Study suggests online courses as good as classroom
A new study compared two versions of an introductory statistics course, one taught face to face by professors and one mostly taught online with only an hour a week of face time. Researchers found students fared equally well in both formats on every measure of learning. The only difference was that the online group appeared to learn faster.
Taken together, the reports “don’t suggest that interactive online learning is far better than traditional forms of instruction – but even in its infancy, it does well,’’ said Lawrence Bacow, the former Tufts University president, who co-authored the first paper. “And today’s students become tomorrow’s faculty. They will have much greater comfort using these tools. This is only going to get better over time.’
Read the complete article by Mary Carmichael in the Boston Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/21/findings-give-boost-online-classes/qtokLQeQZvE85EMzSBG6PM/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw