For many online students, online learning takes place according to the students' schedule, their pace, and typically without any interaction in real time with the professor or other classmates. This has allowed online education to remain a fairly flexible learning platform. According to the case conducted by Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw entitled Stewardship in Distance Education: A Comparative Analysis of Technologies that Support Student Learning, she posits that online learning courses could benefit significantly from real time interactions with the professors and others students. She states this addition of real time learning to the online environment may allow Christian educators to be better stewards of their resources.

According to this case study in Christian Perspectives in Education, Rockinson-Szapkiw presents her findings from the case study conducted on two online courses, one graduate level and one undergraduate level. One group used only Blackboard's software while the other group used an e-conferencing software in conjunction with Blackboard. The study found that students using the e-conferencing software had perceived that they had learned more than those who used only the Blackboard learning platform. Rockinson-Szapkiw concludes that Christian university administrators will need to research this variable in online learning so that they can be better stewards of the funds allotted for online education.

You can read more at Stewardship in Distance Education: A Comparative Analysis of Technologies that Support Student Learning.