Issues and Challenges for Teaching Successful Online Courses in Higher Education

TLDR

Online education transforms teaching and learning in higher education, yet few studies have synthesized the broad range of issues encountered in delivering online courses. The study aims to recommend that institutions provide instructor professional development, learner training, and technical support to address these challenges. The authors conducted a literature review guided by Cooper’s framework to identify issues. The review identified three major issue categories—learner expectations, readiness, identity, and participation; instructor role changes, time management, and teaching style shifts; and content development challenges involving multimedia integration and instructional strategies.

Abstract

Online education changes all components of teaching and learning in higher education. Many empirical studies have been conducted to examine issues in delivering online courses; however, few have synthesized prior studies and provided an overview on issues in online courses. A review of literature using Cooper’s framework was conducted to identify such issues. Three major categories of findings were identified: issues related to online learners, instructors, and content development. Learners’ issues included learners’ expectations, readiness, identity, and participation in online courses. Instructors’ issues included changing faculty roles, transitioning from face-to-face to online, time management, and teaching styles. Content issues included the role of instructors in content development, integration of multimedia in content, role of instructional strategies in content development, and considerations for content development. To address these challenges in online education, higher education institutions need to provide professional development for instructors, trainings for learners, and technical support for content development.