Enrollment in online courses has seen major growth in the past decade. The number of student taking an online class has grown from 9.6 percent to 32 percent between 2002 and 2011 (Allen, Seaman, Sloan, Babson Survey Research, & Pearson, 2013, p. 17). Despite this growth, Allen et al. (2013) note that “…the perception of chief academic officers of the acceptance of this learning modality [online] by faculty has decreased in the most recent year” (p. 6). Some believe the traditional educational setting is superior to an online setting. The consistent growth of online courses and the divide in opinion of their value begs the question, is this course delivery method as effective as the traditional face-to-face classroom setting? And does it provide
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In regards to their post-class surveys Summers, Waigandt, and Whittaker (2005) found “significant group differences were detected for three of the course-related items, including class discussion, quality of questions/problems, and evaluation/grading techniques” (p. 243). From these differences in student satisfaction levels they conclude that the students in the online version of the course were less satisfied with their educational experience than those in the face-to-face version (Summers, Waigandt, & Whittaker, 2005, p. 245). This would seem to contradict the notion that online courses do provide a satisfying educational environment similar to traditional classes, but is there another reason for this? In creating the online version of his course the instructor made no changes to better adapt the course to the online setting, the instructor “…literally translated all of his face-to-face lectures, activities, and homework assignments to the online format” (Summers, Waigandt, & Whittaker, 2005, p. 239). This is in contrast to the study performed by Wiechowski, and Washburn (2014), that reported higher levels of satisfaction in online classes opposed to traditional classes in similar categories, where the approach to online class design was intentionally designed for the online environment
In regards to their post-class surveys Summers, Waigandt, and Whittaker (2005) found “significant group differences were detected for three of the course-related items, including class discussion, quality of questions/problems, and evaluation/grading techniques” (p. 243). From these differences in student satisfaction levels they conclude that the students in the online version of the course were less satisfied with their educational experience than those in the face-to-face version (Summers, Waigandt, & Whittaker, 2005, p. 245). This would seem to contradict the notion that online courses do provide a satisfying educational environment similar to traditional classes, but is there another reason for this? In creating the online version of his course the instructor made no changes to better adapt the course to the online setting, the instructor “…literally translated all of his face-to-face lectures, activities, and homework assignments to the online format” (Summers, Waigandt, & Whittaker, 2005, p. 239). This is in contrast to the study performed by Wiechowski, and Washburn (2014), that reported higher levels of satisfaction in online classes opposed to traditional classes in similar categories, where the approach to online class design was intentionally designed for the online environment