Online learning is more popular than ever. Remote, distance, and mobile learning via computers and mobile devices had been steadily trending upward pre-2020 pandemic. Due to a swift closure of all school types across the globe, institutions—ready-or-not—were forced to teach remotely for several months, or completely shut down.
According to data from UNESCO, school closures peaked at the beginning of April 2020, when around 1.6 billion learners were affected across 194 countries, accounting for more than 90% of total enrolled learners.
The sudden closure of schools meant that education policymakers, directors, and instructors had to find alternatives to in-person learning to guarantee childrens’ and teens’ right to education. Many systems have since adopted online teaching on an unprecedented scale.
Schools that offered online learning before 2020 often fared better in the transition. And now, most schools who had to try it out, understand that this delivery method is here to stay and being requested more often. Similarly, for a huge percentage of workers proving that work-from-home is a viable option to their employers—large and small—a growing group of students sees the online classroom as possible and necessary.
An analysis of newly available data in the U.S. shows that a far larger proportion of college students take at least one fully online course than was previously understood. Fifty-one point eight percent of students took at least one online course in 2019-20—pre-covid. The 2019-20 academic year did include some of the early months of the pandemic; however, the Department of Education instructed universities not to count classes that were moved online on an emergency basis during covid in their reporting.
We can see that more than half of all college students were taking at least one online course pre-pandemic and we know that number is far greater now and will remain high as education systems work within health measures and navigate the new normal on campus. Students are choosing this option and it’s a necessary alternative to provide, but there can be a few challenges and misconceptions associated with remote learning. Read on to learn about several ways to promote the benefits of online learning: increasing prospective students’ confidence in the mode of delivery, supporting current students, and answering the question of whether tuition should be on par with in-person classes.
Why Marketing Online Programs Should be Approached Differently
A great debate has ignited about whether schools can charge equal tuition for online classes as they would for the same face-to-face programs.
The reality is that many schools need to charge the same tuition fees for online as they do for in-person. They still have to pay tenured professors, and now there are added costs of instructional designers, web designers, multimedia personnel, data analysts, student support services specifically for the added tech, and quality assurance experts.
Online programs have many hidden, expensive costs that their face-to-face counterparts are free-from. One of the most expensive fees is course design. Building courses with new types of engagements and assessments for online environments is a burden often shared by a team—not all professors have been keen to take that project on as part of their usual workload.
However, students have pushed back in some cases and there is an expectation that online learning is less costly than in-person. The emergency remote learning that happened in the spring of 2020 has almost compounded this idea that online learning is not as robust as in-person because the quality of the hurried switch resulted in courses not yet ready for an environment of distance learning.
Online learning now bears an even greater stigma of being lower quality than face-to-face learning, despite research showing otherwise.
There is the rationale that shows these online courses should stay on par with in-person tuition. And why when marketing online courses, it’s imperative that schools thoughtfully demonstrate the quality, innovation, technology, and ingenuity of their programs—offered to those happy to learn through a laptop.
In the end, students are receiving the same credential and in many cases, the technology work that goes into the delivery—considering hardware, software, and the instructor’s added considerations—is more intensive all around than arriving at a lecture. And students often prefer the ease on their side as well.
Pre-covid, a study 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. And this included 37% who felt it was a superior experience
Use Digital Marketing and Storytelling to Show the Benefits to Your Prospective and Current Students
Below we share ideas and examples of how to promote online learning and communicate the benefits of learning via a home computer, laptop, or mobile device.
Learning from Home Can Mean Big Cost Savings for Students
Learners may feel they’re missing out on a traditional campus experience; however, there is a considerable saving to staying home. Especially if that means students can stay at home longer with their parents and pay less in rent and bills. Transportation, room, and board being cut can result in a five-figure discount during the course of their program.
How can schools showcase this to their prospective students? Create an infographic that demonstrates a case study of current students who’ve saved by staying at home with mom and dad and earned their degree remotely. Your infographic can compare two students’ paths side by side, and the auxiliary savings an online learner will benefit from.
To answer the fear of missing out felt by not getting the traditional campus experience, share how you’re creating communities online and bringing the campus culture to them through virtual experiences.
Example: Amity University Lucknow Campus published a video on YouTube of students sharing their experiences of online learning rather than a professor or administrator speaking about it. As students will be more interested in hearing from other students on how well they’re agreeing with the mode of learning, connecting with their peers and faculty.
Reminders of Flexible Class Scheduling Being Perfect for Busy Parents and Workers
With so many students having responsibilities outside of the classroom, including sports, part-time jobs, caring roles for children, or aging parents, the flexibility of online classes can be critical to success. Classes or at least coursework can often be taken in the evenings, or at odd hours, and the saved time without the commute is a bonus.
When capturing testimonials from online learners, ask them to touch on how much time they had for other activities or their family and work. Attending school can be less of a full-time commitment with online learning and is a major reason why there are so many successful graduate schools that have been offering this as an option for more than a decade. It’s a great way to maintain a full career and learn at the same time.
Example: Art Gallery of Ontario is offering art anywhere, at school or home. Their virtual school programs happen daily, every weekday via Zoom. This is a great example of how more extracurricular activities are available to schools via online learning methods—normalized because of the pandemic.
Increased Networking Opportunities Are Found in a Global Classroom
Another benefit to the online classroom is the fact that it is the most global classroom possible. Sure, students gain study visas and fly across the globe with study abroad programs. But there will never be as many opportunities to meet people from other countries and complete course work together as when the classroom can be anywhere with an internet connection.
A great way to share this concept with the world is by producing a graphic showing where students are “attending” from across an international map. Share a few examples of students and their backgrounds from different continents and how this is made even more possible with the current technology provided through an online classroom.
Example: Queen’s University uses infographics on an online learning landing page to explain why students have chosen online learning at Queen’s, why it’s versatile and how work and learning go hand-in-hand. Infographics on web pages and social media can be a great way to get concepts across in easy, digestible material that breaks up the text.
Classroom Tech is Workplace Tech for Future Students
As the workplace becomes more globalized, remote working as mentioned earlier has become more standardized. And as the gig economy ramps up with sites like fiverr.com, often the same tech that students get comfortable within an online classroom is the same tech they’ll need to be comfortable using every day after graduation.
Sharing the tech aspect of your online programs can be done through virtual walkthroughs, open houses, or with an in-depth testimonial. Look for a graduate of your program who is now working in a remote, online environment and ask them directly how their studies in this manner resulted in them being more prepared for the workplace afterward. There is a whole lexicon, a suite of apps and software, tools, and a set of skills that go along with working online with other team members in different locations. Aim to show this clearly on your program pages, and how you design your landing pages can influence how to promote online classes.
Oftentimes companies hiring remotely want their applicants to not only know the subject matter of the work but also be acclimatized to working online in the same manner and environment that an online course would conduct itself. Sometimes new graduates can even bring the tech of their online classroom to their new role in a corporate setting.
Example: On LaSalle College’s remote learning landing page, the benefits of remote are presented, including being part of an interconnected community and learning on and from a cutting-edge platform, from the comfort of home.
Online Learning Might be More Engaging Than Classroom Learning
There is evidence that some students engage more in online classrooms than they otherwise would in a traditional classroom.
Demonstrate how students engage in the online environment through class snippets or a virtual open house/open days that allow prospective students to sit in on a lecture. If you’re wondering how to promote online courses through social media, Instagram Lives and sharing resources from your online courses directly to Facebook and LinkedIn can be great ways to get conversations flowing regarding the engaging course material included in an online class.
Example: Associate vice president of online learning at Regis College invited a Master of Nursing student to share tips to adjust study habits for online learning. This video was shared to the website and their social channels as a resource for students and to demonstrate how online learning can be successful, even when unplanned in the face of the pandemic.
Virtual Feedback Can be Faster and More Frequent
Online students are generally asked to complete more-frequent assessments so that instructors can monitor their competence as they progress. Because of this, learning gaps can be identified and addressed sooner, rather than allowing a struggling student to slip through the cracks until exam time.
You likely know the very real crunch time that happens at around the 12-week mark in a traditional post-secondary setting. Out of necessity, this is lessened with online learning. Hiding in the back corner of the classroom is less possible if everyone has an equal-sized square on the screen.
How can this be demonstrated in your marketing efforts? Publish online course outlines on your website and share the timelines, assessments, examples and even video snippets, so that students can see how engaged the classrooms are.
Example: University Canada West has a landing page dedicated to their online MBA where the benefits of learning are broken down, including the convenience and affordability of online learning. They also feature testimonials of online learners prominently.
Be Sure to Give the Teachers Their Roses Too
Sharing your faculty members’ successes in online teaching is paramount to establishing credibility in the delivery of a remote program. This is also extremely encouraging for any instructors who may still be getting used to this delivery method. It’s a win-win situation to share a positive testimonial from students and praise for professors who excel in the virtual format.
Example: uOttawa published an article giving kudos to a cross-section of faculty members who in their words, “knocked it out of the park when it came to remote learning.” Quotes were included for each faculty member by learners, which helps future students feel more confident in the instructors’ abilities and makes great content that can be repurposed on social media.
