[LINK] 'Online Education Beats Classroom'

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

US Department of Education: Online Education Beats Classroom
 
By Chris Crum - Thu, 08/20/2009 - 14:07
<http://archive.webpronews.com/2009a/0823.html>


Department Says Students in Online Learning Conditions Perform Better

An interesting study from none other than the US Department of Education
<http://www.ed.gov/> says that students using online education actually
perform better than those who just learn in the classroom. The findings
are all the more intriguing, considering the source. 

The study examined a number of other studies on the subject to reach its
conclusions. Online education programs should be pleased with the results.

Some of the key findings from the study:

- Students who took all or part of their class online performed better,
on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to
face instruction.

- Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger
advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely
online instruction.

- Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on
task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit
for online learning.

- Most of the variations in the way in which different studies
implemented online learning did not affect student learning outcomes
significantly.

- The effectiveness of online learning approaches appears quite broad
across different content and learner types.

- Blended and purely online learning conditions implemented within a
single study generally result in similar student learning outcomes.

- Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the
amount that students learn in online classes.

- Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their
interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.

"The ability to share ideas with anyone in the world is a major benefit
of online education," says Dr. Sal Arria, CEO/Co-Founder of the
International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). 

"Once people experience the fun, ease, and power of online education,
they won't want to stop learning," adds Arria, "Online education allows
people all over the world to expand their knowledge base, at their own
pace, and in the way that works best for their schedule and lives."

You have to wonder if the findings will lead to an increased presence of
online training programs in classrooms across the US. You have to also
wonder how that might affect teaching jobs, many of which are already in
peril, due to the state of the economy. 

Here is a look at the Department of Education's full report (pdf):

<http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-
practices/finalreport.pdf>

Abstract 
 
A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July
2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online
learning. 

Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an
online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning
outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate
information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening,
51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta
analysis. 

The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning 
conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.

The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face
classes—measured as the difference between treatment and control means,
divided by the pooled standard deviation—was larger in those studies
contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face
instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. 

Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional
learning time and instructional elements not received by students in
control conditions.

This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended
learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected
finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting
online and face-to-face learning conditions for K–12 students. In light
of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K–12
population because the results are derived for the most part from studies
in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education).

--

Cheers people
Stephen Loosley
Member, Victorian
Institute of Teaching