What Skills Do Online-Only Students Need Before Entering the Workplace?
Online students are likely to have certain gaps in their education. Here are five skills they’ll need to fill them.
- By Dr. Marian Stoltz-Loike
- 07/17/24
The shift away from in-person representation in the workforce was underway long before COVID emerged to irrevocably change our relationship with a remote presence. The shift is just as dramatic in the world of higher education.
Since the pandemic, the number of students enrolling in fully remote programs is noteworthy, with 15% of all postsecondary learners (about 2.79 million students) attending an online college or university, according to Forbes. A separate Forbes study found that whereas traditional university enrollment has dropped by an average of 3%, enrollment in online universities is up by an average of 11%.
None of this is to suggest that there's anything wrong with online learning. In fact, it can improve retention by 60% and reduce the time to learn by 40-60%, according to a study conducted by educational content platform Guru99. Besides practical issues such as cutting commuting and boarding costs, online education is beneficial to many students because it provides flexibility that enables them to manage other parts of their professional and personal lives.
But although well-managed online education can provide tremendous value to students, it can also generate its own educational gaps. As online students are mostly learning on their own rather than in the robust, dynamic environment of the academy, they may miss out on developing soft skills that are critical in the workplace.
To that end, below are five key skills that colleges must prioritize for online learners if their alumni are to sidestep these blind spots and find professional success on day one:
1) Properly Engaging with Colleagues
In a traditional college environment, students discuss topics related to their classes and regularly make plans to study together outside of class, to say nothing of the friendships and social interactions that arise from living in dorms and eating in communal dining halls. In asynchronous courses, on the other hand, online students do not speak to each other directly in Zoom classes, and their limited conversations usually end when they sign off.
To overcome this lack of in-person interactions, faculty must create collaborative projects to enable remote students to get to know each other — if not on a personal basis, then at least from an academic standpoint. Similarly, they should encourage students to create class WhatsApp groups or other social media channels, so they have the ability to ask each other questions and get to know each other in a less formal setting. Professors themselves should be proactive about building relationships with students outside the classroom, either by scheduling multiple one-on-one Zoom calls online, or by meeting in person for coffee when students live nearby.
Additionally, both administrators and online students should prioritize finding internships in order to build a better understanding of the business world and "practice" having collegial relationships with coworkers.
2) Networking with Clients
As communication and interpersonal skills underlay the success of working with internal and external clients, the limited interactions online students have with classmates outside their academic disciplines limit their ability to network with the broad range of people who may become future clients or business partners.
To overcome these constraints, they should take advantage of college resources, such as career and advisement services. These valuable services are easily available on campus but difficult to access from afar, and online students need to be proactive in asking for help in taking advantage of these offerings, which are one of the core advantages of attending an institution of higher learning. Moreover, the professionals who offer these services should promote Zoom sessions for online students rather than exchanging endless e-mails, so as to enhance person-to-person communication.