Online Courses Gaining Popularity Worldwide

Online Courses Gaining Popularity Worldwide

With increased technology becoming available in the past decade online courses have become increasingly popular since students essentially have the entire course right in front of their faces. According to a new analysis released by the U.S. Department of Education students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better than students taking the same courses through face to face instruction. However, those who took “blended” courses, or courses that combined elements of online learning and face to face instruction had the best results of all. This study may be a significant finding considering that many Universities around the country reported that blended instruction is one of the fastest growing types of enrollment. However, many people believe that no matter what statistics show, the intangibles of attending lectures and watching a professor teach you the material is much more effective. Below is a video of a Teacher's assistant Ron Leeds here at the University Of Maryland discussing online courses and what his views on them are. Ron agrees with the thinking that the accessible technology today makes online courses much easier and equally effective as face to face interaction. 

Online Courses give College Students more time

Technology's main purpose began with the invention of tools to allow for simpler, easier, and more efficient ways to develop more products in the workplace and on the farm. In terms of classes, technology has made it easier to grade exams, to assign work overnight to be assigned on the internet etc. However, realistically there is enough technology available to make entire courses be taught online equally as effectively if not more effectively than regular face to face courses. Experts find that if the class is online than students are less likely to get off task during the class since they are using the computer to take the course, as opposed to the computer being an object that can help distract them from the professor teaching in the front of the room. The U.S. Department Of Education agrees, stating  that Many of the past studies completed on this topic found that there was not much difference between online learning and face to face instruction. Surprisingly, this study attributes the success of the online courses not to technology, but to time. “Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face to face condition found a greater benefit in learning.” Students are less likely to go off task on an online course because they are using their computers to take the course. In face to face courses, computers are the main source of distraction.       



                                Increased Technology Continues To Benefit Online Courses

According to a new study conducted by the SRI Department Of Education “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”
This report compared research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008 with most of the data coming from college students but still some of the data coming from K-12 students. The study concluded that on average, students who conducted there work with either a blend of online activity or a complete online course ranked in the 59th percentile. Meanwhile, students who performed in a traditional classroom ranked lower and closer to the 50th percentile. That may not sound like a major difference, but over the course of a twelve year study the number is certainly meaningful. According to Barba Means, the study's lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International, “The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction." According to Barbra, this does not necessarily mean that we will start to say goodbye to traditional classrooms. More likely we will continue to see an uptick in online courses registrations as universities around the country. Since college students live extremely busy lives and are often crammed with work, the online aspect of the course allows students to do their work on their own time and have all day to get the work done. With a traditional course students must first attend the lecture and then do the work for the course later in the day when they finish with all of their work. This is why the study concluded that the biggest benefit about online courses is that it saves students vital time. Below is an interview with a random  student who gave me his opinions on online courses here at Maryland. 

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1358969-online-courses

Recent technology has seriously helped out make online courses increasingly helpful. Previously, online courses were barely more than electronic versions of the traditional corresponding courses. With the addition of web-based video, instant messaging, and and collaboration tools online courses have become even more beneficial than a regular course. With studies showing that these courses will help your grades and your time management skills, there is no reason for students to shy away from taking courses that include online work. Overall, there is no reason to believe that online courses can't be more effective or equally effective as traditional courses and with continuing advances in technology the expectation is that the number of students who sign up for online courses will continue to increase within the next decade.