Digital Learning: Connection and Accountability

Connection-Coding Online Education

In-person learning works because presence is ever-present. The next step for digital education is designing that same sense of connection into every click.

I’ve been a tech girlie since my parents brought home our first Gateway2000. I learned to type by transcribing emails for my quadrilingual grandmother (English was her fourth language; emojis might be the fifth). A few years later, I became proficient in HTML for the sole purpose of making sure no one could mute the song on my Myspace profile.

So when online learning entered my life in college, it was the perfect fit.

Jammies? Check.

Blankies? Check.

Learning at my own pace? Check!

And then Intro to Jazz dropped my A to an A-, snuffing out the hopes for a 4.0 that semester. My final was a paper, submitted before the deadline to my professor (and to Turnitin.com…hi, 2012), but I forgot to upload a copy to the course discussion board. For those of you who knew me then—and probably for those of you who know me now 😇—you can imagine what this did to my Hermione-shaped personality.

The incident has lived rent-free in the back of my mind through a decade of classroom teaching—a constant reminder of what happens when relationship-first practices lose their place in digital learning. If that instructor had valued the content of my work more than the compliance of submission practices, maybe I’d be a professional jazz musician right now. (Probably not… but we’ll never know now, will we?!)

I started my career in early childhood education, where relationships are the curriculum. At this age, learning is entirely dependent on connection. But somewhere between preschool and higher ed, that notion gets lost. By the time students reach college, “rigor” has replaced “relationship,” and the online modality is often blamed for widening that gap.

At Student-Ready Strategies, this is a big part of our work—helping institutions re-center their systems around people. Through partnership with a cohort of Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), I saw what it looks like when community-driven values are central to the entire curriculum, and how that kind of intention can transform the student experience. It went beyond the “go-team-yay-sports” version of collegial togetherness I’d grown accustomed to and became something deeper: you belong here, as you are. That sense of security becomes part of the instructional design itself—and suddenly, learning outcomes improve.

So how do we make that a reality everywhere, in every way, all the time? Well, it starts with a soapbox and a teacher-voice (as most groundbreaking movements often do.)

1. Design for Interaction and Access

Research keeps saying the same thing: online learning works best when the design is intentional. A 2021 Education and Information Technologies meta-analysis found that the accessibility of online learning could potentially surpass traditional education if it could replicate the same level of connectedness that comes from an in-person experience. A 2024 Springer Nature review agreed: flexibility improves outcomes, but engagement gaps persist when accountability can’t develop organically.

So what I hear from that is this: the modality itself isn’t actually an issue; it’s the lack of human connection that has become associated with online learning. 

Interaction and access must be baked into course design from the start. “Accessible” shouldn’t just mean content is attainable; it should also mean that the learning experience is relatable.

When students can see themselves reflected in course design — through pacing, format, and relevance — their motivation to perform becomes intrinsic rather than dependent on external pressures.

If you’re writing your own syllabus or creating activities for a virtual workshop, ask yourself:

• Am I aligning what I want students to learn with what I’m asking them to do?

• Are these learning experiences transactional or participatory?

• Have I designed opportunities for students to bring themselves into the work?

• Does this task assess reciprocity instead of compliance?

2. Make Connection Its Own Learning Outcome

At the TCUs we work with at SRS, connection is never an add-on; it is at the core of their mission.  Every course comes with the automatic expectation of belonging. That same mindset can strengthen digital learning when we treat connection as a literal learning outcome — something we can plan for and measure.

Instead of an autograding ten-question quiz to assess mastery, students can demonstrate that same mastery in ways that also build belonging and voice. Try assignments such as:

• Explain supply and demand to a pretend audience of kindergartners using a real-life scenario (like trading snacks or taking turns with playground equipment.)

• Record a two-minute audio note walking through how you solved a quadratic equation; narrate your thinking as if you’re livestreaming your algebra homework.

• Illustrate Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development through a memory from your own childhood.

• Photograph examples of diffusion as seen in everyday life and caption them using the correct scientific vocabulary.

Demonstrative learning doesn’t need to be reserved for special projects. These activities are more academically valid—and far more rigorous—than any “reply to two peers” could ever be. 

And so I call to thee, dear reader: let connection be your guide through this universe of academic excellence. You might just find that technology can hold space for humanity (and I do not mean the creepy AI kind) in more ways than one.