Less than one in three students rate their online education as good – study

Fewer than one in three students in full-time education rated their online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good, according to a survey.

or six in 10 people in part-time education rated their online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good.

The figures were revealed after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released its analysis of distance learning from the Our Lives Online pulse survey.

The report includes insights into online education experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic along with an analysis of future online learning opportunities.

It revealed that nearly half of education students who rated their home broadband as poor rated their online teaching experience during the pandemic as poor or very poor.

Three-quarters (76%) of those in employment who plan to return to school in the future would choose a course consisting of distance or blended learning, it also found.

Some 33% of respondents with one child and more than four in 10 with three or more children who did not plan to return to school in the future said they would consider it if distance or blended learning were available.

Statistician Dermot Kinane said: “Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to traditional educational resources in schools, colleges and other places of learning has changed dramatically, with schools and campuses sometimes closed. as part of public health measures.

“Respondents were asked a series of questions about their experience of online education during the pandemic and their plans to return to education in the future.

“Additionally, respondents with children in school and college were asked to rate their children’s online education experiences during Covid-19.”

The results show that overall, more than four in 10 respondents whose training course continued online when pandemic restrictions were introduced rated their online training experience as excellent or good.

There was a difference in the experience reported by those who were teaching part-time, where more than six in 10 respondents rated their online teaching experience during the pandemic as excellent or good, compared to those who were in full-time education, where less than three in 10 rated their online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good.

Similarly, two-thirds of people aged 45 and older, but only a quarter of people aged 18-24, said their online education experience during the pandemic was excellent or good.

On the prospect of returning to school in the future, Mr Kinane said: “Overall, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed who plan to return to school in the future said they would be more likely to choose a course that consisted of distance or blended learning, with those aged 35-44 in the age group most likely to choose a course that consisted of this method of delivery.

Mr Kinane made further observations about respondents who initially said they had no plans to return to school in the future.

“Overall, 35% of respondents who, when initially asked if they planned to return to school in the future, said no, said they would consider it if distance or blended learning were available” , he added.

About 40% of those with an honors degree or higher were more likely to reconsider returning to school if distance or blended learning was available than those with a regular bachelor’s degree or less at 29%.

As the number of children, including adult children, living with a respondent increased, the likelihood of reconsidering a return to school if remote or blended learning was available also increased.

One in three of those with one child said they would consider it, compared with more than four in 10 of those with three or more children living with them.

“Less than three in 10 parents rated their elementary school children’s online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good,” he added.

“This was higher for women (30%) than for men (26%). »

Parents aged 18-34 were the least satisfied with their children’s online education experience in elementary school during the pandemic, with 41% rating it as bad or very bad, while parents aged 35-44 were the most satisfied, with 32% rating it as excellent. or good.

More than three in 10 parents rated their high school children’s online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good, which was also higher for women than for men.

Parents aged 35-44 were the most satisfied, with 38% rating it as excellent or good.