Barbour, M. K., & Mulcahy, D. (2010, October). Examining course enrolment data: Are rural students taking basic level courses to avoid taking them on-line? A paper presentation at EDGE 2010: e-Learning – The Horizon And Beyond…, St. John’s, NL.

1. Examining course enrolment
data: Are rural students taking
basic level courses to avoid
taking them on‐line?
Michael K. Barbour Dennis Mulcahy
Assistant Professor Professor
Wayne State University Memorial University of Newfoundland

2. Student Performance
• performance of virtual
and classroom students in
Alberta were similar in
English and Social Studies
courses, but that
classroom students
performed better overall
in all other subject areas
(Ballas & Belyk, 2000)

3. Student Performance
• over half of the students who
completed FLVS courses scored
an A in their course and only 7%
received a failing grade (Bigbie &
McCarroll, 2000)
• students in the six virtual schools
in three different provinces
performed no worse than the
students from the three
conventional schools (Barker &
Wendel, 2001)

4. Student Performance
• FLVS students performed better
on a non-mandatory assessment
tool than students from the
traditional classroom (Cavanaugh
et al., 2005)
• FLVS students performed better
on an assessment of algebraic
understanding than their
classroom counterparts (McLeod
et al., 2005)

5. Meta-Analysis
• Cavanaugh (2001)
– +0.147 in favor of K-12 distance education
• Cavanaugh et al. (2004)
– -0.028 for K-12 distance education
• Means et al. (2009)
– +0.14 favoring online over face-to-face

6. Examining Meta-analyses
6

7. Examining Meta-analyses
Teacher
Effects Zone of
Desired Effects
Developmental
Effects
Reverse
Effects
7

8. Let’s look a little closer...

9. The Students
• the vast majority of VHS Global
Consortium students in their courses
were planning to attend a four-year
college (Kozma, Zucker & Espinoza,
1998)
• “VHS courses are predominantly
designated as ‘honors,’ and students
enrolled are mostly college bound”
(Espinoza et al., 1999)

10. The Students
The preferred characteristics
include the highly motivated,
self-directed, self-disciplined,
independent learner who could
read and write well, and who
also had a strong interest in or
ability with technology
(Haughey & Muirhead, 1999)

11. Students and Student Performance
Ballas & Belyk, performance of virtual and participation rate in the
2000 classroom students similar in assessment among virtual
English & Social Studies students ranged from 65% to
courses, but classroom 75% compared to 90% to 96%
students performed better in for the classroom-based
all other subject areas students
Bigbie & over half of the students who between 25% and 50% of
McCarroll, completed FLVS courses students had dropped out of
2000 scored an A in their course their FLVS courses over the
and only 7% received a failing previous two-year period
grade

12. The Students
• “only students with a high need
to control and structure their
own learning may choose
distance formats freely” (Roblyer
& Elbaum, 2000)
• IVHS students were “highly
motivated, high achieving, self-
directed and/or who liked to
work independently” (Clark et al.,
2002)

13. The Students
• the typical online student was
an A or B student (Mills, 2003)
• 45% of the students who
participated in e-learning
opportunities in Michigan
were “either advanced
placement or academically
advanced” students (Watkins,
2005)

14. Students and Student Performance
Cavanaugh et FLVS students performed speculated that the virtual
al., 2005 better on a non-mandatory school students who did take
assessment tool than the assessment may have been
students from the traditional more academically motivated
classroom and naturally higher achieving
students
McLeod et al., FLVS students performed results of the student
2005 better on an assessment of performance were due to the
algebraic understanding than high dropout rate in virtual
their classroom counterparts school courses

15. Is this consistent with K-12 distance
education in Newfoundland and Labrador?

16. Barbour & Mulcahy – Rural Educator (2006)

17. Barbour & Mulcahy – Ed in Rural Australia (2008)

18. Barbour & Mulcahy – ERS Spectrum
(2009)

19. Student Performance and Students
But are we really comparing
apples to apples?

20. Mulcahy, Dibbon and Norberg (2008)
• study of rural schooling in three schools on the
south coast of the Labrador
• found two had a higher percentage of students
enrolled in basic-level courses
• speculated because the only way students could do
academic course at their school was online, some
students specifically chose the basic stream to
avoid taking an online course
Students who enroll in the basic stream are not
eligible for post-secondary admittance!

21. Academic tracks in
Newfoundland & Labrador
• English language arts
• mathematics
• academic stream - graduation,
college, university, etc.
• basic stream - graduation, trade
school
• virtual school program only offers
academic streamed courses

22. Enrollment - English Language Arts

23. Enrollment - Mathematics