We’ve discussed the sudden surge of online classes here on Lifecrust before.Today we’re discussing a different aspect of MOOCs; how effective these really are in teaching people something. Do people actually retain any knowledge delivered in virtual classrooms and lectures? Or is it really a waste of time>
A new Harvard study conducted by top psychology professors looked into how short and frequent test-taking might promote learning when this is virtual. The rationale behind this experiment was to discover new techniques that can enhance the learning performance of online learners, as the conventional techniques used in real-time classroom settings, don’t apply to virtual learning environments.
In one part of the experiment, a lecture was paused three times in order to ask students whether they’ve mind-wandered during the lecture. Almost one in two students responded yes. Now the fact that one in two students was mind-wandering during a lecture is a significantly worrying number that compromises student success.
How to succeed in online course taking
This first experiment needless to say, confirmed the researchers’ concern; students’ extensively lack focus when watching online lectures, contributes in poor learning outcomes.
In the second part of their experiment, the researchers split a lecture into five-minute shorter ones and in between this short lectures, students were asked to take a short test and apply the knowledge just received. The controlled group was solving math problems instead. This was apply to the people in the first part of the experiment as well.
The results showed that the students tested on the material of the lecture tended to do better in terms of performance and their mind-wandering was significantly limited with this seemingly simple technique.
Further research is needed to explore aspects this experiment failed to take into account, but the findings are indeed promising in giving us insights as to how to improve virtual learning outcomes.
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