Abstract
Separate meta-analyses have been completed recently on the effectiveness of computer-based education (CBE) in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and nontraditional postsecondary institutions. Several general conclusions can be drawn from these meta-analyses. First, CBE programs usually have positive effects, as measured by several different criteria of instructional effectiveness. Effects are not uniformly high, however, for all types of CBE programs at all instructional levels. Second, effects vary as a function of the evaluation design used to measure CBE effectiveness. And third, study outcomes also vary as a function of the type of publication in which the results are found. Important questions about ways to improve instruction now await increased research attention. studies are commonly understood to be the basic way of determining whether instructional innovations help or hurt students. The earlier revolutions in education ran their courses without the benefit of such studies. No one tried to measure the effects of writing or of books when they were first introduced as tools in education. No one used statistical methods to predict or influence results. Earlier educational revolutions just happened--without measurement, prediction, or control. The computer revolution is different. It is occurring at a time when educators have tools for evaluating programs and tools for drawing general conclusions from a collection of evaluations. These tools have already been used in the evaluation of computerbased instruction. Researchers have carried out numerous outcome studies over the years, and reviewers have synthesized the findings on a number of occasions. The purpose of this article is simply to review what we have learned from this work. The article relies heavily on research syntheses that we have carried out with our colleagues at the University of Michigan.
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