Topic 8

Activity

I read the article, “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies.” You can find this article here http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

 This article took research from 1996-2008 and put it into one article. This article found that the research suggests that online students did a little better than students who took brick and mortar classes (Means, ix).  The article also said that until 2008 there really were not any students that looked at student success in online vs. traditional schooling. I found that to be an interesting fact, but then again, maybe there were not that many online schools until 2008.  The article goes on to explain that actually students in blended learning did better than students who were entirely learning online and students who were entirely learning face to face (Means, xv).

I think that it is important to remember that students typically start off going to a brick and mortar elementary or pre K and therefore are more comfortable with this approach. I think it would be very hard to suddenly just switch and take all classes online. I think this is probably why students do better with a blended learning approach as opposed to an entirely online learning environment.

Works Cited

Means, Barabra Y. T. (n.d.). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. US department of Education.

Summary

After reading this weeks MOOC topic it seems that there are not many studies out there that really decide if online school is better than brick and mortal schooling. I think that is because not all students learn the same way and not all students are good test takers. Every child learns differently, so while online schooling might work wonderfully for some, for others it would not. If you are not a motivated student, then I do not think online schooling would be a success for you.

I did like how this week’s topic also mentioned the benefits and challenges associated with online learning.  One challenge that was not mentioned though was socialization. I feel that younger students really do need to learn how to socialize with their peers in a face to face manner. I think that so many young people today do not know how to have real conversations because most of their interactions with each other are through text, social media, or email.