College students’ satisfaction with their courses fell sharply after the sudden shift to online learning in the coronavirus pandemic, with courses often lacking recommended elements of online instruction and students struggling to stay motivated, many challenged by uneven access to internet connectivity. 

Still, a new national survey finds courses that included more engaging elements of online instruction saw substantially higher levels of student satisfaction, offering a constructive path forward in the fall semester ahead.

The results and others come from a newly released, random-sample national survey of 1,008 college students, produced by Langer Research Associates for the education technology nonprofit Digital Promise, with data collection via the Ipsos KnowledgePanel®. See the news release from Digital Promise and its research partner Tyton Partners here and the full report here, as well as additional coverage by the online publication Inside Higher Ed.