Study Shows Online Instruction Beats Classroom
The NYT writes:
A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.
Read the rest of the article at the New York Times.
Many administrators look at online courses as clones of the old correspondence course, where students mailed in essay answers to questions and took proctored or essay tests. And early versions of distance learning did follow such models, except the correspondence was done via email. That has led to current views of distance learning instruction as somehow less-than and easier-than classroom instruction. Such views couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Technological advances like VOIP, podcasting, and virtual classrooms make teaching such classes far more prep intensive, and the instruction itself, if presented in a manner that approaches seamless, is far more difficult in many ways than classroom versions of the same course. Imagine trying to teach a class, field questions, and deal with incoming messages and tech concerns as you try to maintain the focus on the material that needs to be covered. It becomes a regular juggling act.
On top of that, course materials need to be reformatted for download, lessons must be tailored to whatever online form that they will take, and often work persists after the class session is complete, to ensure that the lessons can be made available to students in their entirety.
Add to that the typical time spent grading and fielding student questions, and I would estimate that online courses take at least seven or eight times as long to prepare and administer. That’s the case with my online classes.
Is it worth it? The study commissioned by the DoE shows that it is indeed, to some degree. The benefits aren’t difficult to imagine, considering what is left available to students. Entire classes are recorded, and they can return to them at any time, not only to review particular sections of a lesson, but my students have also used such reviews as a way to further engage either me or the class.
It’s nice to see that online instruction is getting some props.
I agree! I am definitely a fan of online learning, although it still has a way to go. As I’ve told you (Dean), I’m finishing my degree through UW-Superior’s Distance Learning Program. I just can’t finish my degree through night school within the next few years, but I will be able to finish this coming spring via online courses.
While many of the courses that I have taken are too much like correspondence courses, many are taking advantage of technology that is available. For example, I just took an intercultural communication course online, and our final project was to create a wiki. The rest of the course work involved discussion boards, and even essay writing, which are much more traditional. Nothing like incorporating Second Life, but on the right path I think…
As for the level of actual work involved, I think I have done more thinking, and developed more of a critical mind by taking these courses online. Rather than have very formatted discussions in class rooms, where people are afraid to speak their mind (like me…), or their are actual time constraints (less than 3 classroom hours a week, your typical course), there are some really interesting ideas and comments floating around. I think people are sometimes less afraid to speak their mind in the mostly “anonymous” class room setting.
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