This PDF is about two different points of views regarding the effectiveness of technology in distance education.

1. Comparison between two studies in terms of achievement in
E-learning & face-to-face environment.
No Significant Difference Better with Technology
Title Do online students perform as well as lecture students?
( 2001 - Dutton, J., Dutton, M., & Perry, J.)
Virtual Teaching in Higher Education
( 1998 - Schutte, J. G.)
Purpose To see whether online delivery performs as well as traditional
delivery for a computer science course at North Carolina State To assess the merits of a traditional, versus virtual,
University. The comparisons made are for two large sections of classroom environment on student test performance
the course for which almost the only difference was that one and student affect toward the experience.
section attended lectures and the other did not.
Audience Two class of the CSC114 course (Introduction to Programming in
C) in North Carolina State University in the 1999 spring
Student enrollment at California State University,
Northridge, Sociology 364 ( Social Statistics course),
semester, one section is taught on-campus (face-to-face) and for the Fall of 1996. Those students were randomly
the other one is online. divided into two groups, one group was taught in a
traditional classroom and the other group was taught
The sample was consisting from (312 student): almost virtually on the World Wide Web.
(179)student in the face-to-face course and (133) student in the
online course. The sample was consisting from (33) students: (17) in
the traditional class, (16) in the virtual class.
Finding 1. As a group, online students who completed the course
generally did significantly better than lecture students. This
1. Results indicate the virtual students scored an
average of 20 points higher on the 100 point
result holds up when we consider undergraduate students midterm and final exams.
only. For lifelong students the result is reversed, but the 2. Virtual class had significantly higher perceived peer
difference is not statistically significant. contact, and time spent on class work.
2. Online students had a smaller likelihood of completing the 3. Virtual class students communicate more with
course than did students in the traditional lecture section. This fellow students.
difference is significant if we consider only differences in 4. Virtual class students had more flexibility, a
proportions without controlling for differences in effort or greater understanding of the material, and more
undergraduate versus lifelong status. positive affect toward math end, than did the
3. Results demonstrate that online students can perform at least traditional class.
as well as students in the traditional lecture setting.