Online Education: The Elements for Better Learning

Some news (probably not enough) is being made of the recent U.S. Department of Education study, "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies." It's a meta-analysis of 99 studies in the research literature from 1996 to 2008, with an emphasis on 2004-2008 (46 studies from that time period were of sufficient scope to permit the calculation of effect sizes).

The report finds that online courses can have outcomes that are superior to those of classroom-based learning. However, the real news is in the final pages of the study, in Discussions and Implications (p. 51):

"Clark (1983) has cautioned against interpreting studies of instruction in different media as demonstrating an effect for a given medium inasmuch as conditions may vary with respect to a whole set of instructor and content variables. That caution applies well to the findings of this meta-analysis, which should not be construed as demonstrating that online learning is superior as a medium. Rather, it is the combination of elements in the treatment conditions, which are likely to include additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration, that has proven effective. The meta-analysis findings do not support simply putting an existing course online, but they do support redesigning instruction to incorporate additional learning opportunities online."

In other words, interventions that can increase time on task and engagement with learning materials and other students, are likely to improve student learning. This is not news, but an important confirmation. Online tools give us more options for achieving increased engagement, but online does not--and these authors say it emphatically--magically, or in itself, produce better teaching and learning.