This week, we got the opportunity to view a lecture by Dr. Valerie Irvine from 2025. This lecture focused on how education is no longer simple and face-to-face vs online learning, it is becoming almost more flexible, and with the come the development of different modalities aiding students and learners with all different abilities (Irvine, 2025). My thought process before the lecture was that online learning was a convenience. I am a busy person who works 2 jobs and is taking three summer classes, and the flexibility my online summer courses have given me are extremely helpful in being able to continue with everything I have on the go.
Dr Irvine spoke about good examples of how modality for students can be confusing. She mentioned how a slight change in language, such as the phrase “flexible,” helped join the formats of onsite and online learning sound more positive, but didn’t give a student a solid answer as to how they were going to be completing the program. (Irvine, 2025). This can be especially helpful for students living in rural communities, who have ongoing health concerns or who need to prioritise other responsibilities like work to support themselves or a family. This highlighted for me how important clear communication is, especially when institutions are advertising and designing courses.
Then, thinking about the different learner groups we touched on, the one that comes to mind is students who are balancing school and work. As a university student, almost everyone I know is working a part-time, if not full-time, job to keep themselves financially afloat. Pack schedules make it hard to come to class, especially if it is a shift change or even a last-minute responsibility that is unavoidable. Dr. Irvine’s research, which she spoke about, looked into how students preferred online or flexible options because it allowed them the grace in finishing their education without sacrificing certain areas of life.
As someone who is diagnosed with ADHD, I am someone for whom asynchronous online learning doesn’t really work the best. I tend to need face-to-face interaction, a motivation to go to class, or to feel like I am absorbing the content accurately. I assumed that there was going to be a preference on both sides of the learning types. The results showed that face-to-face learning was the most popular, and a significant number of students preferred Multi-access, hybrid, or online options. In this week’s coursework, what stood out to me the most was the different groups and how different their preferences were. For example, caregivers and rural learners often preferred online learning. While international students liked face-to-face learning more. This solidifies Dr. Irvine’s point that there is no modality that works for everyone.
One of the other resources we were asked to look at was the B.C. Post-Secondary Digital Learning Strategy. This site emphasized how important increasing access and flexibility in education is. One of the main goals is to try to create learning opportunities where they are available, regardless of a student’s location or the unique obstacles they are facing. Modality plays such a major role in getting to that goal. Breaking technology barriers, such as in making sure students have access to devices to work off of, is not enough. Institutions need to look at course offerings and intentionally decide delivery modes to fit all students needs.
While I only have one more year at UVIC, other students in the future are going to need more than what we have currently. Educational delivery will need to continue to advance to more flexible & accommodating learning. That is why I think prioritising all delivery modes, not just face-to-face, can be beneficial. While I’m not saying things need to move to one or the other, I would love to see students feel supported in the way they get their education and have more of a choice.
One of the final things that stuck with me for this week was a comment Dr. Irvine made it and it was that “ anytime you choose a mode, you marginalize a learner”. Its simple sentences explain a complex system. Rather than deciding if face-to-face or online is better, why don’t we try and create education spaces that include as many students as possible?
References:
AEST – Irvine – Veletsianos – Digital Learning Framework.pdf
Dr. Valerie Irvine (2025), EDCI339
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