Measuring How Well Online Instruction Works

What is it about?

Analysis of Patterns in Time (APT) is a research methodology that uses observational data to evaluate the effectiveness of online instruction. APT is a practical approach to learning analytics that counts patterns of instruction and learning events. APT tells us how well our online instruction is working by connecting instructional strategies with successful student learning outcomes. I illustrate how to do APT with a real-world example. Results show that, when students select learning activities designed with First Principles of Instruction, they are about 4.6 times more likely to pass a certification test that measures mastery of the learning objective. This empirical finding is based on 8,732 students worldwide who were observed during online instruction. I demonstrate how Google Analytics can be leveraged to do the counting of online instructional and learning events without compromising student privacy. I show how these counts are used to estimate probabilities of successful learning outcomes.

Featured Image

Photo by Frank Rolando Romero on Unsplash

Photo by Frank Rolando Romero on Unsplash

Why is it important?

When we design instruction or teach, we need to know how well our instruction is working. During in-person learning, we can observe our students while they learn, ask them questions, and answer their questions directly or demonstrate how to do something. However, when students attempt to learn during online instruction, how can we observe what they are doing and how well they are learning? In this chapter, I provide a real-world example of how we can observe student interaction with online instruction and measure student success. The method of doing this is called Analysis of Patterns in Time.

Perspectives