Sampling bias? Could those who enroll in online college or continuing education courses be more highly motivated for some reason? Or perhaps those who take online courses are savvier technologically and/or better at self directed study, both of which probably correlate to doing better overall?
Yep. Perhaps they should put it into two different buckets, namely voluntary and compulsory.
The kids that fail english have to take a 6 week credit makeup whereby they sit in front of a computer and do nothing. Could be the kid and not the medium.
I didn't read the NYTimes article, but the report itself claims to "Include only studies with random-assignment or controlled quasi-experimental designs". They go on to list some remaining caveats on page xvii, and I can think of one or two, but I would imagine data suffering from the source of bias you describe was one of the first things they set out to discard.
FWIW: I've taken both regular college classes and online college classes. The online classes do not give you any credit for just showing up/attendance. Because they are viewed with skepticism, they tend to be more rigorous. In order to pass, you actually have to prove your knowledge to a greater degree than with a lot of the multi-guess tests found in regular classrooms. I have generally found online classes to be of better quality than most classes I've taken "in person".
I would love to see people try to even attempt an Advanced Pure Mathematics course online without the aid of an instructor in case you (and you will) require some help with the material.
Really good article. We at www.nixty.com are creating a platform that supports traditional ways of education, but also facilitates informal learning. The future, as Mr. Reiger pointed out in the article, is definitely going to be a mixture of both. The challenge, and believe me it is a challenge, is to create an atmosphere that supports both the traditional and emerging ways of online learning.
If you are interested in helping us beta test the product, then please sign up at www.nixty.com. Thanks!
I'd venture a guess that anything remotely resembling experience or doing will beat school any day. There might be exceptions for rote learning tasks like multiplication or history.
