Study finds online learning more effective than classroom

You can access the 93 page report from the U.S. Department of Education
Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service through the New York times article by Steve Lohr, 19/08/2009.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?em %20%20

So the doom sayers are at it again - just like the invention of the printing press, the computer is going to replace teachers - except I think the New York Times article is flawed because the writer has not actually understood the concept of effect sizes.

In 1999, before Internet use was as common as it is today, Professor John Hattie contended that computer learning influenced student learning outcomes positively with an effect size of 0.31. which is less that the mean of 0.4 for all interventions. (Hattie, 1999)

If you use the bookmark tool in this research document and scroll to key findings you will see that the results of this research is in line with Hattie's 1999 findings, which still seem to be relevant today.

The article fails to address the fact that e-learning is relevant for today's classrooms. How our students learn and what they need to learn, needs to be relevant to the world they live in. I think the following video clip reminds us that e-learning in our classrooms is not about computer instruction to reinforce old teaching methodology, its about teaching approaches that meet the needs of 21 century students.



I think the research in the US evaluation (2009) does highlight that e-learning will not improve traditional assessment results of student achievement, but what e-learning does do is improves learning, as it engages students and makes their classrooms relevant to the world they are growing up in.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, Washington, D.C., 2009.
retrieved from: www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html. 27 September 2009

Hattie, J. (1999). Computers in Schools retrieved Sept 20, 2009, from
http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/u0a/fms/default/education/docs/pdf/arts/john%20hattie/Computers_in_Schools.pdf