Online learning not to blame for mental health issues: Opinion

In an article for The Conversation, George Veletsianos (Royal Roads University), Stephanie Moore (University of Mexico), and Michael Barbour (Touro University) discuss the issues behind claims that online learning caused a decline in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a review of the literature on the topic, the authors found that most research on this correlation made errors such as failing to control for the pandemic and its broader effects on mental health or type of online instruction, combining the very different notions of student satisfaction and effectiveness, and neglecting to use the appropriate statistical methods necessary to establish causal relationships. They argue that research and investment into mental health services on campus is a more effective strategy for addressing student mental health problems than focusing on switching to in-person teaching. The Conversation Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.