane. I did coursework early Saturday morning and turned in weekly assignments Sunday evening. And each Wednesday, scheduled into my work day, I attended live online sessions with professors and students from around the world. It was as good an experience as I've had in traditional classrooms - and I deem it superior because it met me where I am in my career and life.

On a variety of measures, many students who have taken both face-to-face and online courses now rank their online experiences equal to or better than their more traditional classroom courses. We have reached a watershed moment when the discussion will no longer be about the relative merits of online learning, but how best to implement online programs for maximum effect on student enrollment and success.
Disclaimer: This article references data from both Kaplan and Gallup sources; the author is currently President of Kaplan University Partners and was formerly Executive Director of Education & Workforce Development at Gallup.

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Online Education: From Good To Better To Best?

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Online education has been around for a while and perceptions of the quality of online education have lagged behind that of the traditional classroom. But that's suddenly changing with a growing number of examples where online is actually outperforming the classroom.

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NYT: Mental Health for Students after the pandemic

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NYT: Mental Health for Students after the pandemic

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Role of social emotional learning to help students mental health during/after pandemic

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To Improve Students’ Mental Health, Schools Take a Team Approach (Published 2022)

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A program that takes a group approach to social, emotional and academic learning is taking off in U.S. schools, creating fresh bonds after remote learning.

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Role of online classes in combatting enrollment drops

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At the Edge of a Cliff, Some Colleges Are Teaming Up to Survive (Published 2022)

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Faced with declining enrollment, smaller schools are harnessing innovative ideas — like course sharing — to attract otherwise reluctant students.

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Black/brown students face racism when returning to in person classes esp on white-majority campuses

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Lists advantages a professor found in live (synchronous) online classes

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Online college classes can be better than in-person ones. The implications for higher ed are profound. | Brookings

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The quality of a well-run synchronous online class can now rival-and in some respects exceed-the quality of the in-person equivalent due to the pandemic-induced network effect amongst students and instructors, John Villasenor writes.

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Less opportunity for exercise

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I taught my first class at Columbia University's M.F.A. program this month, and even though I've been teaching college writing since 1993, I initially felt a little intimidated by the school's regal campus. That, and regretful.

I enjoyed going to college at the University of Michigan, an hour from home, but my secret humiliation is: I was the type of mediocre student I now disdain. As a freshman, I cared about my friends, my boyfriend and my poetry. Or, I cared about what my boyfriend thought of my friends, what my friends thought of him, and what they thought of my poetry about him. Here's what I wish I'd known and done differently:

A'S ARE COOL AND COME WITH PERKS As a student, I saw myself as anti-establishment, and I hated tests; I barely maintained a B average. I thought only nerds spent weekends in the library studying. Recently I learned that my niece Dara, a sophomore at New York University with a 3.7 G.P.A. (and a boyfriend), was offered a week of travel in Buenos Aires as part of her honors seminar. I was retroactively envious to learn that a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher at many schools qualifies you for free trips, scholarships, grants, awards, private parties and top internships. At 20, I was too busy freaking out when said boyfriend disappeared (after sleeping with one of said friends). Students certainly don't need to strive obsessively for perfection, but I should have prioritized grades, not guys.

SHOW UP AND SPEAK UP If a class was boring or it snowed, I'd skip. My rationale was that nobody in the 300-person lecture hall would notice and I could get notes later. Attendance barely counted. When I went, I'd sit quietly in back. Yet as a teacher, I see that the students who come weekly, sit in front, and ask and answer questions get higher grades and frankly, preferential treatment. After 15 weeks, I barely know the absentees or anyone Snapchatting the term away on their iPhones. It's not just that these students flush $300 down the toilet every time they miss my class; participating can actually lead to payoffs. I reward those who try harder with recommendations, references, professional contacts and encouragement.

CLASS CONNECTIONS CAN LAUNCH YOUR CAREER As an undergrad, I rarely visited my professors during office hours. I didn't want to annoy teachers with what I considered triviality. Besides, I thought I knew everything already. In graduate school, on the other hand, I went to the readings of a professor I admired. Eventually, I'd go to his office just to vent. Once, after I complained about a dead-end job, he recommended me for a position at The New Yorker, jump-starting my career.

But it's not just your professors who will help your life trajectory. Several classmates of mine from graduate school wound up working as editors at other publications, and they have since hired me for freelance work. Years later, I've helped students and colleagues where I teach, at the New School and New York University, land jobs, get published and meet with editors and agents.

PROFESSORS ARE PEOPLE, TOO As a teacher, I've kept all the letters, cards and poems of gratitude I've been sent. It's nice to be appreciated, and it makes a lasting impression. After one of my intro sessions, a freshman from Idaho blurted out: "Awesome class! It's like you stuck my fingers in a light socket." I laughed and invited her to speed walk with me around the local park - an activity I take part in nightly as a sort of active office hours - and we workshopped ideas that led to her first book. And when a student confided she was dying to take another class with me but had lost her financial aid, I let her audit. In retrospect, I should have been more open with the instructors I admired.

FIND YOUR PROFESSORS ON SOCIAL MEDIA I answer all emails, and while I may not accept all friend requests, I respond to students who follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. More important, social media is where I post about panels, job openings and freelance work. Checking out students' social media feeds also allows me to see new sides of their personalities. Naked beer pong photos may not impress, but witty posts and original ideas do. Several students have developed book projects from their blogs and Instagram pages, and I promote their work, charities and events on my own social media feeds. You never know if the college president or your professor might retweet or repost your work.

YOU CAN SOCIALIZE BETTER SOBER Drinking and smoking eased my social anxiety and seemed like fun. Until I couldn't stop. Getting clean - smoke-toke-alcohol-free - led to a huge upswing in my life. Instead of partying, I'd do movie nights, dancing, yoga, aerobics classes and readings with friends and dates. I was surprised to see that my work greatly improved, as did my relationships. I know many students who get into big trouble when they are under the influence, and I still worry about what I missed, wasting so much time wasted.

YOU'RE NOT STUCK Don't be afraid to ask for emotional support. It was a graduate school professor who recommended my first therapist to me: She was a fantastic listener who charged on a sliding scale. Therapy can be cheap, fun and easily available - not to mention lifesaving.

And if it turns out you're in the wrong school, don't worry. A third of college students transfer before graduating. If you're unhappy or not thriving at your school, take the long view. I couldn't have made it in Manhattan as an undergraduate, but four years later, graduate school at New York University offered me a chance to live in my dream city. It took me only three decades of work to make it to the Ivy League - to teach one class, at least.

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Opinion | College Advice I Wish I'd Taken

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I taught my first class at Columbia University's M.F.A. program this month, and even though I've been teaching college writing since 1993, I initially felt a little intimidated by the school's regal campus. That, and regretful.

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Benefits

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With schools open again after more than a year of teaching students outside the classroom, the pandemic sometimes feels like a distant memory. The return to classrooms this fall brings major relief for many families and educators. Factors such as a lack of reliable technology and family support, along with an absence of school resources, resulted in significant academic setbacks, not to mention stress for everyone involved.

But for all the downsides of distance learning, educators, psychologists, and parents have seen some benefits as well. For example, certain populations of students found new ways to be more engaged in learning, without the distractions and difficulties they faced in the classroom, and the general challenges of remote learning and the pandemic brought mental health to the forefront of the classroom experience.

Peter Faustino, PsyD, a school psychologist in Scarsdale, New York, said the pandemic also prompted educators and school psychologists to find creative new ways of ensuring students' emotional and academic well-being. "So many students were impacted by the pandemic, so we couldn't just assume they would find resources on their own," said Faustino. "We had to work hard at figuring out new ways to connect with them."

Here are some of the benefits of distance learning that school psychologists and educators have observed and the ways in which they're implementing those lessons post-pandemic, with the goal of creating a more equitable, productive environment for all students.

Prioritizing mental health

Faustino said that during the pandemic, he had more mental health conversations with students, families, and teachers than ever. "Because COVID-19 affected everyone, we're now having mental health discussions as school leaders on a daily and weekly basis," he said.

This renewed focus on mental health has the potential to improve students' well-being in profound ways-starting with helping them recover from the pandemic's effects. In New York City, for example, schools are hiring more than 600 new clinicians, including psychologists, to screen students' mental health and help them process pandemic-related trauma and adjust to the "new normal" of attending school in person.

Educators and families are also realizing the importance of protecting students' mental health more generally-not only for their health and safety but for their learning. "We've been seeing a broader appreciation for the fact that mental health is a prerequisite for learning rather than an extracurricular pursuit," said Eric Rossen, PhD, director of professional development and standards at the National Association of School Psychologists.

As a result, Rossen hopes educators will embed social and emotional learning components into daily instruction. For example, teachers could teach mindfulness techniques in the classroom and take in-the-moment opportunities to help kids resolve conflicts or manage stress.

Improved access to mental health resources in schools is another positive effect. Because of physical distancing guidelines, school leaders had to find ways to deliver mental health services remotely, including via online referrals and teletherapy with school psychologists and counselors.

Early in the pandemic, Faustino said he was hesitant about teletherapy's effectiveness; now, he hopes to continue offering a virtual option. Online scheduling and remote appointments make it easier for students to access mental health resources, and some students even enjoy virtual appointments more, as they can attend therapy in their own spaces rather than showing up in the counselor's office. For older students, Faustino said that level of comfort often leads to more productive, open conversations.

Autonomy as a key to motivation

Research suggests that when students have more choices about their materials and activities, they're more motivated-which may translate to increased learning and academic success. In a 2016 paper, psychology researcher Allan Wigfield, PhD, and colleagues make the case that control and autonomy in reading activities can improve both motivation and comprehension (Child Development Perspectives, Vol. 10, No. 3 ).

During the period of online teaching, some students had opportunities to learn at their own pace, which educators say improved their learning outcomes-especially in older students. In a 2020 survey of more than 600 parents, researchers found the second-most-valued benefit of distance learning was flexibility-not only in schedule but in method of learning.

In a recent study, researchers found that 18% of parents pointed to greater flexibility in a child's schedule or way of learning as the biggest benefit or positive outcome related to remote learning ( School Psychology, Roy, A., et al., in press).

This individualized learning helps students find more free time for interests and also allows them to conduct their learning at a time they're most likely to succeed. During the pandemic, Mark Gardner, an English teacher at Hayes Freedom High School in Camas, Washington, said he realized how important student-centered learning is and that whether learning happens should take precedence over how and when it occurs.

For example, one of his students thrived when he had the choice to do work later at night because he took care of his siblings during the day. Now, Gardner posts homework online on Sundays so students can work at their own pace during the week. "Going forward, we want to create as many access points as we can for kids to engage with learning," he said.

Rosanna Breaux, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology and assistant director of the Child Study Center at Virginia Tech, agrees. "I'd like to see this flexibility continue in some way, where-similar to college-students can guide their own learning based on their interests or when they're most productive," she said.

During the pandemic, many educators were forced to rethink how to keep students engaged. Rossen said because many school districts shared virtual curricula during the period of remote learning, older students could take more challenging or interesting courses than they could in person. The same is true for younger students: Megan Hibbard, a teacher in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, said many of her fifth graders enjoyed distance learning more than in-person because they could work on projects that aligned with their interests.

"So much of motivation is discovering the unique things the student finds interesting," said Hunter Gehlbach, PhD, a professor and vice dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. "The more you can facilitate students spending more time on the things they're really interested in, the better."

Going forward, Rossen hopes virtual curricula will allow students greater opportunities to pursue their interests, such as by taking AP classes, foreign languages, or vocational electives not available at their own schools.

Conversely, Hibbard's goal is to increase opportunities for students to pursue their interests in the in-person setting. For example, she plans to increase what she calls "Genius Hours," a time at the end of the school day when students can focus on high-interest projects they'll eventually share with the class.

Better understanding of children's needs

One of the most important predictors of a child's success in school is parental involvement in their education. For example, in a meta-analysis of studies, researchers linked parental engagement in their middle schoolers' education with greater measures of success (Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F., Developmental Psychology, Vol. 45, No. 3, 2009).

During the pandemic, parents had new opportunities to learn about their kids and, as a result, help them learn. According to a study by Breaux and colleagues, many parents reported that the pandemic allowed them a better understanding of their child's learning style, needs, or curriculum.

James C. Kaufman, PhD, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut and the father of an elementary schooler and a high schooler, said he's had a front-row seat for his sons' learning for the first time. "Watching my kids learn and engage with classmates has given me some insight in how to parent them," he said.

Stephen Becker, PhD, a pediatric psychologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said some parents have observed their children's behavior or learning needs for the first time, which could prompt them to consider assessment and Individualized Education Program (IEP) services. Across the board, Gehlbach said parents are realizing how they can better partner with schools to ensure their kids' well-being and academic success.

For example, Samantha Marks, PsyD, a Florida-based clinical psychologist, said she realized how much help her middle school daughter, a gifted and talented student with a 504 plan (a plan for how the school will offer support for a student's disability) for anxiety, needed with independence. "Bringing the learning home made it crystal clear what we needed to teach our daughter to be independent and improve executive functioning" she said. "My takeaway from this is that more parents need to be involved in their children's education in a healthy, helpful way."

Marks also gained a deeper understanding of her daughter's mental health needs. Through her 504 plan, she received help managing her anxiety at school-at home, though, Marks wasn't always available to help, which taught her the importance of helping her daughter manage her anxiety independently.

Along with parents gaining a deeper understanding of their kids' needs, the pandemic also prompted greater parent participation in school. For example, Rossen said his kids' school had virtual school board meetings; he hopes virtual options continue for events like back-to-school information sessions and parenting workshops. "These meetings are often in the evening, and if you're a single parent or sole caregiver, you may not want to pay a babysitter in order to attend," he said.

Brittany Greiert, PhD, a school psychologist in Aurora, Colorado, says culturally and linguistically diverse families at her schools benefited from streamlined opportunities to communicate with administrators and teachers. Her district used an app that translates parent communication into 150 languages. Parents can also remotely participate in meetings with school psychologists or teachers, which Greiert says she plans to continue post-pandemic.

Decreased bullying

During stay-at-home orders, kids with neurodevelopmental disorders experienced less bullying than pre-pandemic (McFayden, T. C., et al., Journal of Rural Mental Health, No. 45, Vol. 2, 2021). According to 2019 research, children with emotional, behavioral, and physical health needs experience increased rates of bullying victimization ( Lebrun-Harris, L. A., et al., ), and from the U.S. Department of Education suggests the majority of bullying takes place in person and in unsupervised areas.

Scott Graves, PhD, an associate professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University and a member of APA's Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education (CPSE), said the supervision by parents and teachers in remote learning likely played a part in reducing bullying. As a result, he's less worried his Black sons will be victims of microaggressions and racist behavior during online learning.

Some Asian American families also report that remote learning offered protection against racism students may have experienced in person. Shereen Naser, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Cleveland State University and a member of CPSE, and colleagues found that students are more comfortable saying discriminatory things in school when their teachers are also doing so; Naser suspects this trickle-down effect is less likely to happen when students learn from home (School Psychology International, 2019).

Reductions in bullying and microaggressions aren't just beneficial for students' long-term mental health. Breaux said less bullying at school results in less stress, which can improve students' self-esteem and mood-both of which impact their ability to learn.

Patricia Perez, PhD, an associate professor of international psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a member of CPSE, said it's important for schools to be proactive in providing spaces for support and cultural expression for students from vulnerable backgrounds, whether in culture-specific clubs, all-school assemblies that address racism and other diversity-related topics, or safe spaces to process feelings with teachers.

According to Rossen, many schools are already considering how to continue supporting students at risk for bullying, including by restructuring the school environment.

One principal, Rossen said, recently switched to single-use bathrooms to avoid congregating in those spaces once in-person learning commences to maintain social distancing requirements. "The principal received feedback from students about how going to the bathroom is much less stressful for these students in part due to less bullying," he said.

More opportunities for special needs students

In Becker and Breaux's research, parents of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly those with a 504 plan and IEP, reported greater difficulties with remote learning. But some students with special learning needs-including those with IEPs and 504 plans-thrived in an at-home learning environment. Recent reporting in The New York Times suggests this is one reason many students want to continue online learning.

According to Cara Laitusis, PhD, a principal research scientist at Educational Testing Service ( ETS) and a member of CPSE, reduced distractions may improve learning outcomes for some students with disabilities that impact attention in a group setting. "In assessments, small group or individual settings are frequently requested accommodations for some students with ADHD, anxiety, or autism. Being in a quiet place alone without peers for part of the instructional day may also allow for more focus," she said. However, she also pointed out the benefits of inclusion in the classroom for developing social skills with peers.

Remote learning has improved academic outcomes for students with different learning needs, too. Marks said her seventh-grade daughter, a visual learner, appreciated the increase in video presentations and graphics. Similarly, Hibbard said many of her students who struggle to grasp lessons on the first try have benefited from the ability to watch videos over again until they understand. Post-pandemic, she plans to record bite-size lessons-for example, a 1-minute video of a long division problem-so her students can rewatch and process at their own rate.

Learners with anxiety also appreciate the option not to be in the classroom, because the social pressures of being surrounded by peers can make it hard to focus on academics. "Several of my students have learned more in the last year simply due to the absence of anxiety," said Rosie Reid, an English teacher at Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, California, and a 2019 California Teacher of the Year. "It's just one less thing to negotiate in a learning environment."

On online learning platforms, it's easier for kids with social anxiety or shyness to participate. One of Gardner's students with social anxiety participated far more in virtual settings and chats. Now, Gardner is brainstorming ways to encourage students to chat in person, such as by projecting a chat screen on the blackboard.

Technology has helped school psychologists better engage students, too. For example, Greiert said the virtual setting gave her a new understanding of her students' personalities and needs. "Typing out their thoughts, they were able to demonstrate humor or complex thoughts they never demonstrated in person," she said. "I really want to keep incorporating technology into sessions so kids can keep building on their strengths."

Reid says that along with the high school students she teaches, she's seen her 6-year-old daughter benefit from learning at her own pace in the familiarity of her home. Before the pandemic, she was behind academically, but by guiding her own learning-writing poems, reading books, playing outside with her siblings-she's blossomed. "For me, as both a mother and as a teacher, this whole phenomenon has opened the door to what education can be," Reid said.

Eleanor Di Marino-Linnen, PhD, a psychologist and superintendent of the Rose Tree Media School District in Media, Pennsylvania, says the pandemic afforded her district a chance to rethink old routines and implement new ones. "As challenging as it is, it's definitely an exciting time to be in education when we have a chance to reenvision what schools have looked like for many years," she said. "We want to capitalize on what we've learned."

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Capturing the benefits of remote learning

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How education experts are applying lessons learned in the pandemic to promote positive outcomes for all students.

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SDSU student changed her mind about online classes

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SDSU student changed her mind about online classes

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(Andrew Kleske/The San Diego Union-Tribune )

Villarreal-Gerardo is a senior at San Diego State University majoring in communication. She is the managing editor of The Daily Aztec student-run newspaper and president of the SDSU chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She lives in San Diego.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, I was an 18-year-old community college student enrolled in seven classes, and I saw firsthand how institutions were forced to transition to online instruction. This abrupt shift showed many students the value of in-person schooling while also highlighting the advantages of online education.

Three years later, I am just three months away from receiving my bachelor's degree in communication from San Diego State University. After almost 10 semesters of school, I find online instruction to be effective for commuting students.

"El alumno hace la escuela, no la escuela al alumno." That's a Spanish saying that my mother would frequently repeat to me when I was growing up. These words essentially translate to, "The student makes the school, not the school the student." I kept thinking about it throughout my years in school. However, it particularly crossed my mind as I made the switch to remote learning.

I constantly overheard my peers saying how terrible online instruction was, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. A couple of years ago, I felt the same way, but I made the choice to reconsider my viewpoint and to follow my mother's advice.

I decided to search for the benefits that students can acquire from online education.

The first and most apparent reason is its flexibility and accessibility. Due to the self-paced nature of online classes, I have been able to balance my schoolwork, job, extracurricular activities, community service and social life.

In a traditional classroom setting, students are typically required to attend class, take tests and meet for course work at a set time and location. Online instruction eliminates all of those requirements by allowing students to complete the required readings, lectures and assignments by a specific deadline but comfortably from wherever they want.

Virtual classes have granted me the facility to dedicate more time to the hobbies I enjoy. During the lockdown, I rekindled my love for music production, reading, fiction writing, meditation and exercise. The convenience of self-paced school let me fulfill my life through a steady equilibrium of needs and wants, plus helped me maintain a healthy routine.

The adaptability of an online course schedule positively promotes mental wellness as well. When life interferes, it might be difficult to attend an in-person class, especially when the professor grades class participation. Students' mental health may be improved by taking an asynchronous online course, which usually lets them learn without being forced to do so at a fixed period.

Virtual classes are not all flawless and accommodating, though. Hard work and effort is required. When I initially began this educational lifestyle, I rapidly came to the understanding that discipline is what is most essential if one desires to succeed in it. According to research published in ScienceDirect in 2016, e-learning gives students more freedom, but it also calls for high levels of self-discipline and self-development planning. This practice is crucial to ensuring students' success and enabling them to meet their learning objectives.

If students do not have self-discipline, that lesson may be discovered harshly, through subpar performance on a test or assignment. But students can succeed as they become aware of how crucial it is to complete tasks on time, if not ahead of schedule.

Finally, virtual education gets us prepared for what lies ahead. Technology is the future and will become the standard for many things as we move forward. Why not embrace that as soon as we can? According to Gallup, eight in 10 workers were performing hybrid or remote jobs while just two in 10 worked exclusively on-site in June. A 2022 AT&T study found that the entirely remote workplace model is expected to decline from 56 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2024, but the hybrid work paradigm is anticipated to increase from 42 percent in 2021 to 81 percent in 2024.

The lessons learned through online classes can lead students to endless opportunities. E-learning has helped students strengthen their self-discipline, time management, flexibility, communication skills and technical proficiency, which they can use to be more versatile in the future.

I am aware that each person's circumstances are unique, and that some people may find online classes especially challenging while others simply prefer the traditional classroom setting. Personally, I have gained sufficient experience to recognize that online education has some remarkable long-term benefits that will accompany me as I advance in my career and life.

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Opinion: I used to think online college classes were terrible. Now I realize how much it helped me.

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Here are all the benefits I saw from online education during and after the COVID-19 lockdowns.