Online Learning Efficacy Research Database

This study compares outcome measures for identical courses offered in two delivery modes. One delivery mode is Web-based, online, and asynchronous, and the other is face-to-face and synchronous. Outcome measures for both modes include gain scores (difference between pretest and posttest knowledge), grade expressed as a percentage, and student satisfaction. These outcome measures are used to determine whether online students learn as effectively as face-to-face students. Analysis of the data suggests that online students are gaining knowledge comparable to the face-to-face students and that the online students are as satisfied on most dimensions as the face-to-face students. Kolb's Learning Style instrument is utilized to determine if one learning style lends itself better to online learning than other styles. 
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This paper reports research on whether online delivery performs as well as traditional lecture delivery for a computer science course at North Carolina State University. The comparisons made are for two large sections of the course for which almost the only difference was that one section attended on-campus lectures and the other did not. Where significant differences in outcomes appear for students who completed the course, they favor the online students. However, online students who started the course were less likely to complete it. 
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Internet technologies are having a significant impact on the learning industry. For-profit organizations and traditional institutions of higher education
have developed and are using web-based courses, but little is known about their effectiveness compared to traditional classroom education. Our work focuses on the effectiveness of a webbased virtual learning environment (VLE) in the context of basic information technology skills training.
This article provides three main contributions. First, it introduces and defines the concept of VLE, discussing how a VLE differs from the traditional classroom and differentiating it from the related, but narrower, concept of computer aided instruction (CAI). Second, it presents a framework of VLE effectiveness, grounded in the technology mediated learning literature, which frames the VLE research domain, and addresses the relationship between the main constructs. Finally, it focuses on one essential VLE design variable, learner control, and compares a web-based VLE to a traditional classroom through a longitudinal
experimental design. Our results indicate that, in the context of IT basic skills training in undergraduate education, there are no significant differences in performance between students enrolled in the two environments. However, the VLE leads to higher reported computer self-efficacy, while participants report being less satisfied with the learning process. 
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This paper presents the results of a study designed to examine the effects of distance delivery on student performance and classroom interactions in an upper level science (Histology) course. Outcomes were assessed by comparing performance on content pre- and posttests for students enrolled in on-campus and on-line sections of the same course. Interactions were classified according to initiator, topic, and Bloom's taxonomy level for content interactions. The resulting patterns were analyzed to compare behaviors in different settings. It was found that although the groups were indistinguishable in content knowledge at the outset of the study, by the end of the semester, students in the on-line group significantly out-performed their peers in the on-campus section. The on-line settings had a greater proportion of high-level interactions (according to Bloom's taxonomy) than the on-campus setting. 
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This study compares the achievement of students enrolled in two sections of a course on teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL), one taught in a classroom setting and the other offered online. Participants included 29 students enrolled in the online section and 31 students in the classroom section. Students in the online section of the course scored significantly lower than students in the classroom-based course on a pretest. A t-test of student achievement on a posttest showed no significant difference in achievement among students enrolled in the two sections of the course. Numerically speaking, however, students in the classroom-based section as a group scored 13.19 points higher on the posttest than they did on the pretest. For the online group, the improvement in average score from pretest to posttest was 15.21 points. This finding suggests that students in the online section of the course achieved more than their classroom-based counterparts. 
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This study examined pre-test and post-test scores, homework grades, research paper grades, final exam scores, final course grades, learning styles, and ages of distance education and traditional students enrolled in a business communications class to determine if distance education is better, worse, or as good as traditional education. Significant differences were found for post-test scores, final exam scores, and age. There were no significant differences in pre-test scores, homework grades, research paper grades, and final course grades. Both groups preferred clearly organized coursework and performing at an above-average level--ranking in the top 25 to 33% of their class. Recommendations for research include investigating student social interaction and increasing the number of classes studied to compare results. 
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This empirical study compared a graduate online course with an equivalent course taught in a traditional face-to-face format on a variety of outcome measures. Comparisons included student ratings of instructor and course quality; assessment of course interaction, structure, and support; and learning outcome measures such as course grades and student self-assessment of their ability to perform various Instructional Systems Design (ISD) tasks. Results revealed that the students in the face-to-face course held slightly more positive perceptions about the instructor and overall course quality although there was no difference between the two course formats in several measures of learning outcomes. The findings have direct implications for the creation, development, and delivery of online instruction. 
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The purpose of this project was to compare student outcomes in an undergraduate research course taught using both World Wide Web-based distance learning technology and traditional pedagogy. Reasons given for enrolling in the traditional classroom section included the perception of increased opportunity for interaction, decreased opportunity to procrastinate, immediate feedback, and more meaningful learning activities. Reasons for selecting the Web group section included cost, convenience, and flexibility. Overall, there was no significant difference in examination scores between the two groups on the three multiple-choice examinations or for the course grades (t = -.96, P = .343). Students who reported that they were self-directed and had the ability to maintain their own pace and avoid procrastination were most suited to Web-based courses. The Web-based classes can help provide opportunities for methods of communication that are not traditionally nurtured in traditional classroom settings. Secondary benefits of the World Wide Web-based course were to increase student confidence with the computer, and introduce them to skills and opportunities they would not have had in the classroom. Additionally, over time and with practice, student's writing skills improved. 
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We offered introductory psychology on the World-Wide Web (WWW) and evaluated the on-line format relative to the traditional lecture-test format, using a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design. Multiple sections of the introductory course were offered each semester; on-line and lecture sections were taught by the same instructor, the same textbook was used, and the same in-class examinations were taken. For on-line sections, mastery quizzes, interactive individual exercises, and weekly laboratory meetings replaced lectures. Increased content knowledge was greater for the students in the Web sections, as was in-class examination performance. Use of the WWW and computers for academic purposes increased more in the on-line sections, and the on-line students showed a greater decrease in computer anxiety. The students in the on-line sections expressed appreciation for course components and the convenience of the course, but the lecture sections received higher ratings on course evaluations than did the on-line sections. Learning and course satisfaction were dissociated in the two course formats. 
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