Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?

[Richard Hake <rrhake@earthlink.net>]

Assessment reformers may or may not be interested in a recent essay 
"Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" [Hake (2008)] in 
the "International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and 
Learning"  <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/> that was prompted 
by discussion list responses to the provocatively titled post 
"Distance Learning: Is There Any?" [Hake (2007)].  The abstract reads:

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Professor Scott Overmyer of Baker College, in a discussion list post, 
raised four points bearing on a question of interest to those 
involved in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): "Can 
Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" My answer: "YES" - 
judging from the fact that pre/post testing in courses in Newtonian 
mechanics has demonstrated an approximately two-standard-deviation 
superiority in average normalized gains <g> for classroom 
"interactive engagement" methods over "traditional" classroom 
methods. Similarly, pre/post testing might demonstrate a substantive 
superiority over traditional classroom teaching for both classroom 
and distance education that recognize recent advances in cognitive 
science and emphasize learning rather than teaching. But such 
demonstration probably cannot be achieved if scholars of teaching and 
learning continue to rely on low-resolution gauges of students' 
learning.
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To access the complete article please click on 
<http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/v2n1/essays_about_sotl/hake/index.htm>. 


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>


REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2007. "Distance Learning: Is There Any?" online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0708&L=pod&O=D&P=10532>. 
Post of 9-12 August to AERA-A, AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-J, AERA-L, 
ASSESS, Biopi-L, Biolab (rejected), Chemed-L, EdResMeth, EvalTalk, 
IFETS, ITForum (rejected), Math-Teach, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, POD, RUME, 
STLHE-L, TIPS, and WBTOLL-L.

Hake, R.R. 2008. "Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" 
IJ-SoTL 2(1): January; online at 
<http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/v2n1/essays_about_sotl/hake/index.htm>." 
The "International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" 
(IJ-SoTL)  <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/>  is an open, 
peer-reviewed, international electronic journal containing articles, 
essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and 
learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education 
today.