To be sure, there are some specific instances in which online learning is effective: primarily when there is a highly motivated student who has excellent self-discipline, work habits, organizational skills, and study routines; and when the curriculum and content have relatively little ambiguity and little conceptual complexity.
But whether at the secondary or at the post-secondary level, such examples remain rare. For this reason, observation reveals the desirability of in-person instruction. At the University of Michigan, Professor Steven Clark reports that
We can record our lectures, but what we know from past years is that students who don’t come to class but watch the lecture at home struggle to master the material.
Online learning, in those instances in which it is most effective, places an extra burden upon, and requires more effort from, the student, in order to achieve equal or lesser amounts of learning. In addition to being less effective, online learning is less efficient.
