I heard it again recently from someone: “I learn best in a face to face class.” It makes me cringe every time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching and learning with people in person as well but I want to highlight that just because you’re sitting physically in a classroom doesn’t mean you’re experiencing good teaching or that you’re actually learning. Teaching doesn’t physically fly at us, hit us in the head and then “take” and become learning. We don’t have to be in the same room with others in order to learn, but we do have to have some other elements in place.

When learning is designed well it’s active and engaging and takes into consideration who is in the class and how adults learn best in general. It aligns learning outcomes and assessment with content and activities. Learners also should be motivated to learn and be able to see the content’s relevance to their own life.

I would argue most of the time that those elements are just as easy to have online as they are in person.

So don’t tell me that you don’t learn well online. Tell me that you haven’t been a student in engaging or effective online classes yet, or that you haven’t yet felt too motivated to learn online. And then tell me that you’re open to continue the search to find an online course where the elements above are present. Tell me that you’re open to the possibilities and you’re willing to do the work of learning. That you’re open to learning in whatever way it comes!

PS If you’re not following me on Facebook I’d love for you to come visit me in that space. I like to curate articles there about facilitation and learning, educational technology, some non-profit and volunteer management related items, and post general snippets about what I’m up to. I like to promote people in my networks there too, especially other facilitators. Come on over!