Research on the Effectiveness of Online Learning: Insights, Controversies, and Gaps

September 13, 2010 - 8:17am | by Chinkley
Presenter(s)
Barbara Means (Co-director, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International)
Session Information
November 4, 2010 - 8:15am
Session Type: 
Plenary Session
Location: 
Carribbean 1-5
Session Duration: 
75
Virtual Session
Abstract

Despite the rapid spread of online course offerings in higher education and other educational and training settings, rigorous research examining its effectiveness and the critical elements of effective online learning experiences is limited. A meta-analysis of the online learning literature from 1996 through July 2008 found 50 independent effects from studies that contrasted (a) an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information for calculating the magnitude of the difference between online and face-to-face learner outcomes. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The advantage over face-to-face classes was significantly large in those studies contrasting blends of online and face-to-face instruction with entirely face-to-face instruction. The available research does not support the conclusion that blended instruction is superior as a medium of instruction, however. In the studies included in the meta-analysis, blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not present in control conditions. Several authors have suggested that results from such meta-analyses should not be generalized to full courses, and especially not to courses for students who have struggled academically. Responding to these criticisms, this presentation will describe the design principles for online learning that can be derived from available research and areas where further research is needed.

Lead Presenter

Barbara Means is co-director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International, an independent nonprofit research organization based in Menlo Park, CA. Dr. Means’ research focuses on ways to foster students' learning of advanced skills through the introduction of technology-supported innovations. She led the recently completed comprehensive meta-analysis of research on the effectiveness of online learning for the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, she directs SRI’s study of science learning in California afterschool programs and a national study of how schools are using student data to inform instructional decision making. Other recent work includes a synthesis of cognitive, curriculum, and intervention research on secondary mathematics learning and an examination of high schools with a science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) focus. Dr. Means served on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, which produced the volume How People Learn, and as a member of the Academy’s Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA). Her published works include the edited volumes Evaluating Educational Technology, Technology and Education Reform, and Teaching Advanced Skills to At-Risk Students and the jointly authored volumes The Connected School and Comparative Studies of How People Think. Dr. Means earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.