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Abstract
Online learning is coming of age. ‘Traditional’ universities are embracing online components to courses, online courses, and even complete online programs. With the advantage of distance and time insensitivity for the learning process, there appears to be a growing sense that this form of teaching and learning has strong pedagogical merit. Research has shown that students do comparatively well in this new format. There is, however, a lack of evidence illustrating particular strengths and weaknesses of online teaching and learning. This paper discusses experiences with a single course taught using two forms: (1) traditional place-based, and (2) a form of asynchronous learning network (ALN) defined as interactive virtual seminars. Differences in learning performance are tested using longitudinal observations. In a course comprised of both conceptual material and the application of techniques, the students performed overall equally well in either place-based or virtual format. Their degree of learning, however, differed significantly between conceptual and technique-based material. Implications are promising, showing that there are relative strengths to be exploited in both place-based and virtual formats.
Highlights
The results suggest there is no significant difference between the asynchronous learning network (ALN) and place-based students in overall score, proving HA
The results indicate that the group of students in the ALN course scored significantly higher in conceptual contribution than place-based students, proving HB
This study has focused on the comparison of conceptual and technique learning in ALN and place-based environments
Summary
Since the revolution of email and the world wide web in 1994, universities have changed dramatically in pedagogical structure, embracing telecommunications-enabled teaching and learning opportunities. This radical change, begun by ‘evangelists’ who believed there could be a new way to teach and learn, has been followed by evaluative research, anecdotal evidence, and experimentation suggesting that alternative learning environments could provide comparable, even preferable, learning outcomes [3]. The findings illustrate that students provide similar overall learning performance scores from either format They do not, develop skills in the same way. The evaluative instruments, namely assignments, tutorial exercises, and examinations were identical in format for either treatment
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