Kearsley and Research
November 8, 2009
Last week as I mentioned Chapter 4, Research about Online Education, I outlined the findings of one study found regarding online courses. This week I would like to focus on a couple of these points and expand on them.
First of all, Kearsley, discusses the impact on student achievement. He mentions that if a course is offered online and in the traditional classroom setting, then the only difference should be the form of delivery. However, this is not the case, the content may be taught differently. Finding the success with the online version would be a focus of the research as compared to the traditional class. Online students must be self-motivated to stay on track and continue learning and completing assignments throughout the course, as online classes don’t often meet at appointed times.
Another research perspective that Kearsley mentioned in Chapter 4 was school-level impact. The factors of onine courses effects the school as a whole and needs to be analyzed as well. If scores are improving then the courses are providing the in depth learning that the students need. However, if the lack of success of these courses have effected student achievement, enrollment, etc. then the courses would need to be analyzed further. Changes may need to be made to the presentation of the material, assignments, or content.
