Online Learning Efficacy Research Database

Assembling and curating specimen collections is a valuable educational exercise that integrates subject-specific skills such as field collection, curation, identification, organization, and interpretation of relationships. Collection projects have been used primarily in face-to-face classes, but they can be readily adapted for distance education. The primary challenges to using collection projects in distance education center on two concerns: (1) whether distance students learn as much as their face-to-face peers and (2) whether academic dishonesty occurs more often in distance education than face to face. This study addressed both concerns by assessing learning outcomes in two entomology courses with both face-to-face and distance sections and evaluating the frequency of specimen-based plagiarism (submitting specimens collected by someone else). An ungraded survey testing students’ insect identification knowledge found equivalent learning outcomes in face-to-face and distance classes. Insect collections were monitored for plagiarized (resubmitted or purchased) specimens in a 5-year “mark-release-recapture’ investigation. Academic dishonesty was detected in fewer than 2% of collections; cheating was more than 12 times more likely in distance than in face-to-face classes. This study’s findings raise the possibility that distance learning assessments can be artificially inflated by cheating, suggesting that evaluations of distance learning should be considered in light of academic dishonesty. These results highlight the benefits and challenges of collections as teaching tools in distance education and underscore the need for instructors to be vigilant about academic integrity. 
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Impeding factors which restrain educational activities such as physical impracticability exist in coach training courses, which are mainly caused by organizations, ineffective and insufficient duration of courses to resolve these problems, it is possible to use blended learning methods in coach training courses. Thus, we developed a traditional face-to-face environment for a special education course and an online environment for a fundamental education course using blending approach. The study aimed to investigate the effects of blended learning model proposed for coaching education courses on the motivation levels and professional competence of coach candidates. Participants were the trainees who wanted to participate in the first stage of the coach training course at volleyball branch. The coach candidates in the blended learning environment showed significantly higher motivation levels compared to the others in the control group. In addition, a significant difference between the control and the experiment groups of coach candidates in regard to their professional competence was detected. This study is compelling in terms of strengthening the significance of the blended learning environment, even in coach training. 
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This study investigated the effect of blended learning on novices’ understandings of the introductory programming. A quasi-experimental design with participants of preservice computer and instructional technologies teachers, one control group (CG, N =64) and one experimental group (EG, N=61) who received the course 11 weeks. While face-to-face courses were taught face-to-face in classroom and in lab, blended courses were conducted in synchronous and asynchronous settings and also in lab sessions. The pretest, posttest and delayed tests were used to collect data. The participants in two groups were separated into three categories (poor, average and good) according to the pretest results. The results of the study showed that blended and face-to-face courses have statistically similar effects on academic achievements among the three categories. However the delayed test results showed that, face-to-face courses were more effective on permanence than blended courses. Thus, considering the main goal of the introductory programming courses as enhancing students in the second category progress into the third, the organization of blended courses had to be revisited. Nevertheless, this study supported the idea that “Crucial challenges may exist on teaching some subjects via blended learning, which include intensive cognitive processes and some new approaches are needed to enhance permanence”. 
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The end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century are marked by technology revolution and strategic changes in organizations. Strategies such as the e-learning, has been used for training human resources. This study aimed to compare the knowledge acquired among groups of nurses who used e-learning and those who undergone a traditional classroom training. The true-experimental design was used followed by a quantitative analysis. This study was performed at the Hospital and Maternity São Luiz. The study population was composed by 60 nurses, randomly assigned to two groups, named A and B. Group A received the traditional classroom training and group B received the computer-assisted training. In the data collection, participants filled in a questionnaire before and after the training to evaluate their knowledge and to characterize the population. Results showed there was an equal acquisition of knowledge in both groups; confirming the efficacy of both methods. 
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This multi-semester (eight semesters), multi-course study compared student performance in undergraduate online and traditional sections of “Organization and Management” with sample sizes of 380 and 213, respectively. Concurrent online and traditional sections of “Strategic Management” courses with sample sizes of 298 and 456, respectively, were also comparatively analyzed. Similar to previous research (Borthick & Jones, 2000; Gagne & Shepherd, 2001; Piccoli, Ahman, Ives, 2001), this study found no statistically significant difference in student performance between online and traditional classes in both management courses after examining eight semesters of data. However, this study found gender differences with both management courses. 
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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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