CourseCast of the Week

Episode 115, 08/22/2009

Title/Description: Online Students Outperform Classroom Students and other tech headlines

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 115, recorded Aug 22nd, 2009. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.

Visit the CourseCasts Website at CourseCasts.course.com where you will find links to the full stories covered in this CourseCast, related discussion questions for use in your technology courses, and the CourseCast Archives. And now the news…

Story 1: Online Students Outperform Classroom Students

A recent study funded by the U.S. Department of Education found that "On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” The research included 99 independent studies over a 12 year span focusing on quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance over the same material. The New York Times reports that the study found that "students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile."

The study's lead author states that "“The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction.” While this hardly suggests that classroom education is not valuable, it does suggest that online education is poised to ramp up over the next few years. Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program expects enrollment in the schools online courses to triple over the next three to five years.

Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom [NYTimes]

News Briefs

• It is likely that 2010 will become the year of touch computing. Seven of the big PC manufacturers have announced new desktop and notebook models designed to take advantage of Windows 7 touch screen capabilities. Apple is also expected to soon introduce new touch-enabled tablets. Touch screens and the new haptics technologies I reported on in episode 111 will have users interacting with their data and applications in a much more intimate manner.
  More PC makers are announcing Windows 7 machines that use touch screens [Computerworld]
• A recent study revealed that hackers prefer using the Opera Web browser over more popular browsers like IE and Firefox. Hackers understand that since Opera has only a 2 percent market share, it is seldom the target of attacks, which makes for safer Web browsing.
  One-in-four hackers runs Opera to ward off other criminals [Computerworld]
• When you think "hard-core gamer" what type of person pops into your mind? It might surprise you to learn that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average gamers are 35-year old men who are overweight, aggressive, and introverted. The CDC also warns that young people drawn to serious gaming trend towards similar physical inactivity and corresponding health problems.
  Forget teens, gamers are 35, overweight and sad, CDC says [Computerworld]
• Twitter will soon be adding geolocation to its popular microblogging site. Users will be able to include their current location with tweets so that others can see where they are.
  Update: Geolocation coming to Twitter and its external applications [Computerworld]
• Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, and some library associations are building an alliance to fight Google's recent deal with the Authors Guild. The Deal provides Google with exclusive rights to publish millions of books while providing authors with royalties. The new alliance intends to persuade the Department of Justice that the deal is anti competitive.
  Report: Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon to fight Google book deal [Computerworld]
• Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a software immune system that can be embedded in key parts of the Internet to block viral malicious worms and keep them from infecting computers and building botnets.
  Internet 'immune system' could block viruses [NewScientist]

That's it for this week's CourseCasts. Email me with your comments and suggestions for the show at CourseCasts@gmail.com. Let me know how you use CourseCasts in your classes and I'll give you and your school a shout out on my next CourseCast. Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!