Embedded Files
Supporting Distance Education Students:
In Spring 2024, DELTA conducted a student needs survey to better understand the experiences, challenges, and opportunities of students enrolled in distance education (DE) degree and certificate programs. The survey included responses from 318 DE students across eight of NC State’s nine colleges that offer DE programs.
Students were asked to share feedback on how NC State, academic programs, and instructors could better support their learning and overall experience. Several themes emerged from their responses, which are organized in the sections below on Instructor Presence and Support, Peer Connection and Sense of Belonging, Applied and Career-Relevant Learning, and Learning Experience and Course Availability. This page highlights those themes and connects them to DELTA tools and resources that may help instructors, programs, and academic units enhance the DE student experience.
Each section includes:
Key Insights: What the survey revealed about student experiences.
Student Feedback and Suggestions: Ideas and recommendations shared by students about how instructors, programs, and the university could better support their learning experience. To preserve the authenticity of student perspectives, their feedback and suggestions are presented largely in students' own words, with minimal editing for clarity.
Resources and Tools: DELTA resources and tools related to each theme.
For full survey results, see the Spring 2024 DE Student Needs Survey Summary (opens in a new tab).
Instructor Presence and Support
Instructor Presence and Support
Key Insights
Key Insights
Students expressed feeling supported by instructors and comfortable seeking help when needed. Feedback highlighted instructor support, communication, and availability as strengths, while also indicating opportunities to enhance interaction and engagement.
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Make instructor availability clearer and increase opportunities for student-instructor interaction.
Increase opportunities for real-time (synchronous) interaction.
Ensure instructors remain actively engaged in their online courses.
Provide a virtual study room where students can discuss course content and ask questions.
Encourage instructors to actively listen and respond to student concerns in ways that help students feel supported and understood.
Support instructors in continuing to build skills in online teaching and effective use of educational technologies.
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools
Introduction to Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) (opens in a new tab): How to meet federal regulatory requirements for consistent, quality engagement between instructors and students in distance education courses.
Humanizing Your Online Course (opens in a new tab): Strategies for strengthening instructor presence and building connection with learners.
Perfectly Imperfect: On-The-Fly Videos (opens in a new tab): Create quick, informal, and conversational videos to convey key information and build stronger instructor-learner connections.
Engagement in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments (opens in a new tab): Strategies for supporting engagement across online learning formats.
Leveraging Zoom Tools to Facilitate Engagement (opens in a new tab): How to use Zoom features such as chat, polls, and breakout rooms to support active learning, engagement, and connection.
Real-time Assessments and Check-ins (opens in a new tab): Approaches for gathering ongoing student input and monitoring engagement.
WeVideo Interactivity (opens in a new tab): Add embedded interactions, prompts, and discussion opportunities within videos.
Wooclap (opens in a new tab): Use polls, word clouds, and interactive questioning to increase participation during synchronous sessions.
Peer Connection and Sense of Belonging
Peer Connection and Sense of Belonging
Key Insights
Key Insights
Students reported strong connections with their instructors and programs, but a weaker sense of connection with peers and a more moderate sense of belonging to the broader university community. Survey results indicate that peer interaction and belonging remain important areas of opportunity in the online learning experience.
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Create DE-specific online social clubs or informal meetups.
Expand opportunities for DE students to participate virtually in campus clubs and events.
Offer virtual networking events for students.
Host recurring social events that students can plan for in advance.
Explore ways to include DE students in field trips and other in-person program activities.
Showcase opportunities for DE students to get involved (e.g., extracurricular activities and informal networking).
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools
Creating Community Online (opens in a new tab): Strategies for fostering peer interaction and community.
Get Your Students Talking with Yellowdig (opens in a new tab): Yellowdig supports ongoing discussion and community building among students.
VoiceThread: Interactive Presentations and Student Discussions (opens in a new tab): A multimedia presentation and discussion platform that can encourage more student voice in a course.
Perusall: Interactive Reading Assignments (opens in a new tab): A text-annotation tool instructors can use to encourage student conversation within course articles, textbook chapters, videos, podcasts, and more.
Padlet (opens in a new tab): A virtual bulletin board where students and instructors can collaborate, reflect, and share multimedia content in a secure location.
Applied and Career-Relevant Learning
Applied and Career-Relevant Learning
Key Insights
Key Insights
Students expressed interest in more applied learning experiences, hands-on coursework, and opportunities to engage with industry professionals. Feedback also identified opportunities to better align coursework with industry practices and real-world applications.
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Create stronger ties between courses and industry practices and requirements.
Place more emphasis on practical knowledge and skills instead of theory.
Incorporate more industry application-based learning and coursework that reflects real-world job responsibilities.
Provide more opportunities to collaborate with industry professionals and other universities.
Invite guest speakers to provide a real-world perspective on careers in students' degree areas.
Host online job fairs or sessions with industry professionals.
Create networking opportunities that support job searches and career exploration.
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools
Boost Motivation with Universal Design for Learning (opens in a new tab): Apply UDL strategies to make learning more engaging and relevant. Give students choice, flexibility, and opportunities to connect coursework to their goals, helping them apply knowledge and skills in meaningful, real-world contexts.
Optimize Performance with UDL (opens in a new tab): Explores how to design assessments and learning experiences that reduce barriers to student performance by incorporating real-world relevance, allowing flexibility, and offering multiple ways for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills.
Zoom (opens in a new tab): Bring real-world perspectives directly into your courses. Host guest speakers, networking sessions, or virtual job fairs to connect students with industry practices, career skills, and professional development opportunities.
Learning Experience and Course Availability
Learning Experience and Course Availability
Key Insights
Key Insights
Students emphasized the importance of clear, well-organized courses, engaging learning experiences, and flexibility to accommodate work and other responsibilities. Feedback also highlighted opportunities to improve course availability and access.
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Student Feedback and Suggestions
Ensure instructors provide a clear, coherent and interactive curriculum.
Encourage instructors to provide clearer guidance on their expectations and course/assignment requirements.
Be mindful of DE students’ often nontraditional needs (e.g., working full-time).
Provide more support and context for final or capstone assessments, including reinforcement and reminders of content learned earlier in the program.
Create more engaging lectures and incorporate more hands-on coursework.
Provide more timely course materials (e.g., before the weekend).
Provide more classes more often, including offering more elective options and more electives in the summer.
Resources and Tools
Resources and Tools
Helping Students Get Started in an Online Course (opens in a new tab): Provides strategies for creating a welcoming and organized online course experience.
Guiding Your Students to Success with a Course Map (opens in a new tab): Helps clarify course structure and learning pathways.
Connecting Instructional Materials and Learning Activities (opens in a new tab): Provides strategies for clearly aligning course materials, learning activities, and assessments so students understand how course components connect and build toward learning objectives. This supports clarity, reduces confusion, and helps students navigate course structure more effectively.
Engaging Students with Online Learning Activities (opens in a new tab): Self-paced online training on designing engaging online learning activities that support active learning and participation.
Micro-Learning with Digital Tools (opens in a new tab): Strategies for designing short, focused learning activities using digital tools to support active engagement and flexible learning.
H5P Interactive Tools (opens in a new tab): Create interactive content and embedded knowledge checks within course materials.
Additional resources are available on DELTA’s websites for Instructional Tools (opens in a new tab) and Teaching Resources (opens in a new tab) websites. Questions about the DE Student Needs Survey may be directed to Alexis Lockett, ODE Director, at allocket@ncsu.edu.
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