AOC Comprehensive Assessment of Online Course Delivery Systems

当今虚拟世界的技术发展迅速，我们有能力创建非常逼真的虚拟环境。 然而，我们还不知道在线教育是否至少与传统课堂教学一样有效。在本研究中，将使用一些研究方法和技术，包括文献综述，在线教育的用户和非用户的调查，课堂观察，分析现有的学生数据，和焦点小组研究的等效性的问题进行检查。通过从多个来源收集信息，我们基本上可以对现有在线教育系统的看法有一个快照，使我们能够识别在线教育和面对面课程交付之间的相似性和差异。识别在线教育的看法将导致对教育工作者目前可用的在线教育工具和系统进行基准分析。本研究的一个主要内容将是识别当前在线教育系统在利用认知过程，社会意识和学习经验方面的不足之处。接下来，将确定技术趋势和问题。据推测，目前很少有在线课程提供系统充分利用现有的最先进的技术，因此，可以用于在线教育的候选技术将被确定和评估。最后，来自所有来源的研究结果将被结合和分析，以开发一个在线教育系统的行为/社会/认知模型。该项目的具体成果将是一个理想系统的详细规格，供在线教育系统设计者使用。

The technology in today's virtual world has progressed rapidly and we have the capacity to create virtual environments that are remarkably realistic. However, we do not yet know whether online education is at least as effective as traditional classroom instruction. In the present study, the question of equivalent effectiveness will be examined using a number of research methods and techniques, including literature reviews, surveys of users and non-users of online education, classroom observations, analyses of existing student data, and focus group studies. By gathering information from multiple sources, we will essentially have a snapshot of the perceptions of existing online education systems, allowing us to identify similarities and differences between online education and face-to-face course delivery.Identifying perceptions of online education will lead to a benchmark analysis of online education tools and systems currently available to educators. One major element of this study will be the identification of deficiencies of current online education systems in utilizing cognitive processes, social awareness, and learning experiences. Next, technological trends and issues will be identified. It is hypothesized that few current online course delivery systems fully use the available state-of-the-art technology; therefore, candidate technologies that can be used in online education will be identified and evaluated. Finally, the findings from all sources will be combined and analyzed to develop a behavioral/social/cognitive model of online education systems. The tangible outcome of this project will be detailed specifications of an ideal system for use by online education system designers.