Well...if you actually READ....

Submitted by ghot on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 10:29pm

...the BITS article, linked to in this topic, you will notice that the "93 page report" was NOT the research itself, but a "collection" of reasearch that had been done.

Quote from the BITS article:

"The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008."

Using ONLY my "classroom education", the underlined portion of the quote, is what is commonly know in any Critical Thinking course...as...unknowable statistics, and would invalidate the entire "report".  We have no knowledge of whether these "comparative research(s)" were done correctly or not.  Was the sample group large enough?  Did the "comparative research" take into account many possible mitigating circumstances?  How did the "comparative research", "control" the studies?  Was sufficient followup research completed properly?

While I do tend to feel that in some situations, the classroom can have some detrimental effects on learning...and feel also, that some learning methods have more value than others, I do not feel that this report OF studies done, in any way constitutes a true research project, and in itself is either unknowable or completely fallacious.

The report may be correct in it's assumptions and it may not be...without closely examining ALL the "comparative research" that WAS done....the report is nothing more than an attempt to assign numerical results to un-quantifiable research.

If, in fact, the report DID...closely examine ALL the "comparative research" and included such things as: "peer review",  acurate followup studies for YEARS after the "comparative research" was done, (which hardly seems possible, considering the 2008 date of the report), then quite possibly, we DO have a cogent report of the "research"

My gut feeling is that this "report" is merely a mash-up of some collection of un-reviewed "research".  If this IS the case, then I for one, can only guess as to why the report was done in the first place.

Further ISP revenue?  Make Obama...look good?  Put ISP dollars into the pockets of those that DID the report?

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that without a whole hell of a lot more substance, I would take this report with a TON of salt ! 

 

 

 

Take an OS, and edit out all the efficiency, and what you have left is a post-XP Microsoft operating system :)

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This is a no-brainer for one

Submitted by Zombox on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 11:28am

This is a no-brainer for one big reason: most online students are experienced adults. They have more motivation, more desire and more actual need for education. They are not in school to drink and sex it up with otehr equally drunken and foolish teens. They try harder, study more, have learned more about life in general and are, effectively, better students. So they will naturally have more over all success.

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Agree

Submitted by DeveloperDavid on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 10:49am

I completely agree with the study. I have been taking classes at conventional schools for the last three years going for a bachelor's degree in infotmation Technology. Currently I am enrolled at Oregon Institute of Technology. I do like this school and curently have a 4.0 gpa. Pretty much all schools now offer online classes. Even the local community colleges offer classes online. I nave taken about half in the classroom and half online. I learn much more in my online classes. I have had many professors that have strong accents and bad white board hand writing. In my online classes I can pause and replay content instead of just hoping that I follow everything presented during the lecture. You can still ask professors for help if you need it, and I actually talk to other students in online classes more often than I do in brick and mortar classes.

My wife is going for the same degree from an online only college. Her school uses software that is more current, has more responsive professors, and has a more powerful learning environmoent than Oregon Institute of Tech. I am planning on thansferring next term because I can see that she is getting a much better education than I am. 

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I'm an online IT major

Submitted by Toady00 on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 10:39am

I went to NC State for pure physics right out of high school, but ended up droping out. Now I'm 26 and going back to school for IT, but I'm doing it completely online. I can tell you that it takes more discipline to do it at home. I think you have to have a lot more of the skills that employers want (self-motivated, organized, get things done on time, ect.) in order to be sucessful online.

Having said that, I think that the results for this study might be slightly skewed. Most of the people in my classes are changing careers or already have a family and are looking for more. They are not fresh out of high school with no real world experience. After you have been in the work force for a while, you realize the importance of a good education more. You know how bad it sucks to have to deal with stupid bosses for crappy wages. At least with a degree, you are better compensated for having to deal with stupid bosses.Right out of high school I wasn't prepared for college, but I feel like I am now. I just don't think this is comparing apples to apples, its comparing pimple-faced teens who are on there own for the first time and party a lot, to adults who feel like this is their last chance to make something of themselves

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Face to face education has

Submitted by dag1992 on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 11:36am

Face to face education has been destroyed by teaching to the test.

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Yep, and so does asking my

Submitted by I Jedi on Thu, 08/20/2009 - 8:37am

Yep, and so does asking my Grandpa for the answer during a hard ONLINE Math test from my Math teacher while I'm at home.

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