Online Ed Beats the Classroom in Twelve Year Study

by Mike Smith · 2009-08-26 03:14:00 UTC
Topics:

A twelve-year study has found "quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses," reports the New York Times. The Department of Education study found that those studying courses that had online elements moved up in performance ranking from the 50th to the 59th percentile — suggesting that online education is not just an alternative, but can provide a better learning experience. Whether it's the simple novelty of working on a computer, or a symptom of working alone and concentrating is unclear.

It's excellent news that has come at the right time: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan yesterday asked schools to prepare online lessons in case swine flu sickens large numbers or causes schools to close entirely. Duncan was joined by representatives of Microsoft and Apple who will help deliver online resources should they be called upon.

[Photo credit: Sneddon]

Mike Smith is associate editor at Change.org.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Teachers Still Stuck in New York City's Rubber Rooms
NEXT STORY:
Student loans got you down? Start a petition.

COMMENTS (16)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.