Is It Time to Create a Hierarchy of Online Student Needs?

Abstract

Online education is becoming widely accepted in tertiary education including by academics, students and employers. Educators have created new and innovative ways of teaching curriculum to online students that produce academically and employable equivalent graduates. In response to this success, we believe that it is time to shift our online attention onto creating a student experience that is equivalent to the entire on-campus experience, and increasing student well-being, success and satisfaction. In this chapter, we introduce a model of an online education hierarchy of student needs—a novel adaptation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Online education is closing the gap between academic equi..