Progress Report

Are Online Courses As Effective as Other Means of Learning?

I've never been able to learn material in a deep and visceral way from an online course.  I don't connect or retain the information and I find myself resistant to doing it.

Am I alone in this?

I can *learn* online -- but it's more in the form of watching someone really smart give a talk, say on Ted.com, or looking up a specific explanation for something, say on the Khanacademy.org.

I'm sure I'll get comments that online courses work for "young people" who grew up on the internet -- and maybe that's true -- but I do wonder whether it's an age issue or more about how the brain works.

Has anyone measured the outcome of online learning, versus in person learning, versus learning through a book?  For instance, I wonder about the overall percentages of improvement at Kaplan from people taking the various study methods (books, online courses, in person courses).  For me personally, I learn best with someone teaching me, next from reading a book on my own, and least of all through online methods.

Tomorrow I'm going to hit the old fashioned Stanley Kaplan print books first thing in the morning when I'm fresh and well rested.

 
9 Comments
 
 
  • Alexa Scordato

    Ooh your blog got a refresh since the last time I was here! Love it :)

    At 2tor, we partner with universities to help them deliver online master's programs. For me specifically, I work with USC's Master's of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT@USC), and the curriculum is delivered through a blend of synchronous (real-time) classes and asynchronous course material (readings, videos) plus offline field work. I don't have any hard statistics to share at this time, but think that this hybrid approach really caters to a lot of individuals. In response to your statement about online classes appealing to "young people", there are a significant amount of older folks who appreciate the online format because of the accessibility and repeatability.

    The Department of Education released a study a few years ago about students in online classes outperforming traditional ones: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/

    Still lots of debate around this topic, but I think we're only really scratching the surface when it comes to distance education. IMO, it's only a matter of time before online learning becomes ubiquitous.

    • http://www.perfectscoreproject.com Debbie Stier

      Thanks Alexa. I think that the approach you're talking about might be more effective for me (i.e. real-time classes and field work). I still wonder whether in person classes would be more effective for me than the distance I feel at a computer. But, I do think the real time would help (a lot).

      The two courses I've taken online have not been real time and have relied on me going in there and filling stuff out -- and for some reason I just feel bored and distracted and resistant.

      I'm going to read that article this morning and do a bit more research. I'm fascinated by how the brain works.

    • http://www.perfectscoreproject.com Debbie Stier

      Finally read this article. Fascinating. Especially the comments. Thanks for passing it along. I'm going to incorporate into blog post tk.

  • Heather Cavanaugh

    Debbie, I LOVE every single one of your posts and am in love with the illustrations. I will check back often. Xx Heather Cavanaugh

    • http://www.perfectscoreproject.com Debbie Stier

      Thank you Heather!!! Miss you. Love seeing pix of your beautiful baby on FB. I should have perfected all of this by the time he is ready to roll on those SATs xxxD

  • http://keepbabbling.blogspot.com/ Jessica

    I think it depends a lot on both the person and the subject matter. If it's a complicated subject or one that's more about developing one's thinking than memorizing facts, I prefer to have an in-person teacher I can ask questions of. However, for basic stuff, I like online. I took an online Intro to Psych course in college and LOVED it. The professor simply recorded lectures over a PowerPoint, and I would read the transcript once, take notes, then watch the lecture while I knitted. I understood everything after those two passes. Right now I'm learning to use Illustrator CS5 via a Lynda.com course, and that's pretty straightforward. So if it's basic knowledge or skills, I like online learning, but then I'm generally a quick learner, so that might help. I don't think it's possible to make a pronouncement one way or the another about all learning.

    • http://www.perfectscoreproject.com Debbie Stier

      Hi Jessica.....maybe this issue is debbie-specific, and maybe it's a Kaplan Online course problem (or maybe a combo) -- though I didn't like the College Board Online Course either.......

      Anyway, I FINALLY finished my Kaplan Diagnostic SAT test this morning. It took me 7 days to complete because I found it so unappealing that i dreaded facing it every day (and I'm someone who LOVES SAT work). I don't feel this way when I work from a book (though I've discovered that I like my book to have a lesson and then worksheets that I can practice on, and many don't do that), and I love doing SAT work with others (in a social setting). Love.

      After I finished the diagnostic test, I entered all of the answers into the Kaplan course online, had a bunch of technical glitches that I won't bore you with here, but that took about an extra 45 minutes of my time, including that it lost my essay (thankfully I'd saved it elsewhere), and then I pushed "Submit," and then got back a message that said they will score my test in 5 DAYS and email me!

      That totally doesn't work for me!!!! I need instant feedback to stay engaged and learn. And I want human connection and high touch and engagement......and this left me feeling frustrated and unengaged and dreading going back to it.

      It's highly possible that the two online courses that I've taken just weren't good examples of what's possible. Actually, I tried doing Khan too and love it as a resource, but it doesn't work for me as an "online course."

      ....And don't get me wrong, because I do believe that I learn a lot online -- just not in the form of an "online course" (yet, though I hold out hope)

      Even though I'm sure there are nuances and variations depending on the course and the person taking it -- I bet there is a way to test overall how much people are learning from these online courses versus their real world counterparts. Someone sent me a link in the comments below that I'm going to read -- a study about it that was published in the NY Times.....and I will be looking more into this because it fascinates me.

      Everyone is looking at these ONLINE Courses as the great white hope.....and I'm not convinced. My gut says online learning has a place as a resource, but that high touch has higher value and higher scores. Just my gut.....but I want to find out more

      • http://keepbabbling.blogspot.com/ Jessica

        Technical problems are definitely a disadvantage to online anything!

        I still prefer not to make any sweeping generalizations about online learning. I agree that online courses aren't, as you say, the "great white hope" and can't totally replace in-person courses, but that doesn't mean they can't be valuable for some people with certain subjects. Even if a study did find that, in general, people don't learn as much from online courses, there would still be individuals who did learn better from online courses--again, depending on the subject and type of learning needed.

        I tend to be a very fast learner, and so I find classroom learning with others slows me down and prevents me from learning as much as I'd like to. I can move faster through online courses and waste less of my overall time.

        Have you heard of the School of One project? Students use different methods of learning (classroom, one-on-one tutor, online self-guided, online tutoring, etc.) and their progress is tracked. They're then assigned to paths depending on which way they learn best. If they're struggling to grasp a concept with one method, they'll be switched to another. I like that idea because it resists the one-size-fits-all and shows that different methods work for different people.

        • http://www.perfectscoreproject.com Debbie Stier

          I'm in agreement with you (no one way) -- and I haven't heard of School of ONe -- but I'm headed to check it out now. Thanks!

 

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