Online Learning is Different!
This article in the Harvard Gazette presents results of research on the effectiveness of online learning. It notes that “By interspersing online lectures with short tests, student mind-wandering decreased by half, note-taking tripled, and overall retention of the material improved.” The research was motivated by a simple question: Can virtual classes cut through the maze of distractions — such as email, the Internet, and television — that face students sitting at their computers? The solution, as the research results have unveiled is to test students early and often, suggesting a slightly different (and perhaps more effective) approach to online learning.
