The higher education writer, Goldie Blumenstyk, as a blog on the Chronicle for Higher Education website about some common myths about online education. One is that the instruction is all one-way, and she points out that the best online courses have plenty of student-to-student interaction. You can read the blog here.

She asked her readers for other examples of myths about online learning, and I sent her an email with this message:

“One other myth that I hear often is that students don’t do as well in online classes as they do in face to face classes. And that the drop out rate is higher. Neither viewpoint is supported by evidence at my college. Our pass rates for courses, in all modalities, is around 70-72%. Drop rates are similar.”

Take a look at our reports about success rates in online classes at BMCC. The most recent report is from Fall 2016. It’s on the E-Learning website here.

Students succeed at nearly the same rates online and face to face at BMCC.

We’re working with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics to include mode of instruction in their regular reports on student success. We hope to have regular reports soon.