This study seems to argue that it’s true: Online students perform better than face-to-face students. There a couple caveats to be taken note of, so be cautious when considering the results.
I, being a student for the past 4 years in Graduate-level work, have had a number of online courses and rather than suggest one is superior to the other, I’d have to say that one is definitely preferable over the other, at least for me: I’d much rather the face-to-face interaction.
Now, the question might be: “Have I suffered grade-wise or performance-wise because of my physically-meeting classes?” Not sure I care. There’s just something about being in the same room with the professor and with others.
But this does have relevance to what we do online, especially from a continuing education perspective in terms of our faith. I know a number of people (and organizations) are grappling with how to provide their congregation with effective tools for teaching, etc.
Education is an important part of what we do as believers, both continuing to learn about our faith and teaching/discipling others. My hope is that the online tools we use will continue to become more effective and useful as time progresses.
How many of you are doing some sort of education online?
[Image from BettaDesign, HT: Rick_Smith]
John Dyer says
You know I love online education since I program it for a living, but I am saddened to see that the articles' titles (not yours) are terribly misleading. This is what happens when people (that you linked to) misinterpret a study.
First off, the course content and methodology was different between the "online" and "offline" so the comparison is not apples to apples. In fact the study concludes that, "the studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium … It was the combination of [differences] that produced the observed learning advantages."
Second, it concludes that in fact hybrid courses (some online and some face-to-face) perform the better than online-only classes.
So, the title "online learners perform better" should also say "… but it has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with a well-planned course and, if it is an online course, it does even better when it also has a face-to-face component."
stephenbateman says
I took a hybrid undergrad speech class, and it worked pretty well. But I've dropped two online classes that were simply abysmal.
For the record, for the remainder of undergrad, I will not take an online class, maybe grad will be different.
^^@JohnD, thanks for breaking it down. ^^
Aaron says
I've never been brave enough to take an online course. I guess I'm a traditionalist, in that sense.
However, on a personal note, I can't remember the last time that I've heard a friend produce any favorable opinions of online courses. Of course, all those friends are my age. Perhaps most Gen-Xers are too old (and set in our ways) to really flourish in an online learning environment. (I know, it was most of us that brought about this new medium, but I still think most of us would rather learn in a classroom.)