It's meta-analysis. I spent some time looking through the study when it was released week-before-last and had planned to write a blog post about it. Had a short discussion on Twitter w/another educator. When you look at the actual results-- not the narrative -- you'll see that the factor that accounted for the most explanation of the difference in grades was TIME ON TASK. This factor has nothing to do with whether education is conducted on- or off-line per se -- although an argument might be made that students who decide to take online classes have a different level of motivation for study. IIRC, there was no variable for cohort age. I really should write that post. :-) Kathy (coming out of lurk mode) -- Kathy E. Gill Master of Communication, Digital Media Department of Communication, University of Washington Box 353740, Seattle WA 98195 http://uwdigitalmedia.org/ 206.543.2660 - office; 425.351.0005 - cell @kegill - Twitter