A colleague at work shared a link to some meta-analysis of research on online learning. The study is from several years ago, and was conducted for the U.S. Department of Education.
Some interesting findings, and generally supportive of online learning:
The overall finding of the meta-analysis is that classes with online learning (whether taught completely online or blended) on average produce stronger student learning outcomes than do classes with solely face-to-face instruction. The mean effect size for all 50 contrasts was +0.20, p < .001.
However, the student featured on the front page of the report needs to find a more ergonomic way to study…