Matthew Stiehm, in his ASSESS post titled "Re: Effectiveness of
Online Education" wrote:
"I am looking for a way to assess the online education programs that
we have as compared to the residential classes. Does anyone have a
good policy/procedure in place for handling this type of assessment."
In "Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" [Hake (2008)]
I wrote (slightly edited):
"As I see it, the challenge to Distance Education is to demonstrate
considerable *improvement* over traditional classroom instruction,
rather than the essentially insignificant mean effect sizes observed
by Lou et al. (2006) for "Optimized Asynchronous Distance Education"
(OADE) - another "No Significant Difference Phenomenon" [Russell
(2001)] - i.e., ineffectiveness comparable to traditional classroom
education."
It may come as a surprise ;-) that I recommend DEFINITIVE PRE/POST TESTING.
OF WHAT?
Quoting from Hake (2008) [bracketed by lines "HHHHH. . . ; SEE THAT
ARTICLE FOR THE REFERENCES]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
What's being pre/post tested is students' performance on valid and
consistently reliable diagnostic tests (developed by disciplinary
experts) of conceptual understanding. For discussion of the
development, administration, and interpretation of such tests for
undergraduate astronomy, biology, chemistry, economics, engineering,
geoscience, math, and physics see the reviews Hake (2005, 2007b,
2008a) and the discussion-list posts Hake (2004; 2007d,e; 2008b).
In my opinion such *direct* gain measurements of higher-order student
learning are far superior to the *indirect* (and therefore in my view
problematic) gauges have been utilized by education researchers:
e.g., end-of-course exams and course grades; Student Evaluations of
Teaching (SET's); Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP)
[MacIsaac (2008)]; National Survey Of Student Engagement [NSSE
(2008)]; Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) plus CLAss
Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE) [Rhem (2007)]; Student
Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) [Seymour et al. (2005)]; and
Knowledge Surveys [Nuhfer & Knipp (2003)].
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com/>
"What we assess is what we value. We get what we assess, and if we
don't assess it, we won't get it."
Lauren Resnick [quoted by Grant Wiggins (1990)]
"If once a man indulges himself in murder:
very soon he comes to think little of robbery,
and from robbery he next comes to Sabbath-breaking,
and from that to incivility and procrastination . . .
and from that to cross-posting."
With Apologies to Thomas De Quincy (1827)
REFERENCES
De Quincey, T. 1827. "Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts."
Available in a 2004 edition from Kessinger Publishing, Amazon.com
information at <http://tinyurl.com/6nyapy>. Note the "Search Inside"
feature.
Lou, Y., R.M. Bernard, & P.C. Abrami. 2006. Media and pedagogy in
undergraduate distance education: A theory-based meta-analysis of
empirical literature. Educational Technology Research and Development
54: 141-176; freely online to subscribers at
<http://www.springerlink.com/content/872241162022v0j1/fulltext.pdf>
(224 kB); $32 to non subscribers. ETR&D is a bi-monthly publication
of the Association for Educational Communications & Technology
<http://www.aect.org/default.asp>.
Hake, R.R. 2008. "Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?"
IJ-SoTL 2(1): January; online at <http://tinyurl.com/2t5sro>. The
"International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning"
(IJ-SoTL) <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/> is an open, peer
reviewed, international electronic journal containing articles,
essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and
learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education
today.
Russell, T.L. 2001. "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon." IDECC
(International Distance Education Certification Center at
<https://www.arello.org/store/default.cfm?prodlistid=16-17> (this URL
may be erratic):
"This resource summarizes 355 different research studies that support
the conclusion that 'no significant difference' exists between the
effectiveness of classroom education and distance learning." See also
Russell's website <http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/>, with its
searchable data base of "No Difference," "Difference," and "Mixed
results" comparisons of delivery methods.
Stiehm, M. "Re: Effectiveness of Online Education," ASSESS post of 17
Nov 2008 15:29:17-0600; online at <http://tinyurl.com/54rkpq>.
Wiggins, G. 1990. "The Truth May Make You Free, But the Test May Keep
You Imprisoned: Toward Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts," AAHE
Assessment Forum: 17-31; online at the Mathematical Association of
America (MAA) project "Supporting Assessment in Undergraduate
Mathematics" (SAUM) <http://www.maa.org/saum/> / "Getting Started
With Assessment" where "/" means "click on," or download directly
<http://www.maa.org/saum/articles/wiggins_appendix.html>.
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