Traditional, online, and blended instruction: An investigation of outcomes in a graduate special education course taught in three different learning environments.

摘要

Nationally and regionally there are insufficient numbers of qualified special education teachers to meet current demand. Online course delivery has been proposed as one way to reach more students and increase the number of special education teachers. A recent meta-analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (2009) reviewed the research on online learning and reported that on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those in traditional classes. However, among other issues noted in the meta-analysis, it was specified that many of the included studies did not control for curriculum materials and various aspects of pedagogy. This present study investigated student outcomes in one graduate level special education course taught in a traditional, online, and blended learning environment by the same instructor using the same materials and activities for all three sections of the course. The findings of this exploratory study were not consistent with the recent meta-analysis.