73 Percent of Students Prefer Some Courses Be Fully Online Post-Pandemic

Campus Technology 

Rhea Kelly

May 13, 2021

In a recent survey, nearly three-quarters of students — 73 percent — said they would prefer to take some of their courses fully online post-pandemic. However, only half of faculty (53 percent) felt the same about teaching online. The fourth and final installment of Cengage‘s Digital Learning Pulse Survey, conducted by Bay View Analytics on behalf of the Online Learning Consortium, WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and Canadian Digital Learning Research Association, polled 1,469 students and 1,286 faculty and administrators across 856 United States institutions about how higher education is changing in the wake of COVID-19.

Sixty-eight percent of students were also in favor of some combination of in-person and online courses. On the faculty side, 57 percent said they would prefer teaching hybrid courses post-pandemic — slightly more than those who preferred teaching fully online.

The survey also gauged respondents’ preferences around using more technology, digital materials and digital resources for post-pandemic teaching and learning. Here, both students and faculty agreed: Roughly two-thirds across the board said they would like to use more tech and digital course materials in the future.

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