The idea that online learning might revolutionize higher education, lowering the cost of high-quality learning opportunities for students with limited access to traditional higher education, follows similar hopes for earlier technologies, including radio and television. If such a revolution is to come, it is still far from a reality. Strong evidence indicates that students with weak academic backgrounds and other risk factors struggle most in fully online courses, creating larger socioeconomic gaps in outcomes than those in traditional classroom environments. The central problem appears to be the lack of adequate personal interaction between students and instructors, as well as among students. Hybrid learning models do not exhibit the same problems and there is potential for online learning to develop strategies for overcoming these difficulties. Meanwhile, narrowing gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes requires considerable skilled human interaction.

中文翻译：

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人为因素：在线教育的承诺与局限

在线学习可能会革新高等教育，为传统高等教育机会有限的学生降低高质量学习机会的成本这一想法遵循了对早期技术（包括广播和电视）的类似希望。如果要进行这样的革命，那离现实还很遥远。有力的证据表明，学历薄弱和其他风险因素较弱的学生在完全在线课程中挣扎最多，与传统课堂环境相比，在结局方面造成更大的社会经济差距。中心问题似乎是学生与教师之间以及学生之间缺乏足够的个人互动。混合学习模型不会出现相同的问题，在线学习有潜力制定克服这些困难的策略。