Does anyone know any good research reports or review articles that deal with the effectiveness of online education tools or initiatives? For instance, friend told me the The University of Illinois just invested $20 million in just trying to assess feasibility of its online education program.
So what evidence is out there right now as to whether online education tools/programs are effective or cost effective?
to my knowledge, the evidence is very mixed and still very much in flux. A few years ago when I was working up an article on liberal learning and distance education, there was much excitement over the "no significant differences" phenomenon - http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/ what I could find at the time was that students in distance classes could show greater improvement in terms of basic knowledge, etc. - but that students in seated / traditional classes showed better improvement in terms of skill _application_ and judgment, e.g.: Parker, Drew and Andrew Gemino. (2001) Inside Online Learning: Comparing Conceptual and Technique Learning Performance in Place-based and ALN Format¹. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (5: 2 - September 2001). <http://www.aln.org/alnweb/journal/Vol5_issue2/Parker/ParkerGemino.htm> Anyone got more recent data / approaches, etc.? - c. Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21> Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org> Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org> Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes <http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23