[Air-L] Using brick-space measures- Online Education Beats the Classroom

[tom abeles]

Hi Folks

Has anyone suggested that the brick and click comparisons may be measuring the wrong variables. with the changing nature of knowledge and knowledge acquisition? In other words are the studies measuring what could be measured using an old lens and the easiest variables to assess, like the drunk looking for keys where the light is rather than in the dark where they were dropped?

Are math and reading scores meaningful in the new world of problem-based learning and knowledge sharing around social networks? Are these scores perpetuating a system by moving bricks into clicks rather than determining what the new metrics should be whether or not they are comparable?

thoughts?

tom

tom abeles

> Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:35:38 -0500
> From: gerrymck at iastate.edu
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org; SOCNET at LISTS.UFL.EDU; HMC at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> CC: gerrymck at mail.adp.iastate.edu
> Subject: [Air-L] Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom
> 
> Colleagues/
> 
>  
> 
> A Wednesday PM (CT) Discovery !!
> 
>  
> 
> /Gerry 
> 
>  
> 
> New York Times / August 19, 2009, 1:08 pm / Updated: 1:29 pm / Steve
> Lohr 
> 
>  
> 
> A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI
> International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic
> title, but a most intriguing conclusion: 
> 
>  
> 
> "On average, students in online learning conditions performed better
> than those receiving face-to-face instruction." 
> 
> [snip]
> 
>  
> 
> Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were
> quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the
> same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that,
> on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank
> in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average
> classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. 
> 
>  
> 
> >>>That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.<<<
> 
>  
> 
> [snip]
> 
>  
> 
> Until fairly recently, online education amounted to little more than
> electronic versions of the old-line correspondence courses. That has
> really changed with arrival of Web-based video, instant messaging and
> collaboration tools. The real promise of online education, experts say,
> is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual
> students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more "learning by
> doing," which many students find more engaging and useful.  
> 
>  
> 
> [more]
> 
>  
> 
> Links to the original NYTimes article and the full DOEd report available
> from 
> 
>  
> 
> [ http://tinyurl.com/nk97w8  ]
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy !
> 
>  
> 
> /Gerry 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Gerry McKiernan
> 
>  
> 
> Associate Professor
> 
>  
> 
> Science and Technology Librarian
> 
>  
> 
> Iowa State University Library
> 
>  
> 
> Ames IA 50011
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> gerrymck at iastate.edu    
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> There Are No Answers, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed /
> 
>  
> 
> Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace
> 
> _______________________________________________
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