Meta-Analysis from U.S. Dept. of Education: I’m Impressed!
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, Washington,D.C., 2009. Available Online.
This report has been sitting on my desk for about a month. I finally found time to review it, and I must say, I’m impressed. This is a very thorough meta-study of quantitative research on online education, executed carefully, with good statistical analysis.
Bottom Line: “Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.” The study notes that this result isn’t validation of the medium, per se, but of multiple factors that may accompany online instruction (such as expanded time on task).
Evidence of Effectiveness: The nine studies related to learner reflection “…found that a tool or feature prompting students to reflect on their learning was effective in improving outcomes.” This factor was supported strongly. By contrast, studies of courses that included online simulations found the learning improvement only modestly positive. Surprisingly, studies that compared online environments using different media elements “…found no significant differences among media combinations.” As an example, one study evaluating the inclusion of graphics, navigation options, and color found no improvement in learning outcomes over a plain, text-based interface.
Lots more useful information and analysis is available in this report, as well as a rich list of references.