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This paper presents the first experimental evidence on the effects of live versus internet media of instruction. Students in a large introductory microeconomics course at a major research university were randomly assigned to live lectures versus watching these same lectures in an internet setting, where all other factors (e.g., instruction, supplemental materials) were the same. Counter to the conclusions drawn by a recent U.S. Department of Education meta-analysis of non-experimental analyses of internet instruction in higher education, we find modest evidence that live-only instruction dominates internet instruction. These results are particularly strong for Hispanic students, male students, and lower-achieving students. We also provide suggestions for future experimentation in other settings.

The authors are very misleading in their claim that this study is the first on live versus internet. There is a huge literature on this topic stretching back decades. The claims about the generalizability of the study are also very suspect.

Chris, I think the authors are claiming it is the first experimental trial where participants were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition. They contrast their study with the DOE meta-analysis, which I don't think includes experimental studies--at least as experiments are defined within econometrics. My problem with the study is that they are aren't really comparing live vs. internet so much as live vs. recorded video. They are very careful to not take advantage of any of the potential affordances of internet mediated instruction, except broadcasting a lecture, to preserve the "purity" of their experiment. Of course, that's not a terribly interesting experiment. The more interesting experiments, which they deride as "not apples-to-apples," is to compare a traditional lecture format with an online course that takes full advantage of the affordances of the internet. These studies would confound the carefully balanced design of an apples-to-apples comparison, but no serious education technologist thinks we should just record all the lectures and post them...

A very sad story that people think was caused, in part, by how the digital age is affecting students.

I think the wide use of cams has changed people's idea of what is appropriate and what is not. People who have not lived with these webcams and camera phones have at least a background of knowing of a time when they weren't so readily available. Children and students growing up now who've had them all their lives, may not automatically know what is acceptable. I am outraged if I'm in a social setting with friends where we are dancing, having fun, and bystanders start to record us without our consent. These cameras are everywhere, and some states aren't allowing people to video police officers on duty, but I think this should be extended to general public. People should have to consent before they are recorded on camera, and if there is no consent, that offending party should possibly face legal action.

YouTube responds to to the tragedy on their blog - http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/10/responding-to-rutgers-university.html

I think it is interesting because it is related to our online discussion about artificial intelligence. Can machines and computers be as smart as humans and read language?

Teacher Karl Fisch uploads his lectures to YouTube for his students to watch at home at night, then gets them to apply the concepts in class by day.

Self Fulfilling prophecy--basing our ideas on what other people think.

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

When a teacher writes a lesson plan, does the intellectual property (IP) belong to the teacher, the school, or both? This article discussing the online lesson plan marketplace and the debate over who (teacher, school) gets the proceeds. What do you think?

When a teacher writes a lesson plan, does the intellectual property (IP) belong to the teacher, the school, or both? This article discussing the online lesson plan marketplace and the debate over who (teacher, school) gets the proceeds. What do you think?

This recent survey shows that tweens and teens may be more concerned with their internet safety than adults may think, but more education is needed.

This is what I'm saying :-) We tend to do a decent job at making sure children are being safe online...but more is definitely needed. Parents and teachers are concerned with making sure that what happens on the web stays safe and healthy - valid concerns, but instead of thinking about the harms, what if we shifted our thinking more about the potential benefits? Media education shouldn't be preventative, it should be pro-active!

Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."

wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....

When a brain scientist got a stroke, she got the opportunity to study her own experience. She found this remarkable ability of her mind to enter the conscious and sub-conscious realms, accessing information on different levels all the time. I wonder if artificial intelligence would ever have this ability, to think and feel on their own...

Along the lines of the discussions we've been having on the isites, mobile learning has major potential in the developing world. "Mobile phones are increasingly ubiquitous in poor countries, which now account for FOUR IN EVERY FIVE connections worldwide". This means that almost everyone owns or has access to a mobile phone. How can we leverage this reality? Well, we can't impose anything that requires a smart phone, since most of these mobile phones cannot access 3G or wifi networks. Perhaps we can start to send podcasts as voice notes? Audio wikis of information sent via sms? In-phone calculators for math homework completion? I think all we need is an educational system that supports this type of learning, and m-learning can possible change the face of education in the developing world. 

I think it's curious that you're having universities like Antioch and others that are including MOOC courses as for credit options without any kind of evaluation or data on the actual efficacy of MOOCs, let alone specific classes.

My understanding of the pilot program is that students will still have faculty-led components, though, so it's not purely MOOC. It's more like a blended-learning environment that uses the MOOC as the digital part. So the students will have Antioch exams and homework sets, discussions, etc. If they are satisfied with the efficacy after the pilot, then they will expand the model.

This is not necessarily related to technology but think is relevant to the concern presented by Dr Turkle on 'multitasking'. Many of us and current management have fostered the bad habit of multitasking, responding to the expectation that we will respond immediately, seek to keep ourselves busy to reward our brain... This famous book by Ghoshal introduces the concept of 'active non-action'. Figure 2-1 provides 4 types of managerial behaviors (the detached, procrastinators, frenzied and the purposeful). how many of us are being 'the purposeful' today? 

This article describes Google's first large scale attempt at an augmented reality game taking place on City Streets via smartphones. I find it especially interesting to think about the educational value of such a platform.

I also saw this earlier. very interesting stuff.

This is very "hot" in India at the moment. The president of India has given 200 of these to the university I work at and they are distributing it, for free, to loads if other institutes. It costs $25!! I haven't seen the quality of the device, but I have seen other low cost, about $150, tablets and I don't like them AT ALL. D you think e device quality and user experience will not be deterrent given the price point?

Mohit, I've heard a lot about the poor quality of the device and very little about HOW universities intend on using these tablets. It seems like another case of top-down intervention that's tech-driven rather than learning-driven, which is rather unfortunate. Also seems even more unfortunate that even though it's a tech-driven initiative, they haven't thought out the *quality* component of the tech. Oy... See this article for critiques of the tablet: http://www.techulator.com/resources/5523-Most-Annoying-Defects-Flows-Datawinds.aspx

A new experiment in online learning: MIT OpenCourseWare, Codecademy, OpenStudy and P2PU are partnering together to offer a new kind of MOOC. The first course is "A Gentle Introduction to Python." It sends out emails to thousands of small groups pointing them to lectures, tutorials, and exercises - but also encourages learners to think for themselves and share additional resources with each other. It provides a map to learning Python, but doesn't discourage folks from careening off the beaten path. 

Google is building a new search tool that pre-guesses what you are looking for. This is a step beyond children being able to look up answers to any questions they have without thinking.