A recent Department of Education study reached some interesting conclusions:
- “Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.“
- “Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.“
- “The effectiveness of online learning approaches appears quite broad across different content and learner types.“
- “Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.“
These findings provide ammunition for individuals, such as Gov. Pawlenty, who advocate online learning. They also merit inclusion in the broader discussion on education, as online courses, which typically cost less than face-to-face instruction, could help to alleviate some of the crippling cost inflation students have seen in recent years.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Can’t argue with science, but I’ve found just about every computer learning tool to be downright awful.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:41 am
My children took some classes online (not affiliated with the school), including history and English. Overall, they learned much, much more. But then, we live in a school district where serious instruction is lacking. They do watch a lot of movies, though. I think my kids have seen more movies at school than home.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Well I guess you can argue with science (or, at least, you can argue with Anthony’s selection of important points).
This makes a bit more sense to me. I’ve taken both lecture and online courses and online courses are almost always much more difficult, require more written work, and greater self-motivation and time adherence. The material isn’t presented in a superior way (I rather find it inferior), the demands on the students are merely higher. This, of course, is why I preferred lecture courses
For normal K-12 students who won’t have such a sense of self-motivation, the advantage of higher expectations is largely lost and you’re just left with inferior instructive material.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:42 am
The survey points out that online learning and face to face learning does best of all. So face to face learning will always be needed in some form!
August 30th, 2009 at 8:04 am
He’s been so engaged on health care, I’d nearly forgotten that education was Pawlenty’s real issue. And yes, I think online learning is an excellent idea. I think, in particular, it makes sense for overly bright students in junior high and high school, who can go at a faster pace then even the most rigorous honors programs. I still think that socialization with peers is incredibly important at this age, so I wouldn’t want us to go TOO far down this road until at least college.
But, even though it didn’t bother me especially much at the time, I now see I would have got along a lot better had I been able to just keep progressing when I cleared a particular subject, instead of idly reading a novel all day. I’m sure a lot of folks were in the same position.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Online schools are terrible. I’ve seen the work some close friends of mine put into those types of classes, and they pale in comparison to an actual classroom experience. My father went to an online school and earned A+’s for his first two years. When I went to school I never once heard of someone earning an A+. It didn’t happen. I feel like they’re decreasing the value of a degree.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:58 am
The current educational system is crap. It is designed to turn our children into employees that know nothing about money. It is their to process the children and make them loyal servants to the state. 100 years ago 90% of America was self employed. Then the Rockefeller foundation got involved into funding of public education. “Conspiracy of the Rich”, Robert Kiyosaki’s new book goes into great detail on this subject. You learn nothing but, how to obey and stay behind chain link fences towing the line in these brain washing centers. Loyal employees who become consumers and give what little they earn back to the globalist elite banksters because they never learn how real economics work. Bankrupt this evil system, throw the globalists out and get us back to the Hamiltonian system of credit that was in place until 1913. The Federal Reserve system was put in place in 1913 and we’ve been in continuous war ever since. This is no coincidence.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:03 am
What do Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Clinton, Obama, and Biden have in common besides being the top six candidates for Pres. in 2008. They are all Council of Foreign Relations members and puppets for the globalist banking elite that strives for a New World Order. 97% of America was against the banker bailout but, all six of these shills were for it. British banking elite have turned our govt, as well as Israeli and Saudi governments, into puppets for the interests of only them. “They are a den of vipers and must be routed out”, Andrew Jackson.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Check out “The Obama Deception” by googling and watching online for free. This is a great introduction into finding out the truth about the treasonous truth about every administration since Nov. 1963 when British snipers took out the last non puppet Pres. we have had in this country. Eisenhauer’s last speech is another thing to listen to as he knew what was going on. Another is “The speech that got JFK killed”. Google these and learn about the truth.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Mike – Well Barclays and HSBC may be British but JP Morgan, Goldmans Sachs etc certainly are not. The idea that JFK was killed by the British is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, British PM Macmillan was a close friend of JFK. Finally, the USA has been the world’s major superpower since the independence of India and Suez ideas that Britain is still running the USA are laughable. I suggest you have a lie down!
August 30th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Online education has its place, but it will never get a serious trial as long as the unions run the schools.