Effectiveness of computer-based college teaching: A metaanalysis of findings

This review used Glass3 (1976) meta-analytic techniques to integrate findings from 59 independent evaluations of computer-based college teaching. The meta-analysis showed that computer-based instruction made small but signifi-cant contributions to the course achievement of college students and also produced positive, but again small, effects on the attitudes of students toward instruction and toward the subject matter they were studying. Computer-assisted instruction also reduced substantially the amount of time needed for instruction. In general, the meta-analysis found little relationship between study findings and design features of the experiments, settings for the studies, or manner and date of publication of the findings. The dream of a computer revolution in college teaching is now almost two decades old. Soon after the computer industry started using computers in personnel training in the late 1950's, farsighted educators began dreaming about a computer age in higher education. They envisioned college classrooms in which computers would serve as infinitely patient tutors, scrupulous examiners, and tireless schedulers o