Statistical Difference On Quality between DL and Traditional Modes of Delivery

Anybody recall that website? It's been posted here but I can't find it. If there are any other docs or research, please let me know.

Thank you,

 

Thanks Steve!

All the best -

 

The U.S. Department of Education's "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in
Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies" can be found here:

http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

"The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning
conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction" (p. ix).

The problem with comparing DL and "traditional" education is, in fact, a statistical one: specifically, it is an analysis of variance (ANOVA) problem. The variation in quality among face-to-face courses and among online courses is larger than the variation between the categories of face-to-face and online courses. Therefore, it is impossible to state that online courses are higher or lower quality than face-to-face courses.

Don't believe me? Then answer this. Have all of the face-to-face courses that you taken over the years been of similar quality or have some been great, others lousy and others OK? The same is true for online courses. Therefore, trying to compare ALL online courses to ALL face-to-face courses is futile.

 

Hello Steve,

One of the most compelling arguments about that is the fact that in the decades and multitude of studies that have been done on e-learning, there is no body of data that demonstrates that students learning online learn worse or less than student learning in classrooms. Most of the "negative" studies about online learning are opinion polls of certain people's prejudices toward traditional learning, which provide no data at all on student learning outcomes.

 

Isn't there a "body of data" suggesting that online students have significantly lower completion rates than their B&M counterparts?

For example, see this paper:

Nash, R.D. 2005. Course Completion Rates among Distance Learners: Identifying Possible Methods to Improve Retention. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume VIII, Number IV, Winter 2005.

 

Yes, there is a significant body of data showing that online courses at many institutions have higher attrition rates. Some institutions, such as Ashford University, have poor records of retaining their online students, while others, such as U. of Illinois-Springfield and Sullivan University have online retention rates in the high 80s to 90s (comparable to face-to-face). There is no data to suggest that a student taking a course online would learn less than a student taking the course face-to-face.

Students drop courses for a wide variety of reasons. For online courses, one of the reasons is that they mistakenly believe that the online course will be easier, so they do not allot the time for study that would be required for a face-to-face course. That does not mean that the online course is of lower quality.

 

Yes, OK and so what's your point?