Identifying Challenges and Benefits of Online Education for Students with a Psychiatric Disability

Students with a psychiatric disability (PD) represent a growing demographic on college campuses nationwide. Concurrently, the ubiquity of online learning has served as a powerful accessibility tool for students with a PD to obtain postsecondary education and may possess certain benefits for this population over traditional classroom learning. This study collected surveys from 1,665 college students taking online courses at a large northeastern public university in the Spring 2015 semester. We assessed the frequencies of response selections by students with a PD when answering questions related to why they chose to take an online course, and the benefits and challenges associated with online courses. Additionally, we conducted chi-square analyses comparing the responses of students with a PD to those without a PD to assess between group differences. Results indicated similarities between the groups regarding the benefits of online learning as well as reasons for choosing to enroll in an online course. However, there were differences in perceived challenges to online learning. Specifically, students with a PD endorsed the challenges of time management, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty navigating the course website at a higher rate than students without a PD.