Educational Value of Online Learning Questioned in Gallup Poll!

Dear Commons Community,

Online education is seen as relatively positively by Americans for giving students a wide range of curricula options and for providing good value for the money. However, Americans tend to think it provides less rigorous testing and grading, less qualified instructors, and has less credence with employers compared with traditional, classroom-based education.  In a Chronicle of Education article entitled, Traditional Education Beats Online in Key Areas, reporter Scott Carlson comments:

“We’re years into the era of online education, and yet Americans still hold a skeptical view of online learning’s quality and value to employers, according to the results of a Gallup survey released today.

In early October, Gallup asked two groups (see Survey Methods at the end of this posting), each composed of more than 1,000 adults, whether they thought “online education is better” in a series of categories. In terms of “providing a wide range of options for curriculum” and “good value for the money,” online education got slightly better scores than traditional classroom-based education.

But online education scored much worse in four areas: in delivering “instruction tailored to each individual,” in providing “high-quality instruction from well-qualified instructors,” in offering “rigorous testing and grading that can be trusted,” and—finally, worst of all—in dispensing “a degree that will be viewed positively by employers.”

Only a third of the respondents rated online programs as “excellent” or “good,” while 68 percent gave excellent or good ratings to four-year colleges and universities, and 64 percent gave such ratings to community colleges.”

I am not surprised by the results of this poll.  Online learning has consistently been viewed as a positive and important means for expanding access to an education.  On the other hand, its learning effectiveness and perceived educational benefits have always been research and debated without consistent agreement.    Issues and questions related to retention rates and whether online is successful for  certain types of well-organized and disciplined students have persisted.

Tony

Survey Methods

Results from the Oct. 3-6, 2013, Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,028 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of error is ±4 percentage points.

Results from the Oct. 5-6, 2013, Gallup poll are based telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,025 national adults, aged 18+ living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of error is ±4 percentage points.

 

The Russia Left Behind: New York Times Story with Stunning Photographs!

Russia Left Behind

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times has an article today entitledThe Russia Left Behind:  A Journey through a Heartland on the Slow road to Ruin, about the small villages and towns on the highway between St.Petersburg and Moscow.  It tells of the people who are struggling to survive and who have not been part of the Russian economic resurgence of the past decade.  Here is an excerpt:

“At the edges of Russia’s two great cities, another Russia begins.

This will not be apparent at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, nor is it visible from the German-engineered high-speed train. It is along the highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg — a narrow 430-mile stretch of road that is a 12-hour trip by car — that one sees the great stretches of Russia so neglected by the state that they seem drawn backward in time.

As the state’s hand recedes from the hinterlands, people are struggling with choices that belong to past centuries: to heat their homes with a wood stove, which must be fed by hand every three hours, or burn diesel fuel, which costs half a month’s salary? When the road has so deteriorated that ambulances cannot reach their home, is it safe to stay? When their home can’t be sold, can they leave?”

The photographs accompanying the story are stunning images of the people who live in these areas.  When I visited St. Petersburg in 2012, the depictions of these images were evident once you left the main city limits.

Tony

 

The New Yorker Magazine Cover: The Capital as a Haunted House!

Shutdown 2013 New Yorker CoverClick to enlarge.

Dear Commons Community,

The American people are frustrated with their government officials in Washington and their inability to pass legislation or get anything done especially with regard to the shutdown and the looming debt ceiling crisis.  Mark Ulriksen, an artist for The New Yorker magazine, has captured this feeling well on the cover of the current edition where he likens the Capital to a haunted house.  When asked about it, he commented:

“I’m really frustrated with the inability of Congress to do its job…Boehner and Cruz—these politicians are only after the perpetuation of their own power. There are spider webs growing in the Capitol, bats haunting it, and all this legislation that’s just dying because these guys can’t do anything. The main sign of life is that black cat. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be worth laughing at.”

So true and so sad!

Tony