[Web4lib] Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

Colleagues/

 

A Wednesday PM (CT) Discovery !!

 

/Gerry 

 

New York Times / August 19, 2009, 1:08 pm / Updated: 1:29 pm / Steve
Lohr 

 

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." 

[snip]

 

Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were
quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the
same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that,
on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank
in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average
classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. 

 

>>>That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.<<<

 

[snip]

 

Until fairly recently, online education amounted to little more than
electronic versions of the old-line correspondence courses. That has
really changed with arrival of Web-based video, instant messaging and
collaboration tools. The real promise of online education, experts say,
is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual
students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more "learning by
doing," which many students find more engaging and useful.  

 

[more]

 

Links to the original NYTimes article and the full DOEd report available
from 

 

[ http://tinyurl.com/nk97w8  ]

 

Enjoy !

 

/Gerry 

 

 

Gerry McKiernan

 

Associate Professor

 

Science and Technology Librarian

 

Iowa State University Library

 

Ames IA 50011

 

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu    

 

 

There Are No Answers, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying

 

 

The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed /

 

Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace