Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning  A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

Fascinating report from the US Department of Education. First up, top quality advisors, people like Richard Clark and Dexter Fletcher, who know research methodologies. Secondly, scope, going from 1996 to 2008. Thirdly, rigorous, clearly identifying measurable effects, random assignment, the existence of controls and ignoring teacher perceptions.

Interestingly they lambasted educational research for its lack of rigour, but after filtering out the good stuff, here’s the results:

Blended best 

“Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.”

Online better than face-to-face 

“The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving traditional face-to-face instruction.”

Online and on-task 

“Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning.”

Online is all good 

“Most of the variations in the way in which different studies implemented online learning did not affect student learning outcomes significantly.”

Blended no better than online 

“Blended and purely online learning conditions implemented within a single study generally result in similar student learning outcomes.”

Let learners learn 

“Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.”

Online good for everyone 

“The effectiveness of online learning approaches appears quite broad across different content and learner types.”

Get them doing things 

“Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.”

Groups not advised

“Providing guidance for learning for groups of students appears less successful than does using such mechanisms with individual learners.”

An interesting little observation, tucked away in the conclusions is, “one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face”. In other words it is better to get learners to continue learning after the event. Published 2008 – 12 years later we made all the same mistakes. Education is a slow learner.