Teaching 2.0

The US Department of Education’s latest report, marked as a milestone in the search to validate the online learning environment, provides some interesting findings. HRM investigates.

According to the US Department of Education’s (DoE) most recent report, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, online students, on average, are out performing those who receive face-to-face instruction. In addition, the report identified that online learners spend more time performing a task than those students learning in a traditional, classroom setting; and while the research was really focused on the K-12 environment, the findings are interesting for the online education environment as a whole, particularly in the corporate setting.

Take Colorado State University Global Campus (CSU Global Campus), for example, where students are saying that they prefer the online classroom, not just because they save time by not driving to a campus, but because they can spend more time on the course work as it can be completed at any time of the day that is convenient to them. What’s more, they are particularly impressed at how quickly their communication skills have improved, which is a skill set that can be readily applied when they enter the corporate world.

And, in reference to the study, The Colorado Promise reports that Governor Ritter now says he is determined to reduce the high school dropout rate and increase college enrolment since he believes that education is the foundation of any strong economy and any competitive workforce and is a ‘top priority’ of his administration.

However, some critics are arguing that despite the growing interest in online learning, the availability of online classes have not kept pace with demand. And, according to one survey, while more than 40 percent of respondents have researched or demonstrated interest in taking a course online, only 10 percent had actually completed one.

In contrast, the DoE report shows there is a steady stream of studies, though many focus on limited issues or lack control groups. The report also said that it had identified more than 1000 empirical studies of online learning that were published from 1996 through to July 2008, but for its own conclusions had only considered a small number (51) of independent studies that met strict criteria. These studies had to compare an online teaching experience to a face-to-face situation, measure student-learning outcomes, use a ‘rigorous research design’ and provide adequate information to calculate the differences.

The Education Department also noted that this new meta-analysis – a type of study that takes all of the existing studies and looks at them for patterns and conclusions – differs from previous studies by finding that online education and face-to-face instruction were similarly effective on issues of learning, but didn't give an edge to the online learning that may exist today.

What’s more the study also highlighted findings about the relative success (or lack thereof) of various teaching techniques used in the online environment. The use of video or online quizzes, for example, which is frequently encouraged for online education, does not appear to enhance learning, according to the report.

Most importantly though, the report sets the tone for how effective online learning truly is, not just what it can be. And in a time when society is embracing technology for their children and for themselves, the report helps to erase the stigma of the ‘diploma mill’ from learners’ minds. The migration from a little schoolhouse, to elite colleges and universities nationwide, to the infinite classrooms within the online learning environment, seems mind boggling, but we are there.

Now, experts are asking us to imagine what the classroom will be like for those born in 2009 when they enter pre-school in 2013. We’ve come a long way and, if evidence from this report is anything to go on, things are only going to get better.