T&R Project Revision Summary Sheet
Changes – Section 1
1. To better accommodate a study that I could feasibly accomplish, I changed
my course from 10th grade chemistry to 7th grade science, a course I am
teaching this year.
2. Instead of teaching a whole year of 7th science, I would teach just one unit
online, along with the same unit in the traditional classroom, making it easier to
plan out the curriculum.
3. I would be responsible for teaching both the online section as well as the
traditional section, which would help eliminate the teacher variable.
4. Both sections would follow the same curriculum as well as taking a common
assessment at the end of the unit.
Changes – Section 2
1. More conflicting viewpoints about my issue - A conflicting viewpoint to the
current push toward online education is the article by Maeroff and Hall, who
mention that some people have raised an objection to state money being used
to fund home schooling based on online education. They argue that home
schooling could have a religious slant to it, which should not be supported by
public monies. Also, Dickson states that the technology allows us to use all
sorts of different kinds of assessments, etc. while Ascough argues that we
should allow the pedagogy to determine the curriculum of the course, not the
technology.
2. Pedagogy section: Ascough paper – Same design methodology as
traditional class, but ask the question, “Can it be done online?” It may seem
basic, but it prevents technology from dictating pedagogy, which is not the
correct way to design a course.
3. Assessment section: describe methods and data collection instruments
(rather than just findings); The Hughes paper describes an experiment that
compared a common math exam across different states. I discussed it in my
Perspectives section, and re-stated it in the assessment section.
Changes – Section 3
1. I am changing the class to a 7th grade unit (something I can feasibly carry out
because I teach 7th grade this year); metric conversions are in my GLCE’s, and
they are easy to teach both in traditional classrooms as well as online. I can
use a lot of graphics based things (graduated cylinders) because my ability to
do physical labs is limited in an online course.
2. Assessments: I will describe further my ideas for assessment. I will use a
district-wide CAAP (common assessment given to all district 7th graders,
whether online or traditional). Perhaps a requirement for enrollment in class is
purchase of lab materials so they can still do experiments? Or, I could place a
set of glassware in the library where they will be taking the class. Instead of
filling the beaker and asking quantity, give them a number and have them fill it,
then upload a picture.
Revised Focus and Rationale
Obviously, we live in an increasingly digital age. Over 90% of public
colleges and universities offer some sort of an online course, and as of 2005 –
2006, 700,000 students were served by a virtual school. (Virtual Schools, 4)
Because I am taking courses that will eventually earn me a degree in Educational
Technology, not withstanding the fact that the aforementioned courses will be
taken entirely online, I would like to investigate the issue of virtual coursework
versus “hands on” learning. Do students taking online courses learn just as
much, and perform as well on standardized tests as those students who learn the
material in a brick and mortar classroom?
I have an interest in several areas of this phenomenon. I already briefly
discussed my Master’s program that is entirely online. Although I graduated too
early to take a course completely online during my high school or college years, I
have been involved in the transition towards these courses, using technology
such as Angel, Blackboard, Lon-Capa, etc.
Additionally, I have always thought that perhaps teaching an online course
would suit me. I enjoy teaching as well as technology, so it seems only natural to
put the two together. I thought that perhaps I could teach a virtual course over
the summer when school was out as a way to both keep busy and earn an extra
income. As a former science researcher and current science teacher, the whole
concept of virtual classrooms seems an unlikely pairing for science. During my
teacher education classes, I was routinely told that the best way to allow students
to learn was through inquiry. That is, allow them to do the experiments
themselves and really get hands on with their work. This will allow them to not
only develop their own set of questions to answer, but also to focus in allow them
to analyze the data to construct the most meaningful answers possible. With a
virtual school setting, it is considerably harder, if not impossible in many cases, to
perform scientific experiments at home, especially at the secondary or college
level. I could, of course, give the students the data sets and allow them to draw
their own conclusions, but this is not the same as allowing the student to make
up, test, and analyze their own questions.
I feel that this research would be important for those educators who teach
in an inquiry based manner, for the reasons described above. Moving to inquiry
based education focused on enhanced critical thinking skills is something that is
currently underway in the educational environment. On the other side, there
could be a benefit for those sorts of situations where a large class size is not a
detriment, such as a language class. Finally, I think an aspect that I have not
read much about is standardized test preparation. I anticipate that in the future
you will see SAT, ACT, GRE, etc. prep classes being taught in a virtual
environment. These would be highly focused courses, and since the sole marker
of success is a standardized test, my research correlates highly with it.
Revised Literature Review and Annotations
Introduction
Online learning opportunities continue on an upward trend. Some 44
states offer significant online learning opportunities (Ferdig, Cavanaugh, DiPietro,
Black, & Dawson, 2009), and over 90% of public colleges and universities offer
online courses (Tucker, 2007). It only seems natural that as more and more
online learning opportunities exist, more and more students will choose to take
them. Indeed, some colleges and universities are offering degrees that are
completed entirely online (such as MSU MAET). Michigan recently became the
first state to require an online course or experience for high school graduation
(Ackley, 2007). Given the current financial situation at schools throughout the
country, coupled with an increasingly technology-dependent society, this trend is
likely to continue. These data lead me to wonder if the new online method of
content delivery is as effective (using various forms of assessment) as traditional
learning. Additionally, I would like to know if there are special cases that would
benefit from online learning when traditional learning is not available.
Perspectives
The first and most noticeable thing that stands out in my research is just
how little research has actually been performed on the specific question of online
versus traditional learning. Many have written about the slight advantage at best
given to the online learner (Dickson, 2005; Moore, 2007; Carr, 2000; Hughes,
McLeod, Brown, Maeda, Choi, 2007; Hui, 2007), but few have done so in a
quantitative way. As a former Biological Researcher, this surprised me. I
thought that since online education has been around for over a decade now,
quantitative data would have been collected. Dickson (2005) attempts to
compare scores between online courses in order to compare the relative
“toughness” of a course, but doesn’t directly compare one course to another.
Hughes et al. (2007) used statistical analysis to research whether or not
online math students performed better on a standardized Assessment of
Algebraic Understanding (AAU) test than did traditional learners. They found a
statistically significant difference in favor of online learners. At first, this sounds
like a very telling study, but issues arise. The data was analyzed from several
different states with different math curricula, as well as state math assessments.
Additionally, they had a relatively low N number for both the online and the
traditional students.
Still others argue that the experiment is unnecessary. Maeroff & Hall
(2003) mention that state supported vouchers may be used in the future to
support online learning environments for home schooled students. This could, in
theory, supply public support monies to a student that is getting a religious slant
to his education. Additionally, some colleges and universities are worried about
funding issues associated with online education. If a student is taking a class,
but lives out of state, what tuition rate is he charged? The universities want to
protect themselves and limit out of state access. These issues present the
argument that perhaps we need to solve some bigger issues before we start
wondering if the programs are effective.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is useless unless the student can first access the information.
Osika & Sharp (2002) demonstrated that students need a minimum of technical
skill to be successful online. In today’s day and age, it is tempting to make the
assumption that kids are more technologically literate than they were 8 years ago
when the report was written, but that may be a fallacy. Access issues persist
both in traditional and virtual learning institutions.
Access does not have to be an issue, however. One advantage of the
virtual environment is the ability for students to take courses that they would not
otherwise have the opportunity to take. Hannum et al. (2009), in their survey of
rural districts, found that only a small percentage could have afforded to offer
special elective classes if it were not for virtual schools. Offering a course a
grade earlier goes a long way to keeping up with wealthier districts. Additionally,
rural districts are often spread out over longer distances, making it even harder to
build a new brick and mortar building.
Public K-12 education is not the only sector that benefits from online
opportunities. Indeed, Maeroff et al. (2003) liken today’s online learning
academies to the correspondence schools of old: allowing people who are not
physically close to an institution of learning the opportunity to become more
educated. Maeroff goes on to discuss the US Army’s online learning program.
In order to save the soldiers’ time and effort (or even access at all) if they are
moved to a different base, the Army allows them to take courses for credit
through one centralized virtual school.
Hannum, Irvin, Banks, & Farmer (2009) interviewed administrators from
almost 400 rural districts, and found that 95% of district administrators rated their
students “very well” or “somewhat well” prepared for online learning. Yet Barbour
& Reeves (2009) found that most of the Virtual High School curriculum was
centered on older, college bound students. Somewhere in the middle, Hughes
(2007) reports that they found the highest achievement was in older students,
however, those students did not report being on a college bound path. These
reports demonstrate the glaringly obvious fact that each virtual school, just as
with traditional brick and mortar schools, has their own set of curriculum and
teaching styles.
Online schools offer an advantage that traditional ones do not in the form
of non-traditional hours. Tucker (2007) talks about eliminating the non-traditional
learning times of evenings and weekends. This time can now be spent getting
active feedback on the lessons completed that day. In a society that is busier
than ever, squeezing all of the hours out of the day is an important consideration.
Dickson (2005) postulates that the online environment offers near-instant
feedback to the teacher about the class. Even to the point of counting clicks on a
certain area and representing it in a chart. He criticizes the current lack of
accurate graphical representation software, but advocates for this use of
technology in the future.
On the flip side, Ascough (2002) argues that we should let the pedagogy
dominate the curriculum, not the technology. He advocates for designing the
course first, just like a traditional classroom. After that is completed, ask the
question: “can this be done online?”. In this way, you will prevent the technology
from overshadowing the pedagological principals followed by outstanding
educators. Just because we can have the students blog everyday, should we?
What sort of learning connection is this enforcing?
Assessment
One issue making direct comparison test scores difficult is the difference
in pedagogy not just between different virtual schools, but within them. Michigan
Virtual High School (MVHS) varies considerably even within the different classes
offered. Some courses are constructed locally by the teachers who are in charge
of them, and some are purchased through vendors (Dickson, 2005). Adding yet
another layer of complexity is the fact that the vendors have changed over time,
thus changing the content of the course. Because MVHS does not award credit,
it simply makes a recommendation to the students “home” district, it does not
necessarily have to follow a rigid set of guidelines (Dickson, 2005).
An oft cited issue of assessment concerning virtual schools is the lack of a
physical building itself. Often in a virtual school environment, students who are
not performing adequately simply stop taking the class. If those students fail to
formally drop the course, they are thereby skewing the data (Dickson, 2005).
Even the students who do choose to formally drop the course subtly influence the
data. Dickson (2005) notes a large increase in the average grades for the
second course in the series versus the first. It is much easier to “weed out” the
underachieving student in a virtual environment than it is in a traditional
classroom (Carr, 2000).
As previously stated, Osika et al. (2002) reported that a minimum of
technical skill is required to be successful online. Black, Ferdig, & DiPietro
(2008) noted that few content matter assessments were completed across the
country, and that most of the assessment on virtual schools consists of
technological assessment. They continue on to say that this area of assessment
is becoming less of a concern as more tech-savvy students self select into online
courses. Almost ironically, they note that the current limitations on technology
cause a rift between what can actually be assessed in the virtual environment
versus a traditional school. Certainly, it is much easier to complete a laboratory
practical or a foreign language test face to face than it is online. If you’re
uploading your vocabulary test online, how many takes would you make to
ensure it is perfect?
Moore (2007) uses a specialized Educational Success Prediction
Instrument (ESPRI) to accurately predict the success rate of a given student.
Similarly, Dickson notes that GPA can be used as a covariant to predict student
success. Roblyer & Davis (2008) used the assessment data that was already
compiled in a novel way. They also constructed a model to predict success; they
argue that the model should not be used to prevent enrollment in a virtual school,
but should instead be used to show how we can better support all those who
choose to attend.
Finally, as stated previously, Hughes et al. (2007) attempted to perform a
study comparing the direct results of a common math assessment. However,
their results do not hold a tremendous amount of merit due to the various
curriculums being taught in the different states that they used in their analysis.
Conclusion
I was originally looking for research that performed a straight comparison
between the test scores obtained at a virtual school versus those obtained (using
the same test) at a traditional brick and mortar school. However, it became
apparent that this sort of test simply hasn’t been done. Perhaps one of the
reasons is that a test such as that really wouldn’t be of much use.
Different courses of study are important to different people – a researcher
looking at the big picture might envision a test with a large N number, such as the
one attempted by Hughes et al. (2007). However, a family struggling with the
decision to attend a virtual school versus a traditional one might be interested to
read about the advantages offered by the non-traditional hours or the availability
of predictive success models, such as those offered by Dickson (2005), Moore
(2007) or Roblyer et al. (2008).
Is it possible to have a situation where a comparison is not possible or
appropriate? What about a student that attends a rural school that does not have
the resources to even offer a traditional brick and mortar class? This student
could enroll in a virtual school that offers it. Between his choices of not taking the
course versus taking the course that doesn’t have good data, his choice would
more than likely be to enroll online.
Based on all the data, it seems that there is no direct comparison that
adequately represents all of the angles involved in this issue. At this point, given
the current data, it seems that online schools should be looked at much the same
way that traditional schools are. They should be compared based on content
and what suits the individual learner best.
Revised Research Design
Research Questions
My research will focus on the advantages of online learning and, more
specifically, if students who take online classes perform as well as their peers
who take the same course in a brick and mortar classroom.
Research Proposal
I have decided to use the fact that Michigan requires an online experience
in my research. My study will prepare them for this requirement. Barbour &
Reeves (2009) suggested that most online courses were designed for the college
bound student, and this could lead to selection bias. To circumvent this, I would
randomly assign one entire class of students to take a class online (experimental
group), and one entire class to take the same class in a traditional classroom
(control group). I am teaching 7th grade science this year, so I would use that as
my class in question. In order to make the study feasible to me, I would possibly
change the year of online learning to one unit. This would be both easier for me
to plan the online curriculum, as well as helping to be less disruptive (due to the
short length of time) to those students chosen for the experimental group. While
I do recognize the fact that some online programs are set up for credit recovery
(Tucker, 2007) and therefore are able to be accessed at non-traditional hours, I
would have the students take the class in the library / computer lab, thus
eliminating the parent involvement variable. One of the limitations brought to my
attention in the literature review was the lack of direct comparison data. Due to
the fact that online schools vary state to state, and even within a particular state,
the specific curriculum for a course can vary wildly. For the purpose of my
research, I would need the traditional course and the online course to have the
same curriculum. This particular setup gives me the advantage of eliminating the
teacher and curriculum bias due to the fact that I will be the teacher for both the
classroom as well as the online students.
This curriculum (and specific units) lend themselves well to an online
learning environment. We cover the metric system, unit conversion (metric to
standard, etc), as well as laboratory glassware measurement. It’s just as easy to
post a picture of a metric ruler online and ask students what the measurement
indicates as it is to have one in class that they can physically touch. Perhaps I
can make it a requirement of the online learners to use the glassware that I keep
in the library for some basic measurements.
Assessment
At the end of the course or unit, each student would be required to take a
common final exam. The exam will be the standard exam that we give to all 7th
graders in my district. The exam was written by the 7th grade teachers a few
years ago following the Michigan GLCE’s. The purpose of this neutrality is to
combat any selection bias that may be written into the exam by the teacher of
either the online or the traditional course.
Perhaps I could even expand the traditional classroom by using the
limitations of the online environment. I discussed before about keeping a basic
set of laboratory glassware in the library. In this way, I could give a practical lab
exam to both sets of students. Instead of showing the online students a picture
of a beaker and asking them to tell me how full it is by reading the meniscus, I
could have them upload a picture and tell me what the meniscus is, giving them
the roll of teacher and student. I could do the same for the traditional students,
they would just simply be required to write it down on their exam.
I would analyze the scores of the two groups (experimental versus
control). At this point, I would take advantage of what Dickson (2005) described:
using student’s GPA as a covariate, as well as thinking about using some sort of
a “technology comfort level” pretest. Both of these will help bring down any noise
in the study caused by a class of students who inherently get better grades or are
more comfortable using the computer. I will specifically compute the mean,
standard deviation, median, and minimum / maximum scores. The mean and
standard deviation will be run with a Student’s t-test, with a p value of .05 (the
standard). If a statistically significant result is shown by the t-test, then I would
reject the null hypothesis (both approaches to education are equal) in favor of the
alternate hypothesis (online schools better prepare students for standardized
tests). The median score will allow me to calculate the effect of outliers (as
determined from the minimum and maximum scores) when compared to the
mean.
Design Rationale
As previously stated, I have not seen a direct comparison between
students taking a common assessment after having completed both an online or
brick and mortar version of the same course. Hughes et al. (2007) made a good
effort to compare the results of a math test, but I feel it was too generic. Their
data came from multiple states which were teaching multiple versions of a math
class. My study directly compares data from two (or more, depending on how big
the school is) classes that are teaching the same curriculum, and giving the
same common exam. Hughes et al. (2007) goes on to say that they did not have
access to the students’ prior grade records. By using a covariate and randomly
assigning students to either online or traditional, I am eliminating selection bias. I
feel that this study will help those who need the help the most: the students and
parents who are trying to decide if online education is an appropriate option. The
study will be useful whether the student is taking the course to recover lost
credits, or taking it to challenge herself.
Annotations
Ackley, M. (2007). Innovative Online Career Development Course for HS
Students is Launched. Retrieved 28 July, 2010 from
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5233-161970--,00.html
This is the press release that announces the State of Michigan teaming up with
Microsoft in order to bring CareerForward via Blackboard to Michigan High
School Students. However, it does not give very many specifics about the
program, or what kinds of courses it will offer. It just uses words and phrases
such as “help bring Michigan students into the new 21st century economy”. While
announcing the program, it does little in the way of providing helpful information
about the program.
Ascough, R. (2002). Designing for Online Distance Education: Putting
Pedagogy before Technology. Teaching Theology and Religion. 5:1, 17-29
Ascough discusses the classical fallacy of relying on technology to deliver
content simply because it’s there rather than using the technology to deliver the
content we want. For instance, do we really need to stream a video of a lecture
just because we can?
Barbour, M. K., & Reeves, T. C. (2009). The Reality of virtual schools: a
review of the literature. Computers and Education, 52.
By 2006 a “majority” of high school students will have completed an online
course (pg. 4). In their first year evaluation of the VHS, Kozma, Zucker, and
Espinoza (1998) found that the vast majority of students in their courses were
planning to attend a four-year college. They also reported that two thirds of the
teachers indicated that the VHS students were less likely to drop out of school
than students in their classroom-based courses. These findings led the
evaluators to conclude that ‘‘the current VHS curriculum [was] dominated by
advanced courses that cater to students who are successful, independent, and
college bound” (p. 49). The following year, Espinoza, Dove, Zucker, and Kozma
(1999) reached similar conclusions when they stated that ‘‘VHS courses are
predominantly designated as ‘honors,’ and students enrolled are mostly college
bound” (p.49).
Black, E. W. , Ferdig, R. E. and DiPietro, M.(2008). 'An Overview of
Evaluative Instrumentation for Virtual High Schools', American Journal of
Distance Education, 22: 1, 24 — 45
Can do a content matter assessment, which makes sense, but few exist across
the country. (4). A large amount of assessment is tech. assessment, which is
becoming less and less important as more tech savvy students self select into
online courses. (5). Currently, limits in technology available limit what
assessments can be peformed. It also notes that traditional schools offer more
assessment options.
Carr, S. (2000). As distance education comes of age, the challenge is
keeping the students. Chronicle of Higher Education. February 11.
Available online at http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i23/23a00101.htm
anecdotal evidence and studies by individual institutions suggest that coursecompletion and program-retention rates are generally lower in distance-education
courses than in their face-to-face counterparts.
Dickson, P. W. (2005). Toward a Deeper Understanding of Student
Performance in Virtual High School Courses. Michigan State University,
East Lansing, MI.
http://www.msu.edu/course/cep/952/DicksonNCREL2005.pdf
Different students take these courses, some are highly motivated, some had
trouble with the “standard” version and think that the online one will help them
succeed. MVHS doesn’t award credits independently, works within districts. (pg
31) 5,277 enrollees as of 2004 – 2005. Older studies found little variation
between instructional methods. Different courses of study important to different
people – individual for parents versus large N number for researchers.
Large number of Science courses surprises me, as well as small number of
“elective” courses (mentioned in Dickson, pg. 30)
Of particular importance is the subtitle (grade distribution). Traditional schools
don’t’ distribute grades by course (pg. 32). MVHS differs wildly in pedagogy:
some lessons created locally, some bought through vendors, and vendors have
changed over time (pg. 34). Sometimes data is skewed by kids dropping out of a
course but not formally dropping out. (pg. 38-39). Quantitative data between first
and second semester courses (pg. 39) shows that students averaged much
higher in the second semester course than the first. Online courses develop data
in real time (pg. 42). Current scientific approach not necessarily good for this
research, do we need a more carefully controlled study? (pg. 57). Use students
GPA in classrooms as covariates to control differing student characteristics. (pg.
58)
DiPietro, M. Ferdig, R. Black, E., (2008). Best Practice in Teaching K-12
online: Lessons Learned from Michigan Virtual Schools teachers. Journal
of Interactive Online Learning. Vol.7: 10-35
The report analyzes a collection of interviews conducted through Michigan Virtual
High School teachers. They attempt to use the interviews to formulate best
practices for the online environment. There has not been much research into the
area of how successful courses are that are simply adapted from a traditional
course into an online course. (18-19)
Ferdig , R.E., Cavanaugh, C., DiPietro, M., Black, E.W., & Dawson, K. (2009).
Virtual schooling standards and best practices for teacher education. Jl. of
Technology and Teacher Education, 17(4), Retrieved from
http://florida.academia.edu/documents/0073/8480/Ferdig.pdf
44 states offer significant online learning opportunities (2) Standards and best
practice need to include variation in roles (17). Virtual schools vary amongst
themselves in operation (hours, policies, etc. making comparisons difficult). (17)
Hannum, W. H., Irvin, M. J., Banks, J. B., & Farmer,T. W. (2009). Distance
education use in rural schools. Journal of Research in Rural Education,
24(3). Retrieved 28 July, 2010 from http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/24-3.pdf
The researchers indicate that they surveyed 400 rural school districts about their
use of distance learning, with most currently using some form of it. A “large
majority” indicated that they were satisfied with distance learning. Only a small
portion of the districts said that they could have offered the enriched courses if it
were not for the online environment. They indicate that 95% of district
administrators rated their students “very well” or “somewhat well” prepared for
online learning. (8).
Hughes, J. E. , McLeod, S. , Brown, R. , Maeda, Y. and Choi, J.(2007)
'Academic Achievement and Perceptions of the Learning Environment in
Virtual and Traditional Secondary Mathematics Classrooms', American
Journal of Distance Education, 21: 4, 199 — 214
Found that online students performed better on a standardized math test. (2)
This was even true despite the fact that the majority of online learners were older
students. They used good statistical analysis to back up their claim. However,
their tests were not conclusive because they were from different states using
different criteria, and the virtual schools did not have access to the students prior
grade records. Continues on to discuss equity issues, such as wealthier districts
offering algebra earlier (8th grade) and perhaps the less wealthy districts can offer
algebra in 8th grade via virtual learning. (11)
Hui, W. (2007). Technology-assisted learning: a longitudinal field study of
knowledge category, learning effectiveness and satisfaction in language
learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 24: 245-259
Hui talks about learning a new language via an online environment. She says
that vocabulary skills showed an improvement, but that “experience” is not
gained. This could be because of a lack of hands on activities, as well as
practice. This seems to say to me that online learning would be a good fit to
learn the basics of a course, but perhaps not the best fit if in-depth knowledge is
required. Also, this got me thinking about perhaps a “hybrid” course, where
students are directed to do some inquiry based activities at home as part of their
learning?
Maeroff, G., & Hall, G.K. (2003). Bibliographic guide to education. G K Hall.
I didn’t get a chance to purchase or read this entire book, but I thought that I
could use the parts that I could view on Google Books. He mentions that some
states want to protect themselves and block content delivered by out of state
institutions. More than 125 million children around the world have no elementary
and secondary schools to attend, according to the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (9) US Army allowed soldiers to
get credit online through it’s website, instead of having to go through hassles as
they moved bases (11).
Michigan Virtual High School. (2010) Retrieved 28 July 2010 from
http://www.mivhs.org/
This is the website for Michigan’s virtual high school itself. It keeps bumping
around between Michigan Virtual High School and Michigan Virtual University, so
I’m assuming some connection there. Additionally, even though they are a nonprofit company, they still are looking to increase enrollment, so I’m cautious of
bias on the website. They do offer some interesting facts, though.
Michigan LearnPort has granted more than 3,700 free State Board Continuing
Education Units (SB-CEUs). (This is good to know from a teaching perspective)
MVU has served more than 64,000 students through online course
enrollments or access to other online learning tools in the past decade.
school graduation.
Moore, M. (2007). Handbook of distance education. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Retrieved from:
http://books.google.com/books?id=MA9Q73SeesC&lpg=PP1&dq=handbook%20of%20distance%20education&pg=P
A160#v=onepage&q&f=false
Cites several studies and analysis of metadata that shows small, nondistiguishable differences between online and traditional schools. (158). Uses
ESPRI to very accurately predict the success and failure rate of a given student
(160). Perhaps goals are different? (Increased equity and access to learning
resources vs. high quality education using resources not available in the
classroom) (165)
Osika, E.R., & Sharp , D.P. (2002). Minimum technical competencies for
distance learning students. Journal of Research on Technology in
Education, 34(3), Retrieved from
http://proquest.umi.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&fmt=6&st
artpage=-1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=155819131&exp=07-27-
2015&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&cfc=1&TS=1280347512&clientId
=3552
Students need a minimum of technical skill to be successful online. However,
this article was written in 2002, and referenced many articles that were older
than that. Therefore, I would imagine that many students’ technical skills are
greater than 10 years ago.
Roblyer, M. D., & Davis, L. (2008). Predicting success for virtual school
students: putting research-based models into practice. Online Journal of
Distance Learning Administration, 11(4), Retrieved from
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter114/roblyer114.html
Discuss using predictive models (one of which they made) to guess student’s
success. However, not in the traditional way. They argue that the model should
be used to teach us how to support student success rather than prevention of
student enrollment.
Tucker, B. (2007, June). Laboratories of reform: virtual high schools and
innovation in public education. Education sector reports, Retrieved from
http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/Virtual_Schools.pdf
Tucker talks about the increased use of Virtual High Schools up until the year
2005. He talks about extra opportunities for students to earn credit, such as A/P
classes. He also discusses the credit recovery aspect that is possible with a
virtual school. He talks about some of the successes (such as eliminating nontraditional learning times such as evenings and weekends (7)) as well as some of
the struggles (poorly designed lessons and / or little attention paid to the student
(9)).