2009)
Berge and Mrozowski (2001) reviewed 890 research articles and dissertation abstracts on distance education from 1990 to 1999. The four distance education journals chosen by the authors to represent distance education included, American Journal of Distance Education, Distance Education, Open Learning, and the Journal of Distance Education. This review overlapped in the dates of the Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006) study. Berge and Mrozowski (2001) categorized the articles according to Sherry's (1996) ten themes of research issues in distance education: redefining roles of instructor and students, technologies used, issues of design, strategies to stimulate learning, learner characteristics and support, issues related to operating and policies and administration, access and equity, and costs and benefits.
In the Berge and Mrozowski (2001) study, more than 100 studies focused on each of the three themes: (1) design issues, (2) learner characteristics, and (3) strategies to increase interactivity and active learning. By design issues, the authors focused on instructional systems design and focused on topics such as content requirement, technical constraints, interactivity, and feedback. The next theme, strategies to increase interactivity and active learning, were closely related to design issues and focused on students’ modes of learning. Learner characteristics focused on accommodating various learning styles through customized instructional theory. Less than 50 studies focused on the three least examined themes: (1) cost-benefit tradeoffs, (2) equity and accessibility, and (3) learner support. Cost-benefit trade-offs focused on the implementation costs of distance education based on school characteristics. Equity and accessibility focused on the equity of access to distance education systems. Learner support included topics such as teacher to teacher support as well as teacher to student support.
Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006) reviewed research on online instruction from 1993 to 2004. They reviewed 76 articles focused on online learning by searching five databases, ERIC, PsycINFO, ContentFirst, Education Abstracts, and WilsonSelect. Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006) categorized research into four themes, (1) course environment, (2) learners' outcomes, (3) learners’ characteristics, and (4) institutional and administrative factors. The first theme that the authors describe as course environment ( n = 41, 53.9%) is an overarching theme that includes classroom culture, structural assistance, success factors, online interaction, and evaluation.
Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006) for their second theme found that studies focused on questions involving the process of teaching and learning and methods to explore cognitive and affective learner outcomes ( n = 29, 38.2%). The authors stated that they found the research designs flawed and lacked rigor. However, the literature comparing traditional and online classrooms found both delivery systems to be adequate. Another research theme focused on learners’ characteristics ( n = 12, 15.8%) and the synergy of learners, design of the online course, and system of delivery. Research findings revealed that online learners were mainly non-traditional, Caucasian, had different learning styles, and were highly motivated to learn. The final theme that they reported was institutional and administrative factors (n = 13, 17.1%) on online learning. Their findings revealed that there was a lack of scholarly research in this area and most institutions did not have formal policies in place for course development as well as faculty and student support in training and evaluation. Their research confirmed that when universities offered online courses, it improved student enrollment numbers.
Zawacki-Richter et al. (2009) reviewed 695 articles on distance education from 2000 to 2008 using the Delphi method for consensus in identifying areas and classified the literature from five prominent journals. The five journals selected due to their wide scope in research in distance education included Open Learning, Distance Education, American Journal of Distance Education, the Journal of Distance Education, and the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. The reviewers examined the main focus of research and identified gaps in distance education research in this review.
Zawacki-Richter et al. (2009) classified the studies into macro, meso and micro levels focusing on 15 areas of research. The five areas of the macro-level addressed: (1) access, equity and ethics to deliver distance education for developing nations and the role of various technologies to narrow the digital divide, (2) teaching and learning drivers, markets, and professional development in the global context, (3) distance delivery systems and institutional partnerships and programs and impact of hybrid modes of delivery, (4) theoretical frameworks and models for instruction, knowledge building, and learner interactions in distance education practice, and (5) the types of preferred research methodologies. The meso-level focused on seven areas that involve: (1) management and organization for sustaining distance education programs, (2) examining financial aspects of developing and implementing online programs, (3) the challenges and benefits of new technologies for teaching and learning, (4) incentives to innovate, (5) professional development and support for faculty, (6) learner support services, and (7) issues involving quality standards and the impact on student enrollment and retention. The micro-level focused on three areas: (1) instructional design and pedagogical approaches, (2) culturally appropriate materials, interaction, communication, and collaboration among a community of learners, and (3) focus on characteristics of adult learners, socio-economic backgrounds, learning preferences, and dispositions.
The top three research themes in this review by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2009) were interaction and communities of learning ( n = 122, 17.6%), instructional design ( n = 121, 17.4%) and learner characteristics ( n = 113, 16.3%). The lowest number of studies (less than 3%) were found in studies examining the following research themes, management and organization ( n = 18), research methods in DE and knowledge transfer ( n = 13), globalization of education and cross-cultural aspects ( n = 13), innovation and change ( n = 13), and costs and benefits ( n = 12).
These three systematic reviews provide a broad understanding of distance education and online learning research themes from 1990 to 2008. However, there is an increase in the number of research studies on online learning in this decade and there is a need to identify recent research themes examined. Based on the previous systematic reviews ( Berge & Mrozowski, 2001 ; Hung, 2012 ; Tallent-Runnels et al., 2006 ; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2009 ), online learning research in this study is grouped into twelve different research themes which include Learner characteristics, Instructor characteristics, Course or program design and development, Course Facilitation, Engagement, Course Assessment, Course Technologies, Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics, Leadership, Policy and Management, Instructor and Learner Support, and Learner Outcomes. Table 2 below describes each of the research themes and using these themes, a framework is derived in Fig. 1 .
Research themes in online learning.
Research Theme | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | Learner Characteristics | Focuses on understanding the learner characteristics and how online learning can be designed and delivered to meet their needs. Online learner characteristics can be broadly categorized into demographic characteristics, academic characteristics, cognitive characteristics, affective, self-regulation, and motivational characteristics. |
2 | Learner Outcomes | Learner outcomes are statements that specify what the learner will achieve at the end of the course or program. Examining learner outcomes such as success, retention, and dropouts are critical in online courses. |
3 | Engagement | Engaging the learner in the online course is vitally important as they are separated from the instructor and peers in the online setting. Engagement is examined through the lens of interaction, participation, community, collaboration, communication, involvement and presence. |
4 | Course or Program Design and Development | Course design and development is critical in online learning as it engages and assists the students in achieving the learner outcomes. Several models and processes are used to develop the online course, employing different design elements to meet student needs. |
5 | Course Facilitation | The delivery or facilitation of the course is as important as course design. Facilitation strategies used in delivery of the course such as in communication and modeling practices are examined in course facilitation. |
6 | Course Assessment | Course Assessments are adapted and delivered in an online setting. Formative assessments, peer assessments, differentiated assessments, learner choice in assessments, feedback system, online proctoring, plagiarism in online learning, and alternate assessments such as eportfolios are examined. |
7 | Evaluation and Quality Assurance | Evaluation is making a judgment either on the process, the product or a program either during or at the end. There is a need for research on evaluation and quality in the online courses. This has been examined through course evaluations, surveys, analytics, social networks, and pedagogical assessments. Quality assessment rubrics such as Quality Matters have also been researched. |
8 | Course Technologies | A number of online course technologies such as learning management systems, online textbooks, online audio and video tools, collaborative tools, social networks to build online community have been the focus of research. |
9 | Instructor Characteristics | With the increase in online courses, there has also been an increase in the number of instructors teaching online courses. Instructor characteristics can be examined through their experience, satisfaction, and roles in online teaching. |
10 | Institutional Support | The support for online learning is examined both as learner support and instructor support. Online students need support to be successful online learners and this could include social, academic, and cognitive forms of support. Online instructors need support in terms of pedagogy and technology to be successful online instructors. |
11 | Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics | Cross-cultural online learning is gaining importance along with access in global settings. In addition, providing inclusive opportunities for all learners and in ethical ways is being examined. |
12 | Leadership, Policy and Management | Leadership support is essential for success of online learning. Leaders perspectives, challenges and strategies used are examined. Policies and governance related research are also being studied. |
Online learning research themes framework.
The collection of research themes is presented as a framework in Fig. 1 . The themes are organized by domain or level to underscore the nested relationship that exists. As evidenced by the assortment of themes, research can focus on any domain of delivery or associated context. The “Learner” domain captures characteristics and outcomes related to learners and their interaction within the courses. The “Course and Instructor” domain captures elements about the broader design of the course and facilitation by the instructor, and the “Organizational” domain acknowledges the contextual influences on the course. It is important to note as well that due to the nesting, research themes can cross domains. For example, the broader cultural context may be studied as it pertains to course design and development, and institutional support can include both learner support and instructor support. Likewise, engagement research can involve instructors as well as learners.
In this introduction section, we have reviewed three systematic reviews on online learning research ( Berge & Mrozowski, 2001 ; Tallent-Runnels et al., 2006 ; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2009 ). Based on these reviews and other research, we have derived twelve themes to develop an online learning research framework which is nested in three levels: learner, course and instructor, and organization.
In two out of the three previous reviews, design, learner characteristics and interaction were examined in the highest number of studies. On the other hand, cost-benefit tradeoffs, equity and accessibility, institutional and administrative factors, and globalization and cross-cultural aspects were examined in the least number of studies. One explanation for this may be that it is a function of nesting, noting that studies falling in the Organizational and Course levels may encompass several courses or many more participants within courses. However, while some research themes re-occur, there are also variations in some themes across time, suggesting the importance of research themes rise and fall over time. Thus, a critical examination of the trends in themes is helpful for understanding where research is needed most. Also, since there is no recent study examining online learning research themes in the last decade, this study strives to address that gap by focusing on recent research themes found in the literature, and also reviewing research methods and settings. Notably, one goal is to also compare findings from this decade to the previous review studies. Overall, the purpose of this study is to examine publication trends in online learning research taking place during the last ten years and compare it with the previous themes identified in other review studies. Due to the continued growth of online learning research into new contexts and among new researchers, we also examine the research methods and settings found in the studies of this review.
The following research questions are addressed in this study.
This five-step systematic review process described in the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook, Version 4.0 ( 2017 ) was used in this systematic review: (a) developing the review protocol, (b) identifying relevant literature, (c) screening studies, (d) reviewing articles, and (e) reporting findings.
The Education Research Complete database was searched using the keywords below for published articles between the years 2009 and 2018 using both the Title and Keyword function for the following search terms.
“online learning" OR "online teaching" OR "online program" OR "online course" OR “online education”
The initial search of online learning research among journals in the database resulted in more than 3000 possible articles. Therefore, we limited our search to select journals that focus on publishing peer-reviewed online learning and educational research. Our aim was to capture the journals that published the most articles in online learning. However, we also wanted to incorporate the concept of rigor, so we used expert perception to identify 12 peer-reviewed journals that publish high-quality online learning research. Dissertations and conference proceedings were excluded. To be included in this systematic review, each study had to meet the screening criteria as described in Table 3 . A research study was excluded if it did not meet all of the criteria to be included.
Inclusion/Exclusion criteria.
Criteria | Inclusion | Exclusion |
---|---|---|
Focus of the article | Online learning | Articles that did not focus on online learning |
Journals Published | Twelve identified journals | Journals outside of the 12 journals |
Publication date | 2009 to 2018 | Prior to 2009 and after 2018 |
Publication type | Scholarly articles of original research from peer reviewed journals | Book chapters, technical reports, dissertations, or proceedings |
Research Method and Results | There was an identifiable method and results section describing how the study was conducted and included the findings. Quantitative and qualitative methods were included. | Reviews of other articles, opinion, or discussion papers that do not include a discussion of the procedures of the study or analysis of data such as product reviews or conceptual articles. |
Language | Journal article was written in English | Other languages were not included |
Fig. 2 shows the process flow involved in the selection of articles. The search in the database Education Research Complete yielded an initial sample of 3332 articles. Targeting the 12 journals removed 2579 articles. After reviewing the abstracts, we removed 134 articles based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The final sample, consisting of 619 articles, was entered into the computer software MAXQDA ( VERBI Software, 2019 ) for coding.
Flowchart of online learning research selection.
A review protocol was designed as a codebook in MAXQDA ( VERBI Software, 2019 ) by the three researchers. The codebook was developed based on findings from the previous review studies and from the initial screening of the articles in this review. The codebook included 12 research themes listed earlier in Table 2 (Learner characteristics, Instructor characteristics, Course or program design and development, Course Facilitation, Engagement, Course Assessment, Course Technologies, Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics, Leadership, Policy and Management, Instructor and Learner Support, and Learner Outcomes), four research settings (higher education, continuing education, K-12, corporate/military), and three research designs (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods). Fig. 3 below is a screenshot of MAXQDA used for the coding process.
Codebook from MAXQDA.
Research articles were coded by two researchers in MAXQDA. Two researchers independently coded 10% of the articles and then discussed and updated the coding framework. The second author who was a doctoral student coded the remaining studies. The researchers met bi-weekly to address coding questions that emerged. After the first phase of coding, we found that more than 100 studies fell into each of the categories of Learner Characteristics or Engagement, so we decided to pursue a second phase of coding and reexamine the two themes. Learner Characteristics were classified into the subthemes of Academic, Affective, Motivational, Self-regulation, Cognitive, and Demographic Characteristics. Engagement was classified into the subthemes of Collaborating, Communication, Community, Involvement, Interaction, Participation, and Presence.
Frequency tables were generated for each of the variables so that outliers could be examined and narrative data could be collapsed into categories. Once cleaned and collapsed into a reasonable number of categories, descriptive statistics were used to describe each of the coded elements. We first present the frequencies of publications related to online learning in the 12 journals. The total number of articles for each journal (collectively, the population) was hand-counted from journal websites, excluding editorials and book reviews. The publication trend of online learning research was also depicted from 2009 to 2018. Then, the descriptive information of the 12 themes, including the subthemes of Learner Characteristics and Engagement were provided. Finally, research themes by research settings and methodology were elaborated.
Publication patterns of the 619 articles reviewed from the 12 journals are presented in Table 4 . International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning had the highest number of publications in this review. Overall, about 8% of the articles appearing in these twelve journals consisted of online learning publications; however, several journals had concentrations of online learning articles totaling more than 20%.
Empirical online learning research articles by journal, 2009–2018.
Journal Name | Frequency of Empirical Online Learning Research | Percent of Sample | Percent of Journal's Total Articles |
---|---|---|---|
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning | 152 | 24.40 | 22.55 |
Internet & Higher Education | 84 | 13.48 | 26.58 |
Computers & Education | 75 | 12.04 | 18.84 |
Online Learning | 72 | 11.56 | 3.25 |
Distance Education | 64 | 10.27 | 25.10 |
Journal of Online Learning & Teaching | 39 | 6.26 | 11.71 |
Journal of Educational Technology & Society | 36 | 5.78 | 3.63 |
Quarterly Review of Distance Education | 24 | 3.85 | 4.71 |
American Journal of Distance Education | 21 | 3.37 | 9.17 |
British Journal of Educational Technology | 19 | 3.05 | 1.93 |
Educational Technology Research & Development | 19 | 3.05 | 10.80 |
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology | 14 | 2.25 | 2.31 |
Total | 619 | 100.0 | 8.06 |
Note . Journal's Total Article count excludes reviews and editorials.
The publication trend of online learning research is depicted in Fig. 4 . When disaggregated by year, the total frequency of publications shows an increasing trend. Online learning articles increased throughout the decade and hit a relative maximum in 2014. The greatest number of online learning articles ( n = 86) occurred most recently, in 2018.
Online learning publication trends by year.
The publications were categorized into the twelve research themes identified in Fig. 1 . The frequency counts and percentages of the research themes are provided in Table 5 below. A majority of the research is categorized into the Learner domain. The fewest number of articles appears in the Organization domain.
Research themes in the online learning publications from 2009 to 2018.
Research Themes | Frequency | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Engagement | 179 | 28.92 |
Learner Characteristics | 134 | 21.65 |
Learner Outcome | 32 | 5.17 |
Evaluation and Quality Assurance | 38 | 6.14 |
Course Technologies | 35 | 5.65 |
Course Facilitation | 34 | 5.49 |
Course Assessment | 30 | 4.85 |
Course Design and Development | 27 | 4.36 |
Instructor Characteristics | 21 | 3.39 |
Institutional Support | 33 | 5.33 |
Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics | 29 | 4.68 |
Leadership, Policy, and Management | 27 | 4.36 |
The specific themes of Engagement ( n = 179, 28.92%) and Learner Characteristics ( n = 134, 21.65%) were most often examined in publications. These two themes were further coded to identify sub-themes, which are described in the next two sections. Publications focusing on Instructor Characteristics ( n = 21, 3.39%) were least common in the dataset.
The largest number of studies was on engagement in online learning, which in the online learning literature is referred to and examined through different terms. Hence, we explore this category in more detail. In this review, we categorized the articles into seven different sub-themes as examined through different lenses including presence, interaction, community, participation, collaboration, involvement, and communication. We use the term “involvement” as one of the terms since researchers sometimes broadly used the term engagement to describe their work without further description. Table 6 below provides the description, frequency, and percentages of the various studies related to engagement.
Research sub-themes on engagement.
Description | Frequency | Percentage | |
---|---|---|---|
Presence | Learning experience through social, cognitive, and teaching presence. | 50 | 8.08 |
Interaction | Process of interacting with peers, instructor, or content that results in learners understanding or behavior | 43 | 6.95 |
Community | Sense of belonging within a group | 25 | 4.04 |
Participation | Process of being actively involved | 21 | 3.39 |
Collaboration | Working with someone to create something | 17 | 2.75 |
Involvement | Involvement in learning. This includes articles that focused broadly on engagement of learners. | 14 | 2.26 |
Communication | Process of exchanging information with the intent to share information | 9 | 1.45 |
In the sections below, we provide several examples of the different engagement sub-themes that were studied within the larger engagement theme.
Presence. This sub-theme was the most researched in engagement. With the development of the community of inquiry framework most of the studies in this subtheme examined social presence ( Akcaoglu & Lee, 2016 ; Phirangee & Malec, 2017 ; Wei et al., 2012 ), teaching presence ( Orcutt & Dringus, 2017 ; Preisman, 2014 ; Wisneski et al., 2015 ) and cognitive presence ( Archibald, 2010 ; Olesova et al., 2016 ).
Interaction . This was the second most studied theme under engagement. Researchers examined increasing interpersonal interactions ( Cung et al., 2018 ), learner-learner interactions ( Phirangee, 2016 ; Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012 ; Tawfik et al., 2018 ), peer-peer interaction ( Comer et al., 2014 ), learner-instructor interaction ( Kuo et al., 2014 ), learner-content interaction ( Zimmerman, 2012 ), interaction through peer mentoring ( Ruane & Koku, 2014 ), interaction and community building ( Thormann & Fidalgo, 2014 ), and interaction in discussions ( Ruane & Lee, 2016 ; Tibi, 2018 ).
Community. Researchers examined building community in online courses ( Berry, 2017 ), supporting a sense of community ( Jiang, 2017 ), building an online learning community of practice ( Cho, 2016 ), building an academic community ( Glazer & Wanstreet, 2011 ; Nye, 2015 ; Overbaugh & Nickel, 2011 ), and examining connectedness and rapport in an online community ( Bolliger & Inan, 2012 ; Murphy & Rodríguez-Manzanares, 2012 ; Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2012 ).
Participation. Researchers examined engagement through participation in a number of studies. Some of the topics include, participation patterns in online discussion ( Marbouti & Wise, 2016 ; Wise et al., 2012 ), participation in MOOCs ( Ahn et al., 2013 ; Saadatmand & Kumpulainen, 2014 ), features that influence students’ online participation ( Rye & Støkken, 2012 ) and active participation.
Collaboration. Researchers examined engagement through collaborative learning. Specific studies focused on cross-cultural collaboration ( Kumi-Yeboah, 2018 ; Yang et al., 2014 ), how virtual teams collaborate ( Verstegen et al., 2018 ), types of collaboration teams ( Wicks et al., 2015 ), tools for collaboration ( Boling et al., 2014 ), and support for collaboration ( Kopp et al., 2012 ).
Involvement. Researchers examined engaging learners through involvement in various learning activities ( Cundell & Sheepy, 2018 ), student engagement through various measures ( Dixson, 2015 ), how instructors included engagement to involve students in learning ( O'Shea et al., 2015 ), different strategies to engage the learner ( Amador & Mederer, 2013 ), and designed emotionally engaging online environments ( Koseoglu & Doering, 2011 ).
Communication. Researchers examined communication in online learning in studies using social network analysis ( Ergün & Usluel, 2016 ), using informal communication tools such as Facebook for class discussion ( Kent, 2013 ), and using various modes of communication ( Cunningham et al., 2010 ; Rowe, 2016 ). Studies have also focused on both asynchronous and synchronous aspects of communication ( Swaggerty & Broemmel, 2017 ; Yamagata-Lynch, 2014 ).
The second largest theme was learner characteristics. In this review, we explore this further to identify several aspects of learner characteristics. In this review, we categorized the learner characteristics into self-regulation characteristics, motivational characteristics, academic characteristics, affective characteristics, cognitive characteristics, and demographic characteristics. Table 7 provides the number of studies and percentages examining the various learner characteristics.
Research sub-themes on learner characteristics.
Learner Characteristics | Description | Frequency | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|
Self-regulation Characteristics | Involves controlling learner's behavior, emotions, and thoughts to achieve specific learning and performance goals | 54 | 8.72 |
Motivational Characteristics | Learners goal-directed activity instigated and sustained such as beliefs, and behavioral change | 23 | 3.72 |
Academic Characteristics | Education characteristics such as educational type and educational level | 19 | 3.07 |
Affective Characteristics | Learner characteristics that describe learners' feelings or emotions such as satisfaction | 17 | 2.75 |
Cognitive Characteristics | Learner characteristics related to cognitive elements such as attention, memory, and intellect (e.g., learning strategies, learning skills, etc.) | 14 | 2.26 |
Demographic Characteristics | Learner characteristics that relate to information as age, gender, language, social economic status, and cultural background. | 7 | 1.13 |
Online learning has elements that are different from the traditional face-to-face classroom and so the characteristics of the online learners are also different. Yukselturk and Top (2013) categorized online learner profile into ten aspects: gender, age, work status, self-efficacy, online readiness, self-regulation, participation in discussion list, participation in chat sessions, satisfaction, and achievement. Their categorization shows that there are differences in online learner characteristics in these aspects when compared to learners in other settings. Some of the other aspects such as participation and achievement as discussed by Yukselturk and Top (2013) are discussed in different research themes in this study. The sections below provide examples of the learner characteristics sub-themes that were studied.
Self-regulation. Several researchers have examined self-regulation in online learning. They found that successful online learners are academically motivated ( Artino & Stephens, 2009 ), have academic self-efficacy ( Cho & Shen, 2013 ), have grit and intention to succeed ( Wang & Baker, 2018 ), have time management and elaboration strategies ( Broadbent, 2017 ), set goals and revisit course content ( Kizilcec et al., 2017 ), and persist ( Glazer & Murphy, 2015 ). Researchers found a positive relationship between learner's self-regulation and interaction ( Delen et al., 2014 ) and self-regulation and communication and collaboration ( Barnard et al., 2009 ).
Motivation. Researchers focused on motivation of online learners including different motivation levels of online learners ( Li & Tsai, 2017 ), what motivated online learners ( Chaiprasurt & Esichaikul, 2013 ), differences in motivation of online learners ( Hartnett et al., 2011 ), and motivation when compared to face to face learners ( Paechter & Maier, 2010 ). Harnett et al. (2011) found that online learner motivation was complex, multifaceted, and sensitive to situational conditions.
Academic. Several researchers have focused on academic aspects for online learner characteristics. Readiness for online learning has been examined as an academic factor by several researchers ( Buzdar et al., 2016 ; Dray et al., 2011 ; Wladis & Samuels, 2016 ; Yu, 2018 ) specifically focusing on creating and validating measures to examine online learner readiness including examining students emotional intelligence as a measure of student readiness for online learning. Researchers have also examined other academic factors such as academic standing ( Bradford & Wyatt, 2010 ), course level factors ( Wladis et al., 2014 ) and academic skills in online courses ( Shea & Bidjerano, 2014 ).
Affective. Anderson and Bourke (2013) describe affective characteristics through which learners express feelings or emotions. Several research studies focused on the affective characteristics of online learners. Learner satisfaction for online learning has been examined by several researchers ( Cole et al., 2014 ; Dziuban et al., 2015 ; Kuo et al., 2013 ; Lee, 2014a ) along with examining student emotions towards online assessment ( Kim et al., 2014 ).
Cognitive. Researchers have also examined cognitive aspects of learner characteristics including meta-cognitive skills, cognitive variables, higher-order thinking, cognitive density, and critical thinking ( Chen & Wu, 2012 ; Lee, 2014b ). Lee (2014b) examined the relationship between cognitive presence density and higher-order thinking skills. Chen and Wu (2012) examined the relationship between cognitive and motivational variables in an online system for secondary physical education.
Demographic. Researchers have examined various demographic factors in online learning. Several researchers have examined gender differences in online learning ( Bayeck et al., 2018 ; Lowes et al., 2016 ; Yukselturk & Bulut, 2009 ), ethnicity, age ( Ke & Kwak, 2013 ), and minority status ( Yeboah & Smith, 2016 ) of online learners.
While engagement and learner characteristics were studied the most, other themes were less often studied in the literature and are presented here, according to size, with general descriptions of the types of research examined for each.
Evaluation and Quality Assurance. There were 38 studies (6.14%) published in the theme of evaluation and quality assurance. Some of the studies in this theme focused on course quality standards, using quality matters to evaluate quality, using the CIPP model for evaluation, online learning system evaluation, and course and program evaluations.
Course Technologies. There were 35 studies (5.65%) published in the course technologies theme. Some of the studies examined specific technologies such as Edmodo, YouTube, Web 2.0 tools, wikis, Twitter, WebCT, Screencasts, and Web conferencing systems in the online learning context.
Course Facilitation. There were 34 studies (5.49%) published in the course facilitation theme. Some of the studies in this theme examined facilitation strategies and methods, experiences of online facilitators, and online teaching methods.
Institutional Support. There were 33 studies (5.33%) published in the institutional support theme which included support for both the instructor and learner. Some of the studies on instructor support focused on training new online instructors, mentoring programs for faculty, professional development resources for faculty, online adjunct faculty training, and institutional support for online instructors. Studies on learner support focused on learning resources for online students, cognitive and social support for online learners, and help systems for online learner support.
Learner Outcome. There were 32 studies (5.17%) published in the learner outcome theme. Some of the studies that were examined in this theme focused on online learner enrollment, completion, learner dropout, retention, and learner success.
Course Assessment. There were 30 studies (4.85%) published in the course assessment theme. Some of the studies in the course assessment theme examined online exams, peer assessment and peer feedback, proctoring in online exams, and alternative assessments such as eportfolio.
Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics. There were 29 studies (4.68%) published in the access, culture, equity, inclusion, and ethics theme. Some of the studies in this theme examined online learning across cultures, multi-cultural effectiveness, multi-access, and cultural diversity in online learning.
Leadership, Policy, and Management. There were 27 studies (4.36%) published in the leadership, policy, and management theme. Some of the studies on leadership, policy, and management focused on online learning leaders, stakeholders, strategies for online learning leadership, resource requirements, university policies for online course policies, governance, course ownership, and faculty incentives for online teaching.
Course Design and Development. There were 27 studies (4.36%) published in the course design and development theme. Some of the studies examined in this theme focused on design elements, design issues, design process, design competencies, design considerations, and instructional design in online courses.
Instructor Characteristics. There were 21 studies (3.39%) published in the instructor characteristics theme. Some of the studies in this theme were on motivation and experiences of online instructors, ability to perform online teaching duties, roles of online instructors, and adjunct versus full-time online instructors.
The research methods used in the studies were classified into quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods ( Harwell, 2012 , pp. 147–163). The research setting was categorized into higher education, continuing education, K-12, and corporate/military. As shown in Table A in the appendix, the vast majority of the publications used higher education as the research setting ( n = 509, 67.6%). Table B in the appendix shows that approximately half of the studies adopted the quantitative method ( n = 324, 43.03%), followed by the qualitative method ( n = 200, 26.56%). Mixed methods account for the smallest portion ( n = 95, 12.62%).
Table A shows that the patterns of the four research settings were approximately consistent across the 12 themes except for the theme of Leaner Outcome and Institutional Support. Continuing education had a higher relative frequency in Learner Outcome (0.28) and K-12 had a higher relative frequency in Institutional Support (0.33) compared to the frequencies they had in the total themes (0.09 and 0.08 respectively). Table B in the appendix shows that the distribution of the three methods were not consistent across the 12 themes. While quantitative studies and qualitative studies were roughly evenly distributed in Engagement, they had a large discrepancy in Learner Characteristics. There were 100 quantitative studies; however, only 18 qualitative studies published in the theme of Learner Characteristics.
In summary, around 8% of the articles published in the 12 journals focus on online learning. Online learning publications showed a tendency of increase on the whole in the past decade, albeit fluctuated, with the greatest number occurring in 2018. Among the 12 research themes related to online learning, the themes of Engagement and Learner Characteristics were studied the most and the theme of Instructor Characteristics was studied the least. Most studies were conducted in the higher education setting and approximately half of the studies used the quantitative method. Looking at the 12 themes by setting and method, we found that the patterns of the themes by setting or by method were not consistent across the 12 themes.
The quality of our findings was ensured by scientific and thorough searches and coding consistency. The selection of the 12 journals provides evidence of the representativeness and quality of primary studies. In the coding process, any difficulties and questions were resolved by consultations with the research team at bi-weekly meetings, which ensures the intra-rater and interrater reliability of coding. All these approaches guarantee the transparency and replicability of the process and the quality of our results.
This review enabled us to identify the online learning research themes examined from 2009 to 2018. In the section below, we review the most studied research themes, engagement and learner characteristics along with implications, limitations, and directions for future research.
Three out of the four systematic reviews informing the design of the present study found that online learner characteristics and online engagement were examined in a high number of studies. In this review, about half of the studies reviewed (50.57%) focused on online learner characteristics or online engagement. This shows the continued importance of these two themes. In the Tallent-Runnels et al.’s (2006) study, the learner characteristics theme was identified as least studied for which they state that researchers are beginning to investigate learner characteristics in the early days of online learning.
One of the differences found in this review is that course design and development was examined in the least number of studies in this review compared to two prior systematic reviews ( Berge & Mrozowski, 2001 ; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2009 ). Zawacki-Richter et al. did not use a keyword search but reviewed all the articles in five different distance education journals. Berge and Mrozowski (2001) included a research theme called design issues to include all aspects of instructional systems design in distance education journals. In our study, in addition to course design and development, we also had focused themes on learner outcomes, course facilitation, course assessment and course evaluation. These are all instructional design focused topics and since we had multiple themes focusing on instructional design topics, the course design and development category might have resulted in fewer studies. There is still a need for more studies to focus on online course design and development.
Three out of the four systematic reviews discussed in the opening of this study found management and organization factors to be least studied. In this review, Leadership, Policy, and Management was studied among 4.36% of the studies and Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion, and Ethics was studied among 4.68% of the studies in the organizational level. The theme on Equity and accessibility was also found to be the least studied theme in the Berge and Mrozowski (2001) study. In addition, instructor characteristics was the least examined research theme among the twelve themes studied in this review. Only 3.39% of the studies were on instructor characteristics. While there were some studies examining instructor motivation and experiences, instructor ability to teach online, online instructor roles, and adjunct versus full-time online instructors, there is still a need to examine topics focused on instructors and online teaching. This theme was not included in the prior reviews as the focus was more on the learner and the course but not on the instructor. While it is helpful to see research evolving on instructor focused topics, there is still a need for more research on the online instructor.
The research themes from this review were compared with research themes from previous systematic reviews, which targeted prior decades. Table 8 shows the comparison.
Comparison of most and least studied online learning research themes from current to previous reviews.
Level | 1990–1999 ( ) | 1993–2004 ( ) | 2000–2008 ( ) | 2009–2018 (Current Study) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Learner Characteristics | L | X | X | X | |
Engagement and Interaction | L | X | X | X | |
Design Issues/Instructional Design | C | X | X | ||
Course Environment Learner Outcomes | C L | X X | |||
Learner Support | L | X | |||
Equity and Accessibility | O | X | X | ||
Institutional& Administrative Factors | O | X | X | ||
Management and Organization | O | X | X | ||
Cost-Benefit | O | X |
L = Learner, C=Course O=Organization.
In this review there is a greater concentration of studies focused on Learner domain topics, and reduced attention to broader more encompassing research themes that fall into the Course and Organization domains. There is a need for organizational level topics such as Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion and Ethics, and Leadership, Policy and Management to be researched on within the context of online learning. Examination of access, culture, equity, inclusion and ethics is very important to support diverse online learners, particularly with the rapid expansion of online learning across all educational levels. This was also least studied based on Berge and Mrozowski (2001) systematic review.
The topics on leadership, policy and management were least studied both in this review and also in the Tallent-Runnels et al. (2006) and Zawacki-Richter et al. (2009) study. Tallent-Runnels categorized institutional and administrative aspects into institutional policies, institutional support, and enrollment effects. While we included support as a separate category, in this study leadership, policy and management were combined. There is still a need for research on leadership of those who manage online learning, policies for online education, and managing online programs. In the Zawacki-Richter et al. (2009) study, only a few studies examined management and organization focused topics. They also found management and organization to be strongly correlated with costs and benefits. In our study, costs and benefits were collectively included as an aspect of management and organization and not as a theme by itself. These studies will provide research-based evidence for online education administrators.
As with any systematic review, there are limitations to the scope of the review. The search is limited to twelve journals in the field that typically include research on online learning. These manuscripts were identified by searching the Education Research Complete database which focuses on education students, professionals, and policymakers. Other discipline-specific journals as well as dissertations and proceedings were not included due to the volume of articles. Also, the search was performed using five search terms “online learning" OR "online teaching" OR "online program" OR "online course" OR “online education” in title and keyword. If authors did not include these terms, their respective work may have been excluded from this review even if it focused on online learning. While these terms are commonly used in North America, it may not be commonly used in other parts of the world. Additional studies may exist outside this scope.
The search strategy also affected how we presented results and introduced limitations regarding generalization. We identified that only 8% of the articles published in these journals were related to online learning; however, given the use of search terms to identify articles within select journals it was not feasible to identify the total number of research-based articles in the population. Furthermore, our review focused on the topics and general methods of research and did not systematically consider the quality of the published research. Lastly, some journals may have preferences for publishing studies on a particular topic or that use a particular method (e.g., quantitative methods), which introduces possible selection and publication biases which may skew the interpretation of results due to over/under representation. Future studies are recommended to include more journals to minimize the selection bias and obtain a more representative sample.
Certain limitations can be attributed to the coding process. Overall, the coding process for this review worked well for most articles, as each tended to have an individual or dominant focus as described in the abstracts, though several did mention other categories which likely were simultaneously considered to a lesser degree. However, in some cases, a dominant theme was not as apparent and an effort to create mutually exclusive groups for clearer interpretation the coders were occasionally forced to choose between two categories. To facilitate this coding, the full-texts were used to identify a study focus through a consensus seeking discussion among all authors. Likewise, some studies focused on topics that we have associated with a particular domain, but the design of the study may have promoted an aggregated examination or integrated factors from multiple domains (e.g., engagement). Due to our reliance on author descriptions, the impact of construct validity is likely a concern that requires additional exploration. Our final grouping of codes may not have aligned with the original author's description in the abstract. Additionally, coding of broader constructs which disproportionately occur in the Learner domain, such as learner outcomes, learner characteristics, and engagement, likely introduced bias towards these codes when considering studies that involved multiple domains. Additional refinement to explore the intersection of domains within studies is needed.
One of the strengths of this review is the research categories we have identified. We hope these categories will support future researchers and identify areas and levels of need for future research. Overall, there is some agreement on research themes on online learning research among previous reviews and this one, at the same time there are some contradicting findings. We hope the most-researched themes and least-researched themes provide authors a direction on the importance of research and areas of need to focus on.
The leading themes found in this review is online engagement research. However, presentation of this research was inconsistent, and often lacked specificity. This is not unique to online environments, but the nuances of defining engagement in an online environment are unique and therefore need further investigation and clarification. This review points to seven distinct classifications of online engagement. Further research on engagement should indicate which type of engagement is sought. This level of specificity is necessary to establish instruments for measuring engagement and ultimately testing frameworks for classifying engagement and promoting it in online environments. Also, it might be of importance to examine the relationship between these seven sub-themes of engagement.
Additionally, this review highlights growing attention to learner characteristics, which constitutes a shift in focus away from instructional characteristics and course design. Although this is consistent with the focus on engagement, the role of the instructor, and course design with respect to these outcomes remains important. Results of the learner characteristics and engagement research paired with course design will have important ramifications for the use of teaching and learning professionals who support instruction. Additionally, the review also points to a concentration of research in the area of higher education. With an immediate and growing emphasis on online learning in K-12 and corporate settings, there is a critical need for further investigation in these settings.
Lastly, because the present review did not focus on the overall effect of interventions, opportunities exist for dedicated meta-analyses. Particular attention to research on engagement and learner characteristics as well as how these vary by study design and outcomes would be logical additions to the research literature.
This systematic review builds upon three previous reviews which tackled the topic of online learning between 1990 and 2010 by extending the timeframe to consider the most recent set of published research. Covering the most recent decade, our review of 619 articles from 12 leading online learning journal points to a more concentrated focus on the learner domain including engagement and learner characteristics, with more limited attention to topics pertaining to the classroom or organizational level. The review highlights an opportunity for the field to clarify terminology concerning online learning research, particularly in the areas of learner outcomes where there is a tendency to classify research more generally (e.g., engagement). Using this sample of published literature, we provide a possible taxonomy for categorizing this research using subcategories. The field could benefit from a broader conversation about how these categories can shape a comprehensive framework for online learning research. Such efforts will enable the field to effectively prioritize research aims over time and synthesize effects.
Florence Martin: Conceptualization; Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing Preparation, Supervision, Project administration. Ting Sun: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Carl Westine: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Supervision
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
1 Includes articles that are cited in this manuscript and also included in the systematic review. The entire list of 619 articles used in the systematic review can be obtained by emailing the authors.*
Appendix B Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104009 .
Research Themes by the Settings in the Online Learning Publications
Research Theme | Higher Ed ( = 506) | Continuing Education ( = 58) | K-12 ( = 53) | Corporate/Military ( = 3) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Engagement | 153 | 15 | 12 | 0 |
Presence | 46 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Interaction | 35 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
Community | 19 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Participation | 16 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Collaboration | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Involvement | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Communication | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Learner Characteristics | 106 | 18 | 9 | 1 |
Self-regulation Characteristics | 43 | 9 | 2 | 0 |
Motivation Characteristics | 18 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Academic Characteristics | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Affective Characteristics | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Cognitive Characteristics | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Demographic Characteristics | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Evaluation and Quality Assurance | 33 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Course Technologies | 33 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Course Facilitation | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Institutional Support | 24 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
Learner Outcome | 24 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
Course Assessment | 23 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion and Ethics | 26 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Leadership, Policy and Management | 17 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Course Design and Development | 21 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Instructor Characteristics | 16 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Research Themes by the Methodology in the Online Learning Publications
Research Theme | Mixed Method ( = 95) | Quantitative ( = 324) | Qualitative ( = 200) |
---|---|---|---|
Engagement | 32 | 78 | 69 |
Presence | 11 | 25 | 14 |
Interaction | 9 | 20 | 14 |
Community | 2 | 9 | 14 |
Participation | 6 | 8 | 7 |
Collaboration | 2 | 5 | 10 |
Involvement | 2 | 6 | 6 |
Communication | 0 | 5 | 4 |
Learner Characteristics | 16 | 100 | 18 |
Self-regulation Characteristics | 5 | 43 | 6 |
Motivation Characteristics | 4 | 15 | 4 |
Academic Characteristics | 1 | 15 | 3 |
Affective Characteristics | 2 | 12 | 3 |
Cognitive Characteristics | 4 | 8 | 2 |
Demographic Characteristics | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Evaluation and Quality Assurance | 5 | 22 | 11 |
Course Technologies | 4 | 20 | 11 |
Course Facilitation | 7 | 14 | 13 |
Institutional Support | 12 | 9 | 12 |
Learner Outcome | 3 | 23 | 6 |
Course Assessment | 5 | 20 | 5 |
Access, Culture, Equity, Inclusion & Ethics | 3 | 13 | 13 |
Leadership, Policy and Management | 5 | 9 | 13 |
Course Design and Development | 2 | 8 | 17 |
Instructor Characteristics | 1 | 8 | 12 |
The following are the Supplementary data to this article:
How effective is online learning what the research does and doesn't tell us.
By Susanna Loeb
The times have dictated school closings and the rapid expansion of online education. Can online lessons replace in-school time?
Clearly online time cannot provide many of the informal social interactions students have at school, but how will online courses do in terms of moving student learning forward? Research to date gives us some clues and also points us to what we could be doing to support students who are most likely to struggle in the online setting.
The use of virtual courses among K-12 students has grown rapidly in recent years. Florida, for example, requires all high school students to take at least one online course. Online learning can take a number of different forms. Often people think of Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, where thousands of students watch a video online and fill out questionnaires or take exams based on those lectures.
Most online courses, however, particularly those serving K-12 students, have a format much more similar to in-person courses. The teacher helps to run virtual discussion among the students, assigns homework, and follows up with individual students. Sometimes these courses are synchronous (teachers and students all meet at the same time) and sometimes they are asynchronous (non-concurrent). In both cases, the teacher is supposed to provide opportunities for students to engage thoughtfully with subject matter, and students, in most cases, are required to interact with each other virtually.
Online courses provide opportunities for students. Students in a school that doesn’t offer statistics classes may be able to learn statistics with virtual lessons. If students fail algebra, they may be able to catch up during evenings or summer using online classes, and not disrupt their math trajectory at school. So, almost certainly, online classes sometimes benefit students.
In comparisons of online and in-person classes, however, online classes aren’t as effective as in-person classes for most students. Only a little research has assessed the effects of online lessons for elementary and high school students, and even less has used the “gold standard” method of comparing the results for students assigned randomly to online or in-person courses. Jessica Heppen and colleagues at the American Institutes for Research and the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research randomly assigned students who had failed second semester Algebra I to either face-to-face or online credit recovery courses over the summer. Students’ credit-recovery success rates and algebra test scores were lower in the online setting. Students assigned to the online option also rated their class as more difficult than did their peers assigned to the face-to-face option.
Most of the research on online courses for K-12 students has used large-scale administrative data, looking at otherwise similar students in the two settings. One of these studies, by June Ahn of New York University and Andrew McEachin of the RAND Corp., examined Ohio charter schools; I did another with colleagues looking at Florida public school coursework. Both studies found evidence that online coursetaking was less effective.
It is not surprising that in-person courses are, on average, more effective. Being in person with teachers and other students creates social pressures and benefits that can help motivate students to engage. Some students do as well in online courses as in in-person courses, some may actually do better, but, on average, students do worse in the online setting, and this is particularly true for students with weaker academic backgrounds.
Students who struggle in in-person classes are likely to struggle even more online. While the research on virtual schools in K-12 education doesn’t address these differences directly, a study of college students that I worked on with Stanford colleagues found very little difference in learning for high-performing students in the online and in-person settings. On the other hand, lower performing students performed meaningfully worse in online courses than in in-person courses.
But just because students who struggle in in-person classes are even more likely to struggle online doesn’t mean that’s inevitable. Online teachers will need to consider the needs of less-engaged students and work to engage them. Online courses might be made to work for these students on average, even if they have not in the past.
Just like in brick-and-mortar classrooms, online courses need a strong curriculum and strong pedagogical practices. Teachers need to understand what students know and what they don’t know, as well as how to help them learn new material. What is different in the online setting is that students may have more distractions and less oversight, which can reduce their motivation. The teacher will need to set norms for engagement—such as requiring students to regularly ask questions and respond to their peers—that are different than the norms in the in-person setting.
Online courses are generally not as effective as in-person classes, but they are certainly better than no classes. A substantial research base developed by Karl Alexander at Johns Hopkins University and many others shows that students, especially students with fewer resources at home, learn less when they are not in school. Right now, virtual courses are allowing students to access lessons and exercises and interact with teachers in ways that would have been impossible if an epidemic had closed schools even a decade or two earlier. So we may be skeptical of online learning, but it is also time to embrace and improve it.
Susanna Loeb is a professor of education and of public affairs at Brown University and the director of the university's Annenberg Institute for School Reform. She studies education policy, and her interests include social inequality.
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Eric bettinger and eric bettinger associate professor of economics of education - stanford graduate school of education, research associate - national bureau of economic research susanna loeb susanna loeb professor and faculty director - scale initiative, stanford university's graduate school of education, founder and executive director - national student support accelerator.
June 9, 2017
Online courses have expanded rapidly and have the potential to extend further the educational opportunities of many students, particularly those least well-served by traditional educational institutions. However, in their current design, online courses are difficult, especially for the students who are least prepared. These students’ learning and persistence outcomes are worse when they take online courses than they would have been had these same students taken in-person courses. Continued improvement of online curricula and instruction can strengthen the quality of these courses and hence the educational opportunities for the most in-need populations.
Online courses offer the promise of access regardless of where students live or what time they can participate, potentially redefining educational opportunities for those least well-served in traditional classrooms. Moreover, online platforms offer the promise, through artificial intelligence, of providing the optimal course pacing and content to fit each student’s needs and thereby improve educational quality and learning. The latest “intelligent” tutoring systems, for example, not only assess students’ current weaknesses, but also diagnose why students make the specific errors. These systems then adjust instructional materials to meet students’ needs. 1
Yet today these promises are far from fully realized. The vast majority of online courses mirror face-to-face classrooms with professors rather using technology to better differentiate instruction across students. As one new study that we completed with our colleagues Lindsay Fox and Eric Taylor shows, online courses can improve access, yet they also are challenging, especially for the least well-prepared students. These students consistently perform worse in an online setting than they do in face-to-face classrooms; taking online courses increases their likelihood of dropping out and otherwise impedes progress through college. 2
Online college courses are rapidly growing. One out of three college students now takes at least one course online during their college career, and that share has increased threefold over the past decade. 3 The potential for cost savings and the ease of scaling fuels ongoing investments in online education by both public and private institutions. 4 Online courses have grown in the K-12 sector as well. Florida, for example, requires each high school student to take at least one online course before graduation and the Florida Virtual School offers over 150 classes to students across the state. 5 An estimated 1.5 million K-12 students participated in some online learning in 2010, 6 and online learning enrollments are projected to grow in future years. 7
Non-selective and for-profit higher education institutions have expanded online course offerings particularly quickly. These institutions serve a majority of college-aged students, and these students typically have weaker academic preparation and fewer economic resources than students at other more selective colleges and universities. As such, their ability to provide useful course work, engage students, and build the skills necessary for economic success is particularly important. Their use of online coursework is promising to the extent that it can reach the most students in need and serve them well.
While online course-taking is both prevalent and growing, especially in non-selective higher education institutions, relatively little evidence has examined how taking a course online instead of in person affects student success in college. Our new study is the first of which we are aware to provide evidence on the effects of online courses at-scale at non-selective four-year colleges. It is also the first to assess the effects of online course taking at for-profit institutions. Nearly 2.4 million undergraduate students (full-time equivalent) enrolled at for-profit institutions during the 2011-12 academic year, and the sector granted approximately 18 percent of all associate degrees.
Our study uses data from DeVry University, a large for-profit college with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 100,000 students, 80 percent of whom are seeking a bachelor’s degree. The average DeVry student takes two-thirds of her courses online. The remaining one-third of courses meet in conventional in-person classes held at one of DeVry’s 102 physical campuses. The data include over 230,000 students enrolled in 168,000 sections of more than 750 different courses.
DeVry University’s approach to online education makes it particularly well suited for estimating the effects of taking online courses. Each DeVry course is offered both online and in-person, and each student enrolls in either an online section or an in-person section. Online and in-person sections are identical in most ways: both follow the same syllabus and use the same textbook; class sizes are approximately the same; both use the same assignments, quizzes, tests, and grading rubrics. Many professors teach both online and in-person courses. The contrast between online and in-person sections is primarily the mode of communication. In online sections, all interaction—lecturing, class discussion, group projects—occurs in online discussion boards, and much of the professor’s “lecturing” role is replaced with standardized videos. In online sections, participation is often asynchronous while in-person sections meet on campus at scheduled times. In short, DeVry online classes attempt to replicate traditional in-person classes, except that student-student and student-professor interactions are virtual and asynchronous.
Using variation in course-taking that arises both from changes in course offerings at particular campuses in a particular term and from variation across students in the distance that they have to travel to take in-person courses, we find that taking a course online reduces student grades by 0.44 points on the traditional four-point grading scale, approximately a 0.33 standard deviation decline relative to taking a course in-person (See Figure 1). To be more concrete, students taking the course in-person earned roughly a B- grade (2.8) on average while if they had taken it online, they would have earned a C (2.4). Additionally, taking a course online reduces a student’s GPA the following term by 0.15 points; and, if we look only at the next term GPA for courses in the same subject area or courses for which the course in question is a pre-requisite, we find larger drops of 0.42 points and 0.32 points respectively, providing evidence that students learned less in the online setting.
We also find that taking a course online, instead of in person, increases the probability that a student will drop out of school. In the semester after taking an online course, students are about 9 percentage points less likely to remain enrolled. This reduction is relative to an average of 88 percent of students remaining enrolled in the following term. Moreover, taking a course online reduces the number of credits that students who do reenroll take in future semesters. While this setting is quite different, we can compare the effects on online course taking to other estimates of effects of on college persistence. For example, the literature on financial aid often finds that $1000 in financial aid increases persistence rates by about three percentage points 8 and college mentorship increases persistence rates by five percentage points. 9
The negative effects of online course taking are concentrated in the lowest performing students. As shown in Figure 2, for students with below median prior GPA, the online classes reduce grades by 0.5 points or more, while for students with prior GPA in the top three deciles we estimate the effect as much smaller and, in fact, we cannot tell whether there is negative effect at all for this higher-achieving group. Thus, while online courses may have the potential to differentiate coursework to meet the needs of students with weaker incoming skills, current online courses, in fact, do an even worse job of meeting the needs of these students than do traditional in-person courses.
These analyses provide evidence that students in online courses perform substantially worse than students in traditional in-person courses and that experience in these online courses impact performance in future classes and their likelihood of dropping out of college as well. The negative effects of online course-taking are far stronger for students with lower prior GPA. The results are in line with prior studies of online education in other settings such as community colleges and highly competitive four-year institutions that also show that online courses yield worse average outcomes than in-person courses. 10
The current negative effect of online course taking relative to in-person course taking should not necessarily lead to the conclusion that online courses should be discouraged. On the contrary, online courses provide access to students who never would have the opportunity or inclination to take classes in-person. 11 As one indication, of the 5.8 million students taking online courses in the fall of 2014, 2.85 million took all of their courses online. 12 Moreover, advances in AI offer hope that future online courses can respond to the needs of students, meeting them where they are in their learning and engaging them in higher education even better than in-person courses are currently able to do. 13 Nonetheless, the tremendous scale and consistently negative effects of current offerings points to the need to improve these courses, particularly for students most at risk of course failure and college dropout.
The authors did not receive financial support from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. They are currently not officers, directors, or board members of any organization with an interest in this article.
Education Technology Higher Education
Economic Studies
Center for Economic Security and Opportunity
September 24, 2024
Michael Trucano, Sopiko Beriashvili
September 20, 2024
Megan Kuhfeld, Karyn Lewis
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Clinical trials: design, strategy, and analysis.
SOM-XCHE0030
Stanford School of Medicine , Stanford Center for Health Education
New medical innovations are constantly hitting the market and changing patient care and research - but what goes into creating these technologies? Researchers need to design, conduct, and report on clinical trials to create impactful technologies that can better our understanding of health and medicine. From learning frameworks and reporting methods to determining how to accurately collect, manage, and measure data, you’ll gain the knowledge necessary to understand the components that go into running a successful clinical trial. Whether you’re in a patient-facing role looking to implement research into your professional career or seeking how to better communicate and collaborate with colleagues working in the labs, the clinical trials course gives you the tools you need to find answers for your health and medicine-related inquiries.
Learning Objectives:
Begin your studies of clinical trials with an introduction to the background and rationale, a review of protocol development and trial registration, and an outline of a trial’s phases and stages. | Compare the advantages and disadvantages of different trial types and review three frameworks for clinical trials. |
Learn how to organize a research question using PICOT framework, be able to identify two types of statistical hypotheses, and explore Type I and II errors. | Understand methods for recruitment, retention, and tracking, and dive into the ethical principles and nuances of human subject research. |
Discover the best practices for randomization and blinding for intervention and comparison. | Explore multiple testing methods, outline strategies for controlling Type I errors, and understand the importance of selecting and refining primary outcomes. |
Define Adverse Events (AE) and the roles and responsibilities of the Data and Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMBs). | Dive into Regulatory Framework and the Medical Device Regulatory Strategy. Data Collection, Management, and Sharing Uncover the importance of reproducible research techniques and adequate data checking and cleaning. |
Review CONSORT reporting guidelines and scientific manuscript tips for accurately conveyed information. |
Accreditation In support of improving patient care, Stanford Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Credit Designation American Medical Association (AMA) The Stanford University School of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 12.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
View the full accreditation information HERE from Stanford Medicine
Special Pricing
Enroll as a group or team and learn together. We can advise you on the best group options to meet your organization’s training and development goals and provide you with the support needed to streamline the process. Participating together, your group will develop a shared knowledge, language, and mindset to tackle the challenges ahead.
I recently completed the "Clinical Trials: Design, Strategy, and Analysis" course, and it was outstanding. The presenters were not only knowledgeable but also incredibly engaging, making complex concepts easy to understand and directly applicable to real-world scenarios. Highly recommend for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of clinical trials." - Carole-Anne B., Medical Manager
Gallaudet University
Epidemiology and Population Health
Kristin Sainani (née Cobb) is an associate professor at Stanford University and also a health and science writer. After receiving an MS in statistics and a PhD in epidemiology from Stanford University, she studied science writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has taught statistics and writing at Stanford for more than a decade and has received several Excellence in Teaching Awards from the graduate program in epidemiology. Dr. Sainani writes about science and health for a range of audiences. She authored the health column Body News for Allure magazine for a decade. She is also the statistical editor for the journal Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; and she authors a statistics column, Statistically Speaking, for this journal.
Stanford School of Medicine
SOM-YCME0019
SOM-XCHE0009
Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Center for Health Education
SOCRA's online courses are intended to provide access to training and continuing education that will promote quality clinical research, protect the welfare of research participants and improve global health.
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ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN CLINICAL RESEARCH :
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https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-326930
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Research is a core driver for improving child health. A recent Academy of Medical Sciences report clearly illustrates that investing in child health research confers population-level benefits for national health and prosperity. 1 But beyond pushing boundaries, research literacy is essential to daily clinical practice through informing evidence-based decision-making and facilitating adaptation of guidelines to evolving medical knowledge. It must be a core component of every paediatrician’s skill set and is described in Good Clinical Practice courses as a ‘frontline service’. As far back as 2012, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Turning The Tide report highlighted the urgent need for increased provision and reignited enthusiasm for research within paediatric training. Alarmingly, reports have since shown the senior academic paediatric workforce to be shrinking, with only 5.4% of respondents to the 2022 RCPCH UK census reporting research involvement. 2 For child health to flourish, it is essential that the next generation of paediatricians is research literate. Beyond this, we must empower a substantial proportion of trainees to actively participate in and lead research to become skilled academic clinicians of the future. Below, we discuss the state of research within training: the mandates, provisions and shortfalls.
Research has rightly been a staple of the training curriculum. RCPCH’s 2023 Progress+ details an increased number of research-oriented key capabilities, mirroring the values outlined by the General Medical Council’s (GMC) Generic Professional Capabilities Framework and further referenced in the Gold Guide.
X @dominicarr, @eloucaid
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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This course covers various concepts crucial to scientific research methodology, from the initial formulation of the problem through all the steps of designing and conducting the research to the final stage of writing a report. We introduce you to the definition of ‘scientific research’ and layout its methods, starting with formulating the research problem in a well-written proposal that addresses any potential ethical issues. We then examine the execution of the research, including data collection, processing, analysis and presentation, before concluding with the final stage: writing an accurate, effective research report that does justice to your work and satisfies the standards of a scientific publication.
This course consists of three modules, each containing three or four main topics. The first module explains the definition of ‘scientific research’ and its different types, methods, steps, criteria and ethics. The second module shows you how to prepare for your research project. You learn how to formulate your problem, design your research and select appropriate samples before describing your project in a convincing proposal. The third module unpacks how to collect, process, analyze and present your data and explains what makes up a publishable report.
We provide a complete overview of the process of conducting scientific research, from the initial idea to the final step of writing a report. As a result, we can help college students write their thesis or anyone entering the world of science and academe. Research competence can boost your career and help you understand how scientists work to arrive at the discoveries that affect all our lives. Sign up for this free online course today to learn how to conduct rigorous research.
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Distance Learning: New Technologies for an Old Practice. Distance learning online may be new, but the desire to learn from field experts from afar is not. In fact, all that's really changed over the centuries—yes, centuries!—is the speed and style of communication. For instance, in 1728, distance learning took place through correspondence ...
That earlier research largely found that primary- and secondary-school students who learned online before Covid — largely in rural and online charter schools — did less well in math and ...
The use of virtual courses among K-12 students has grown rapidly in recent years. Florida, for example, requires all high school students to take at least one online course.
A number of online course technologies such as learning management systems, online textbooks, online audio and video tools, collaborative tools, social networks to build online community have been the focus of research. ... Ahern T.C., Shaw S.M., Liu X. Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research. 2006; 76 ...
This contrasts with research on distal impacts of online courses situated at single state-wide community college systems which has found online course taking to be associated with lower college persistence, transfer rates, and graduation rates (Huntington-Klein et al., 2017; Shea & Bidjerano, 2018; Xu & Jaggars, 2011). This highlights the need ...
Most of the research on online courses for K-12 students has used large-scale administrative data, looking at otherwise similar students in the two settings. One of these studies, by June Ahn of New York University and Andrew McEachin of the RAND Corp., examined Ohio charter schools; I did another with colleagues looking at Florida public ...
Learn. Researcher Academy provides free access to countless e-learning resources designed to support researchers on every step of their research journey. Browse our extensive module catalogue to uncover a world of knowledge, and earn certificates and rewards as you progress. Get started.
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The negative effects of online course-taking are far stronger for students with lower prior GPA. The results are in line with prior studies of online education in other settings such as community ...
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What You'll Earn. You'll earn a Stanford Graduate Certificate in Epidemiology and Clinical Research when you successfully earn a grade of B (3.0) or better in each course in the program. With each successful completion of a course in this program, you'll receive a Stanford University transcript and academic credit, which may be applied to a ...
Choose from more than 60 online classes offered through Coursera, a leading provider of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Courses are free and open to anyone who is interested—you don't have to be enrolled at Johns Hopkins. Topics include bioinformatics, data analysis, the science of patient safety, and caring for people with Alzheimer ...
Since massive open online courses (MOOCs) emerged as an educational phenomenon in 2012, the number of MOOCs offered on various platforms, including edX, Coursera, and Future Learn, has exploded. ... is an associate professor in the Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation program at Syracuse University. His research interests focus on ...
For that, you'd need to take a course that offers an educational certificate. An educational certificate is offered by a college or university. For example, Drexel University offers a 15-credit online Clinical Research Certificate. Typically, to get an educational certificate, you have to complete 15-18 credits.
Begin your studies of clinical trials with an introduction to the background and rationale, a review of protocol development and trial registration, and an outline of a trial's phases and stages. Trial Design. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of different trial types and review three frameworks for clinical trials.
SOCRA has implemented an online component to the already robust array of educational opportunities. These online courses offer affordable, convenient access to quality education. SOCRA's online courses are intended to provide access to training and continuing education that will promote quality clinical research, protect the welfare of research ...
Develop positive values and powerful problem-solving skills for personal and professional success through insights from great philosophers and practical thinking techniques. Add to list. edX. 4 weeks, 4-6 hours a week. On-Demand. Free Online Course (Audit) Best of All Time. The National Centre for Research Methods.
Research is a core driver for improving child health. A recent Academy of Medical Sciences report clearly illustrates that investing in child health research confers population-level benefits for national health and prosperity.1 But beyond pushing boundaries, research literacy is essential to daily clinical practice through informing evidence-based decision-making and facilitating adaptation ...
This course consists of three modules, each containing three or four main topics. The first module explains the definition of 'scientific research' and its different types, methods, steps, criteria and ethics. The second module shows you how to prepare for your research project. You learn how to formulate your problem, design your research ...
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Learn Clinical Research, earn certificates with paid and free online courses from Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins and other top universities around the world. Read reviews to decide if a class is right for you.