As online courses are becoming progressively more popular, offering growth of 21% in higher education compared to traditional classroom courses increasing 2% since 2002 (Allen & Seaman, 2007), the question that comes to mind is, “which is better?”
The answer is perhaps more straightforward than you think: neither platform drastically outshines the other. Harrington (1999) conducted a study comparing learning methods (traditional classroom and programmed instruction/distance learning) and found that students, who have previously been successful academically, can do just as well with a distance learning approach as can students in a traditional classroom course. Their findings indicated that those with a previously lower grade point average (GPA) did better in the traditional format. So it appears to be more of a personal preference; online courses offer benefits for convenience to fit in with your ‘life schedule’, whereas classroom learning promotes the option for additional assistance and more social interaction with peers.
In 2013, Anna Ya Ni also compared student performance measures and assessments of learning experience from both online and classroom settings. The findings showed grades were independent of the mode of instruction, though each having their own merits. For example, participation is less intimidating, and the quality/quantity of interaction may be increased in online classes, whereas face-to-face learning provides a better sense of leadership from the instructor, as well as encouraging opportunities to discuss wider issues from feedback.
The findings of these studies have several implications for student learning, course development, and curriculum design. Though the results don’t indicate an improved performance for either learning platform, they did show an increased level of comfort in participation during online courses compared to face to face, which complies with previous findings from Citera (1988) and Warschauer (1997); online environment is less intimidating and may encourage student involvement.
References
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2007). Online nation: Five years of growth in online learning. Needham, MA: Sloan Consortium. Retrieved from http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf
Citera, M. (1988). Distributed teamwork: The impact of communication media on influence and decision quality. Journal of the American Society for information Science, 49(9), 792-800.
Harrington, D. (1999). Teaching Statistics: A comparison of traditional classroom and programmed instruction/distance learning approaches. Journal of Social Work Education, 25(3), 343.
Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-mediated collaborative learning theory and practice. Modern Language Journal, 8(4), 470-481.
Ya Ni, A. (2013). Journal of Public Affairs Education. Vol. 19, No. 2 (SPRING 2013), pp. 199-215. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23608947
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