Potential Unfulfilled: COVID-19, Online Learning, and What Could Be Unlocked This Year

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

Report examines how COVID-19 accelerated online learning adoption in K–12 and assesses whether online learning has delivered long-documented benefits. It frames conventional instruction around uniformity and compliance and argues online learning can replace rigid schedules with adaptable timing, pacing, and learning pathways. Using insights from 1,042 teacher responses collected in April–May 2021, the study explores teachers’ experiences, focusing on flexible timing and flexible pacing, and considers implications for expanded teacher capacity and next steps for the field.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teachers' experiences with online learning

Potential benefit: Flexible timing

Potential benefit: Flexible pacing

Potential benefit: Flexible learning pathways

Potential benefit: New metrics of progress

Potential benefit: Expanded teacher capacity

Looking ahead

Notes

About the Institute, About the author

POTENTIAL UNFULFILLED: COVID-19, the rapid adoption of online learning, and what could be unlocked this year BY THOMAS ARNETT JUNE 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 3 Introduction 4 Teachers' experiences with online learning 5 Potential benefit: Flexible timing 5 Potential benefit: Flexible pacing 5 Potential benefit: Flexible learning pathways 6 Potential benefit: New metrics of progress 7 Potential benefit: Expanded teacher capacity 8 Looking ahead 10 Notes 11 About the Institute, About the author 12 C H RISTE NS E N I NSTIT UTE : P OTE NTIA L U N F U LF I LLE D 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research underlying this report was conducted in partnership with Bay View Analytics. Weare grateful to Dr. Jeff Seaman, director, and Dr. Julia Seaman, research director, for their thought partnership and meticulous attention to detail. This report and the associated survey were made possible with support from the Jaquelin Hume Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Stride. We would also like to thank CoSN, IMS Global, Next Generation Learning Challenges, The Learning Accelerator, Transcend, and XQ Institute for helping encourage responses from our survey recipients. Lastly, this report would not have been possible without the support of the Christensen Institute’s external relations team, Meris Stansbury and Christina Ross. C H RISTE NS E N I NSTIT UTE : P OTE NTIA L U N F U LF I LLE D 3 INTRODUCTION After the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings to close, online learning became a lifeline for K–12 education. It let schools carry on in “the cloud” when they couldn’t meet in person. But online learning’s potential benefits for K–12 go well beyond providing stop-gap solutions during school closures. It offers an opportunity to transform school instruction to better serve the needs of all students. The foundational tenets of conventional instruction hinge on uniformity and compliance. Schools and classrooms by-and-large need students to conform to a common set of requirements in order for cohort-based learning to work. Unfortunately, nearly all students struggle to one degree or another to fit conventional instruction’s norms. For example, conventional instruction requires students to show up to school ready to learn at times dictated by the school schedule, but for some students, life gets in the way. Conventional instruction moves all students through content at a uniform pace, but not all students master content in the time allotted. And conventional instruction often obliges students to sit and work or sit and listen for large portions of the day, yet some students struggle to sit quietly for extended periods of time. Fortunately, online learning offers the ability to replace many of these systemic rigidities with greater adaptability to students’ needs. To learn from the unparalleled mass adoption of online learning, the Christensen Institute is conducting a series of nationally-representative surveys during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years that document the programs, technologies, and instructional practices schools and educators turn to as they grapple with the effects of COVID-19 . Our aim is to learn not just how educators use online learning, but whether online learning leads to the benefits we have long documented in our blended learning research.1 Below we share some of our initial insights from 1,042 teacher responses collected in April and May of 2021. C H RISTE NS E N I NSTIT UTE : P OTE NTIA L U N F U LF I LLE D 4 TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES WITH ONLINE LEARNING Blended learning, which predates the remote and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, is any formal education program that integrates online learning into brick-and-mortar school settings.2 Distance and hybrid learning arrangements are not inherently forms of blended learning, but most incorporate the types of online learning resources that make up a core part of blended-learnin

FAQs

What problem does the report identify with conventional K–12 instruction?

It highlights that conventional instruction relies on uniformity and compliance, which many students struggle to meet due to differences in readiness, pace, and ability to sit and work for extended periods.

What does the report mean by “blended learning” in this context?

Blended learning is described as any formal education program that integrates online learning into brick-and-mortar school settings; it is not limited to remote or hybrid arrangements.

How does the report assess teachers’ use of online learning timing?

It asks teachers how much of students’ learning occurs through synchronous versus asynchronous instruction, reporting that most teachers’ arrangements were mostly synchronous, with a significant portion using a mix of both.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia