Cutting Class – Online vs. Classroom Learning
Teaching College Courses Online vs Face-to-Face
A recent report by the US Department of Education will no doubt add fuel to an already raging debate over the virtues and deficiencies of online education. Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning – A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies provides an extensive meta-analysis of data that compare the effectiveness of online versus traditional classroom approaches to instruction.
Designed to review over 1,000 empirical studies published from 1996 to 2008, the report focuses on studies 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.
The meta-analysis echoes results reported earlier, namely,
“… on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
The authors of the report explain their findings by noting that:
“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.”
A paucity of data for K-12 is noted in the findings, leading the authors to caution readers about generalizing the results to that population.
A copy of the full report in PDF format can be downloaded here.