Online Learning Efficacy Research Database

There are growing trends in postsecondary education that emphasize the importance of online and technology-enabled learning. This study aims to investigate whether the use of virtual, interactive, real-time, instructor-led (VIRI) online learning can deliver the same student performance and engagement outcomes as a face-to-face (F2F) course. The data consist of 698 participants taught in eight sections, over two semesters, with two different instructors. An analysis of variance was used to compare the differences for both student performance and engagement outcomes. The findings show that a synchronous course delivered using VIRI classroom technology has the same level of student performance outcomes as F2F learning. This study suggests that VIRI technology is an effective synchronous learning environment. 
[less]

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out the effectiveness of blended learning which uses student-centered approach as compared to teacher-centered approach on a university's fundamental subject - Principles of Marketing. Colis and Moonen (2001) argue that the blended learning is a hybrid of traditional face-to-face and online learning. Thus, while the teacher–centered approach focuses on traditional lecture method using one-way communication, the student-centered approach combines many flipped-class techniques such as online modules, group discussion, exercise, presentation, quizzes and games. As the global education system has moved toward self-learning, all education institutions especially at tertiary level have started engaging with the blended-learning activities. Thus, a study to gauge the effectiveness of the blended learning is likely to be beneficial for universities.

Design / Methodology / Approach – Data of Principles of Marketing subject from three different classes at three different trimesters were gathered on this research. One class was conducted using teacher–centered learning whilst another two classes were using student–centered learning. At the end of the semester, students were required to complete a set of five questions Likert-type assessment adapted from Helms (2014) to obtain feedback on the class as well as to determine their preferences.

Findings – The result shows that the class with the blended learning produces better results as compared to the traditional learning. The number of students whom passed the exam has significantly increased, making the failure rate lower for the last two trimesters. Additionally, the number of students achieved higher grades has also increased.

Originality / Value – The student-centered learning is considerably a new concept of education in Malaysia, if not in all developing countries. While many other universities in the world have already promoted blended-learning, the stigma of education in Malaysia is still relying on teacher-centered approach as a means to produce better students. Since the new approach such as student-centered learning has been producing significant results, the concept of relying heavily on lecturers or instructors must be challenged. This research suggests that not only the student-centered learning produces better results but also favoured by students. 
[less]

Much of the existing research in distance education has focused on contrasting the outcomes between traditional face-to-face teaching and purely online courses, in which the entire course content is delivered online. However, research has not examined the effectiveness of hybrid-online courses, in which a combination of online delivery and face-to-face classroom teaching is used, especially in the context of marketing courses. This paper examines student experiences and learning outcomes in purely online and hybrid-online course formats. For both formats, student satisfaction is found to be affected by the course content, student-teacher communications, the use of effective learning tools, and the instructor. Improvements in perceived learning and course performance scores are observed for the hybrid-online format in the context of a qualitative marketing course while no such benefits are observed for a technical marketing course. The results indicate that the merits of different distance learning approaches need to be evaluated in the specific context of each course and that the benefits of integrating face-to-face meetings into online marketing courses are course specific. 
[less]

The purpose of this paper is to measure and compare the effectiveness of a Web-based course delivery system to a traditional course delivery system. The results indicate that a web-based course is effective and equivalent to a traditional classroom environment. As with the implementation of all new technologies, there are some pros and cons that should be considered. The significant pro is the element of convenience which eliminates the constrictive boundaries of space and time. The most notable con involves the impersonal nature of the online environment. Overall, we found the web-based course delivery system to be very successful in terms of learning outcomes and student satisfaction. 
[less]