A problem with online learning in higher education is the students’ willingness to be highly motivated and committed to completing their work. The Distance Studies website explains that one obstacle for online learning programs in higher education is a high dropout rate that occurs when online students become excessively busy and education is one of the easiest commitments to give up. Online students might not have the same relationships with their instructors or classmates that ground students have, resulting in less motivation to attend class. Other online students drop out because they have difficulty learning to use the required technology or lack access to support services offered on college campuses.
Instructors' abilities to teach online are critical to the quality of online education. Teachers must not only competently deliver the curriculum but they must be proficient technical advisers and moderators. A problem with online learning for higher-education programs is that instructors don’t always recognize that teaching online is more than repackaging in-class lecture materials. Moreover, not all instructors believe in the efficacy of online courses. According to I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, authors of “Going the Distance: Online Education in the United States, 2011,” “Less than one-third of chief academic officers believe that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education.” Lack of training, combined with lack of buy-in, can result in low-quality instruction.
Educational software designers have designed a range of online learning platforms and educational tools to deliver curriculum in hopes of keeping college students interested. With each platform comes a set of technological tools designed to make both the instructor’s and student’s use of the system easier: Common tools such as voice emails, blogs, and live meetings are found in most higher-education online learning platforms. However, the problem with online learning for higher education is that there is little authoritative knowledge about the extent to which instructors use these tools and whether this technology is effective in promoting student learning.
Evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes play an important part of ensuring the quality of online college courses and programs. However, online instructors in higher education have little control over what happens at the other end of the course. For example, instructors have no way of knowing that it is the actual student who is taking the exam, but requiring students to report to exam centers intrudes on the flexibility and convenience required by online students. Instructors do not know who is completing the coursework. There is nothing to stop the student from logging in and then giving the computer to a friend or family member.