OK, I'm being kind, since this doesn't really rise to the level of mediocrity. I should give one caveat, though, since I'm working from a short news story not, yet, from the research report itself.
Anyway, a new study purports to show that taking a course online by watching videos of lectures ressults in slightly worse outcomes, especially for certain groups, than does live lectures. Here's the news report. It includes a link to the report, although it is not clear to me yet whether it has been peer-reviewed (by the right peers): http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Video-Lectures-May-Slightly/24963/
Why is this bad research? First, because it is asking a question that we shouldn't even be asking. We have decades of research of this sort--comparing video to "live" and similar things. The only reason that the live might have come out better is because something more than lecture took place in the live version of the course. Mor important, why does anyone ---- anywone ---- think that recording lectures and putting them online should or would be considered good online teaching? Why are lectures seen as good teaching in f2f classes? Lectures are good for a few very specific kinds of purposes that do not include being the primary teaching strategy for an entire course.
We need to change how we approach research in online learning. The issue isn't the medium that we use (lecture v. recorded lecture, for Pete's sake). The issue is what we do with the time that students spend on a course. Most notably, do they sit and watch a person talking or a person talking on their TVs? Or are they engaged in understanding concepts, practicing skills, and other important things. This research just doesn't ask a very interesting question: Mediocre teaching compared to mediocre teaching. Let's compare different teaching strategies. Let's find out which can be implemented online and which should be done best f2f. Let's start to understand how we can make the best use of classroom time as well as the things that can be done most effectively onlien. And, since Internet-based teaching is reaching down from the college and adult levels into P-12, let's look at how the strategies differ at different ages.
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Dr. Ingram,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you have had the opportunity to teach two sections of the course, online and face to face, at the same time?
If so, what were your observations about student achievement?
I see your point - why study "sage on the stage" versus "sage on the screen" when there are so many other methods to compare and study? Of course the recorded sage did not do as well - the students could fast forward, answer their phone, eat a pizza...lots of potential distractions.
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