Student Learning Outcomes in Online and Traditional Ethics Courses
Track
Research Project / Online Learning
Abstract
Numerous studies conducted over the past fifteen years indicate that there is no significant difference between student learning outcomes in online courses and traditional, face-to-face courses. Many teachers and scholars in humanities disciplines nevertheless remain skeptical that online courses in the humanities can produce comparable student learning outcomes to traditional humanities courses because synchronous, face-to-face classroom discussions are crucial to achieving valuable learning outcomes in the humanities. Relatively few scholars of teaching and learning, however, have compared systematically the learning outcomes of online and traditional courses in humanities disciplines such as philosophy.
The study featured in this poster session compares learning outcomes in two traditional sections of a philosophy course in introductory ethics to the student learning outcomes in three online sections of the same course that were taught by the same instructor with the same learning objectives, the same required readings, and the same major assignments. The proposed poster session allows participants to evaluate whether an online philosophy course in introductory ethics that utilizes online lecture captures and online discussion forums in place of face-to-face lectures and discussions can produce similar learning outcomes to a traditional version of the same course.
Session Format
Poster Session
Location
Room 113
Recommended Citation
Graham, Kevin M., "Student Learning Outcomes in Online and Traditional Ethics Courses" (2016). SoTL Commons Conference. 52.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2016/52
Student Learning Outcomes in Online and Traditional Ethics Courses
Room 113
Numerous studies conducted over the past fifteen years indicate that there is no significant difference between student learning outcomes in online courses and traditional, face-to-face courses. Many teachers and scholars in humanities disciplines nevertheless remain skeptical that online courses in the humanities can produce comparable student learning outcomes to traditional humanities courses because synchronous, face-to-face classroom discussions are crucial to achieving valuable learning outcomes in the humanities. Relatively few scholars of teaching and learning, however, have compared systematically the learning outcomes of online and traditional courses in humanities disciplines such as philosophy.
The study featured in this poster session compares learning outcomes in two traditional sections of a philosophy course in introductory ethics to the student learning outcomes in three online sections of the same course that were taught by the same instructor with the same learning objectives, the same required readings, and the same major assignments. The proposed poster session allows participants to evaluate whether an online philosophy course in introductory ethics that utilizes online lecture captures and online discussion forums in place of face-to-face lectures and discussions can produce similar learning outcomes to a traditional version of the same course.
