Meta Study 2.) MERLOT/JOLT

 

 

Twenty Years of Research on the Academic Performance Differences Between Traditional and Distance Learning: Summative Meta-Analysis and Trend Examination.
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no2/shachar_0610.htm

This journal is under the aegis of MERLOT. (introduced below) Merlot, http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm , is a research cooperative including a large number of participating schools.  Merlot is devoted to organizing research, materials, and strategies of online learning models for higher education concerns. As a meta-study it pays most attention to stats speak.  Yet draws some very clear claims about the value of online ed. The sections below reflect the tenor and substance of the document.

Overall thought summary

Overall, the results of the meta-analyses, based on 125 qualifying studies and using learning outcome data from over 20,800 participating students, demonstrates a sound and statistically significant positive ‘d+’ statistic of .257, p<.01 calculated conservatively by random methods for the study period, indicating that distance education not only is comparable to traditional instruction, but also, subject to our criteria, can outperform traditional instruction.

…in the concluding two paragraphs,

The findings of this study reemphasize prior results and extend it for a period of twenty years. It is clear that the experimental probability of attaining higher learning outcomes is greater in the online environment than in the face-to-face environment. This probability is increasing over time. The future should call for different treatment of online learning by policy makers and regulatory agencies – on one hand, and future research to examine DE learning by: academic subject, asynchronous / synchronous / blended methods etc. – on the other.

The paradigm of the superiority of the FTF modality over its distance learning alternative has been successfully negated. The distance learning approach is becoming the “normal science” (Kuhn, 1962). Yet, this is not fully comprehended by the various decision making institutions where the gate-keeping positions represent, by and large, the past paradigm. Therefore, distance learning is still treated as the anomaly (“step child”) instead of as the emerging standard of quality in higher education. We expect that as a new generation of leaders in higher education emerges, the policy making orientation and regulatory models will change to reflect the new paradigm.

The measures that they endorse address comparing F2F vs. DE in four areas:

1. 1. Student attitude and satisfaction
2. 2. Interactions between student and faculty
3. 3. Student learning outcomes
4. Faculty satisfaction

Next:  MERLOT