Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
eLearning
Is Blended Learning Effective?
9/17/2008
|
|
Blended learning sounds like a nice idea--mixing a traditional classroom environment with online components--but is it actually effective? It seems almost intuitively obvious that it is. And with the explosion of blended course delivery in recent years, despite the dearth of research, clearly education institutions take that point for granted.
But researchers at the University of Missouri didn't want to take it for granted when it came to deciding on a delivery model for her own class. So Shawna Strickland, director of the Respiratory Therapy Program at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions, along with student Jason Domachowski, launched a study into the effectiveness of blended learning versus a traditional classroom, dubbed "The Effectiveness of Blended Learning Environments for the Delivery of Respiratory Care Education."
"I couldn't find any research on the subject of blended learning when I was trying to decide for my own class whether blended learning was effective," Strickland said through the University of Missouri News Bureau. "In theory, it sounds great, but there was really no hard evidence that it works. In addition, it is important to ask the question: 'do the students even like it?'"
The study compared two classes taught by the same teacher using two different delivery models: one purely traditional (i.e. face to face), the other blended.
The result, according to the study, was a wash. Academically, there was no statistical difference in achievement between the two classes. And there were no major differences in satisfaction levels based on subjective student comments.
According to an abstract of the report, "None of the variables showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.05). Further testing revealed an expected positive relationship between pre-existing GPA and the final examination grade as well as the final examination grade and the course grade (p=0.05). No other positive relationships were noted in course outcomes, student satisfaction or subjective comments."
Recommended Reading
- UNLV Hospitality Students Learn on Micros Opera
The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) has received a donation from Micros Systems that will allow the college's students to use its Opera hospitality software in classes.
- Cambridge Reduces Support Needs in Move to New Wireless System
The University of Cambridge is deploying Aruba Networks' wireless LAN equipment to replace a legacy network that had become unmanageable and a drain on resources. Since early 2008, about 100 Aruba AP-65 access points have been deployed, along with dual MMC-6000 Multi-Service Mobility Controllers.
- iKnow Social Learning Platform Expands Language Support
Cerego has released new content creation tools for its iKnow social learning platform, adding support for creating learning modules in any of 188 languages. The company has also expanded language support for the text-to-speech technology used in the iKnow platform.
- Smart Debuts Updated Whiteboard Lineup
Smart Technologies last week unveiled updates to its Smart Board 600i interactive whiteboard system. The new lineup includes both a standard 4:3 and a widescreen 16:10 model, each featuring new boom-mounted, short-throw projectors.
- SUNY's Binghamton Monitors Network with Lancope's StealthWatch
Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, is using StealthWatch from Lancope to help streamline network management, control, and security with visibility of network behavior. Binghamton has an IT network that spans 20,000 client endpoints and six geographic locations. After contending with worm propagation and other security threats that affected network performance, the university's network management team sought a way to increase visibility of network traffic and analyze network behavior for potential threats.
- Tufts Grants Rights for Mileage-Increasing Transportation Technology to Electric Truck
Tufts University has optioned rights to a technology that can recharge the batteries of any hybrid electric and electric-powered vehicle while it is driven. The Tufts-developed technology could increase by 20 percent to 70 percent the miles per gallon or total driving range performance of vehicles like the Honda Civic, Ford Escape, and Toyota Prius hybrids and the Tesla Motors and Phoenix Motorcars electric vehicles.
