Research & Statistics Student Learning Assessment comparing Online vs. Live (Face to Face) Instruction

A Goal of the Social Work graduate program A Goal of the Social Work graduate program SL Goal 7 The goals of research are to launch research-practitioners who engage in lifelong learning based on knowledge and skills acquired in the MSW program, to develop methods of evaluating social work practice and information used in practice, and to instill more discriminating and critical consumption of professional knowledge and research. SL Goal 7 The goals of research are to launch research-practitioners who engage in lifelong learning based on knowledge and skills acquired in the MSW program, to develop methods of evaluating social work practice and information used in practice, and to instill more discriminating and critical consumption of professional knowledge and research.

Research Sequence  Composed of Graduate Courses in: ► Research Methods ► Statistics (Not Favorite Courses!)

Research Methods Course ► Research Methods course covers:  Problem Formulation  Conceptualization & Operationalization  Measurement  Sampling  Design  Qualitative methods

Research Methods Course ► Traditionally course required:  Midterm  Final  Research Proposal  Was highly stressful for students!

Research Methods ► F2F course consisted of:  Lecture  Question & Answers  Discussion  Group work applying covered aspect of course to a real social work problem

Online Research Course ► Frequent student inquires about online courses ► Social Work students driving in from all corners of the state ► Shift from program with primarily full time students to part-time students ► Students with work or family demands

Online Research Course ► Chose course very comfortable with ► Excellent textbook ► Many notes and hand-outs already developed

Online Research Course ► Progression from web-enhanced to total online course ► E-pak ► STaR Training and Support

Online Research Course ► Taught live f2f section in addition to online section ► After f2f class, would tape a video- stream of condensed lecture (20 min.) ► Covering important points and explain difficult material

Online Research Course ► Move from midterm & finals to weekly chapter quizzes ► Assessments of articles highlighting topic being covered that week ► Group discussion of topics

Research Methods Courses ► Research Proposal Broken into several components:  Research idea and bibliography  Peer review of research idea  Problem Statement—Lit Review  Full proposal  Short presentation

Course comparison ► F2F  Lecture  Class hand-outs  Class discussion  Group exercises with real social work problem  Tests ► On-line:  Video-stream  Handouts and E-pak material  Group discussion  Group exercises with real social work problem  Chapter quizzes

Course comparison ► F2F:  Assignments interpreting articles  Research Proposal in installments  Presentation  Assessment ► On-line:  Assignments interpreting articles  Research Proposal in installments  Presentation  Assessment

Statistics ► Covers descriptive statistics through multivariate regression ► Approach is toward understanding and application of statistics to help understand real problems rather than formulas and calculations.

Statistics Teaching Approach ► Lecture ► Textbook ► Class discussion ► Hand-outs of Statistical Tables ► SPSS and data

Student assignments: ► Chapter quizzes ► Small group interpretation of tables ► SPSS analysis of data ► Write-ups interpreting SPSS results and discussing findings ► Write-ups on questions regarding journal articles ► Final assessment

Actual Course ► Captivate snip

Final Assessment ► Final assessment is a critical review of a journal article ► Students have one week to review and critique an article assigned by professor ► The assessment results are used for assessment of entire research sequence

Assessment ► Questions on Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion components of articles ► Assessment data comparing f2f to online students compiled for 2006 and ► Data shown here compare f2f to online sections of this instructor

Introduction ► Clear Research Question? Hypotheses? ► Appropriate Literature Review? ► TypeNMeanSDtp (20) ► f2f ns ► Online

Method ► Sample? Design? Measures? Procedure? ► TypeNMeanSDt p (20) ► F2f ns ► Online

Results ► Appropriate Statistics? Interpretations of analyses? Statistical vs clinical significance? ► TypeNMeanSDtp ► F2f ns ► Online

Discussion ► Proper interpretation and discussion of findings? ► TypeNMeanSDtp (10) ► F2f ns ► Online

Total Assessment ► Intro, Method, Results, Discussion ► TypeNMeanSDtp (100) ► F2f ns ► Online

Conclusion ► End of sequence assessment indicates that graduate students critically evaluate articles by end of semester ► Analyses indicate no difference in learning between students in f2f and online course delivery

Conclusion ► Comparisons with a f2f section from another instructor (not shown) found small but significant differences with BOTH f2f and online sections of this instructor!

Recommendations ► There are many valid reasons why students may prefer online to f2f courses. ► Important for students to be cognizant of their learning styles and self direction when choosing their courses and its delivery method.