The Importance of Offline Options for Online Learners

The popularity of MOOCs and MOOC platforms prompted some universities to develop their first online courses, while others experimented with the format of existing online offerings. Despite the body of research identifying cognitive, metacognitive, and practical benefits of printed materials, there has been a shift towards an approach that privileges online resources, reducing opportunities to access resources offline or in printed form. Online courses can be produced more quickly and cheaply than those providing both printed and digital options. They can also benefit learners in a society that values digital skills and literacies. This paper, informed by the principles of universal design for learning (CAST 2018), asks ‘What are the benefits to students of offering downloadable/printable versions of online study materials and supporting offline study?’. It takes a phenomenological approach, exploring the experience of 100 postgraduate learners on an online course delivered on the FutureLearn platform. Data was extracted from a large dataset that included all the students’ course discussion postings (N = 17,158). Data analysis identified the importance of the online/offline divide and showed that, as students’ contexts change, the benefits and accessibility of online, offline and print versions shifts. Printed and digital materials support different ways of learning and can have an affective impact. These findings point to ways in which learning design, skills training, and technical changes might be used to increase the affordances of digital materials for learners.