Pedagogy of Online Instruction - Can it Be as Good as Face-to-Face?

Availability of newer technologies such as conferencing tools and higher bandwidth that enables multimedia presentations has resulted in the offering of more online courses and degree programs. Recent statistics (Koeppel, 1999) reveal that the number and diversity of online programming by many institutions has significantly increased over the last few years. Attempts to carefully scrutinize and evaluate online instruction should also increase. The online and face-to-face pedagogy for different subject matters at different educational levels need a careful comparison. Analysis of data collected for this study reveals that at least as good as face-to-face pedagogy can be maintained in online instruction at the graduate level if certain conditions are met. This study does not support the finding (Goldberg, 1997) that students who have access to both face-to-face and online instruction achieve a higher level of performance.

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