Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times is reporting today on the expansion of online learning in K-12 education.  It indicates that several states are now requiring that students take a minimum number of online classes in order to graduate.  Idaho for instance is about to adopt a high school requirement that students take at least four online classes.  The major question with online learning at the K-12 level is whether it is being done to expand course offerings or simply to save money. Karen Aronowitz, president of the Miami teachers union says online learning ”[is] a cheap education, not because it benefits the students” .  The research on online learning at the K-12 level is modest.   In higher education, there is a good deal of research, most of which indicates that there is no significant difference in student outcomes in online v. face-to-face instruction.  A recent meta-analysis conducted by the US. Department of Education concluded that classes with online learning (whether taught completely online or blended) on average produce stronger student learning outcomes than do classes with solely face-to-face instruction. The mean effect size for all 50 contrasts was +0.20, p < .001.  However, the authors of this report also caution that this increase in learning might be due to an increase in class time in the online and blended modalities.  The NY Times article also refers to a national study which Jeff Seaman and I conducted two years ago for the Sloan Consortium.  A more recent study that Jeff and I completed on online learning in American high schools  is available at:  http://www3.babson.edu/ESHIP/research-publications/upload/Class_connections.pdf

Tony