by: Jim Booth, Scholars and Rogues
A recent article at Raw Story (RS) contained the alarmist headline, “Research shows everyone does worse with online learning.” The article goes on to cite a new study by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University that states uncategorically, at least according to RS, “students tended to perform worse academically in online classes — suggesting that students had ‘difficulty adapting’ to online learning. Perhaps even more startling, students of color and men fared the worst.” Hogwash. I know, both from personal experience teaching there for over a decade and from the large number of studies that have been done, that are being done, and that will be done, that Raw Story’s headline is an example of the sort of “journalism” that misrepresents the research of academics both in its “attention grabber” tactics and in the lack of clarity/understanding of the research it reports upon and its implications/applications to populations other than those intended that, sadly, riddles the 4th Estate in these confused times we know as the Information Age; CCRC’s research study focuses on a specific group of students and their experience and success/problems with E-Learning. Any responsible academic (and I have no doubt that a research center associated with Columbia University would be responsible) would offer caveats abounding concerning this research study and its applicability to any population beyond the scope of its research.
http://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/03/03/were-here-were-online-get-used-to-it/
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