Why were those students online? Because they wanted to be? That would be a stronger argument for better engagement. Continuing education students are most likely adults taking courses they need and find relevant.
Customization is fine if you can finish the class whenever you want. But schools run on schedules. To pass the class, you need to get through every objective. If you spend twice as much time on one topic, you've now got less time to get through the others.
Want to learn better?
So do I. And according to a recent study for the Department of Education, it might be wise for both of us to boot up our computers.
Students who study online performed better than those receiving classroom instruction, according to a new survey for the Department of Education.
“On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction,” reads the 93-page report (.pdf) on online education, which was conducted by SRI International.
The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008, from K-12 to college to adult learning programs.
The analysis found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile, versus the average classroom student in the 50th percentile.
Or in other words: online learning isn’t just a makeshift education — it’s actually more effective.
Why? Perhaps it’s because online courses, now beyond their infancy, have the ability to be customized to the student’s learning level. Perhaps it’s also because of focus — with online courses, you must engage, and you can’t just sit back and let the lecture go in one ear and out the other.
For now, most online courses are in the continuing education sector. Many high school, undergraduate and graduate schools use online CMS systems to post assignments and syllabi, but those systems are for administrative reference, not learning.
With the growth of online learning — and the chance to “bathe in bits” — the lecture may soon be extinct.
