CAN DISTANCE EDUCATION EQUAL CLASSROOM LEARNING?

This research effort demonstrates the superior value of classroom-based learning (face-to-face) as compared to E-learning (mobile learning) in a university setting. The researchers carefully controlled the environment when teaching a group of more than 100 students via mobile devices, and compared their test scores for a lesson on data warehouses with a similar group of students in a face-to-face classroom learning experience. The classroom-based student test scores were on average eight percent higher than the e-learning students.

The primary purpose of this study was to assess Mobile Learning (M-Learning) effectiveness vis-à-vis Face to Face Learning (FTF) in information systems. A gap existed in the body of scholarly literature regarding M-Learning, a subset of E-learning; although many M-Learning pilot and fully-implemented projects existed, there remains a dearth of media comparison studies that compared them to FTF.
Prior to this study, a plethora of media comparison studies comparing Distance Learning (D-Learning) and Electronic Learning (E-Learning) strategies had been conducted. No previous studies were found that utilized precise measures of effectiveness, in a controlled environment, of face-to-face vice mobile learning modes of delivery of information technology curricula.

M-Learning provides the ability to create homogenous learning objects for heterogeneous mobile devices, and does so by utilizing wireless connectivity. This approach benefits a growing audience of post-secondary institution and workforce learners, e.g. those in hard to reach, isolated locations, away from their home or office, or in FTF environments where a need to augment the classroom experience exists. The advent of M-Learning created an environment of anywhere, anytime learning.