Blind Scores in a Graduate Test: Conventional Compared with Web-based Outcomes

by Sloan-C
AUTHORS:
M. Hosein Fallah, Ph.D.Executive-in-ResidenceWesley J. Howe School of Technology ManagementStevens Institute of TechnologyHoboken, NJ 07030

This is non comparative study.

Problem: While the published literature suggests that there is little or no difference in the outcomes of student results when online learning is compared with conventional classroom instruction.

Purpose and question:
Are there any differences between the outcomes of student results when online learning and conventional classroom instruction?


Instrument:
The study is applying midterm exam to assess the grades of the learners and the differences between two types of learning ( to compare two graduate school environments-one in a conventional setting and the other in a web-based "virtual classroom)." The two classes were taught by the same instructor who delivered the same content to both groups. The "blind" study was performed at Stevens Institute of Technology, a technical and business university that provides undergraduate and graduate education to approximately 4,000 students at its Hoboken, NJ main campus and at some 30 other sites in New Jersey and six other states.


Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Eliminate potential instructor bias the instructor grade the midterm examinations from both classes without knowing from which class the exams originated.
It is showing that there is no difference between face to face instruction and virtual classroom.
no evidence of any kind that categorically proves that technology does not impact learning in some way, positively or negatively.

Disadvantages
the way of teaching in both types of learning may faced some differences and can effect students achievement .

FINDINGS
The test results for each group are shown in Figure 1. The WebCampus class had seven students whose test grades ranged from 57 to 94 (out of 100 points). The on-campus class, with 12 students, received midterm grades ranging from 35 to 87

From a quick inspection of the raw data, it is not immediately clear which class did better. The distribution of the grades in Figure 2, however, shows that while the means of two samples are close, the on-campus class has a bimodal distribution with some students scoring high and some low. We will discuss this difference in our observation.

REFERENCES
1. Russell, Thomas E., The No Significant Difference Phenomenon, North Carolina University, 1999. Available: http://nova.teleeducation.nb.ca/nosignificantdifference/
2. Brock, Gerald W., Telecommunication Policy for the Information Age: From Monopoly to Competition, Harvard University Press, 1998.


http://www.aln.org/publications/magazine/v4n2/fallah.asp