Old tried and true or new and cutting edge? There are a number of things to consider: Do I enjoy being in front of the students or would I like to be on a bigger stage using distance technology? Do I have the equipment to produce distance learning? vs. Do I have the facilities to present live. Can I make more money one way or the other?
All good questions for another day. Today I’d like to address the effectiveness of both based on my personal experience and a very thorough study done by the US Department of Education. My school presents a pre-license coarse in two formats. One is completely on-line. There is no classroom time. There is e-mail and telephone support available but we find the vast majority never use it. The other is a blended class. The students are given outside work to do that should take them 29 hours and there is 26 hours of classroom instruction, review and assessment. Contrary to our prediction, the on-line students score higher on the state standardized tests. Maybe it’s self selection. We haven’t done a comprehensive evaluation.
On the other hand, the Department of Education has. I think you’ll find their report valuable.