Does being face-to-face make a difference for learning?  Is there something different about learning at a distance?

You may be in a position, like I am, where people ask these questions and worry that learning with a distance modality is going to be inferior.  In most situations though, there just doesn’t appear to be an advantage for learning face-to-face.  

That’s not only true for learning, research is starting to suggest that it’s true for other kinds of interactions too.   

Therapy works just as well when it’s delivered using video conferencing

A group from Hong Kong University compared outcomes for a cognitive intervention delivered to one group in a traditional face-to-face method and to another group using videoconferencing technology.  The intervention was a cognitive therapy designed for older adults who had memory complaints and problems with declining memory.  Each group got 12 sessions of therapy and their scores on standard memory tests and dementia scales were measured before and after the intervention.  

The results for groups were about the same.

This finding is not unusual.  A recent review article on delivering therapies at a distance found that people got similar results in-person and using videoconferencing T hey concluded that:

“Across studies, telehealth technologies were found to provide roughly equivalent clinical outcomes ... and process variables … as traditional in-person treatments.”

 How you deliver training doesn’t seem to be important

It’s not surprising that therapy delivered over a distance works just as well as it does in-person, that’s the same finding that educational research has been reporting for over a decade.

Two recent reviews sum it up.  

The Department of Education says that:

“Students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction”

And a review of internet learning from JAMA (The Journal fo the American Medical Association) concluded that training over the internet appeared to be equally effective effective as training delivered in-person.  

What you have people do is important, how you connect with them isn’t.  

1. Poon, P., Hui, E., Dai, D., Kwok, T., and J. Woo (2004). Cognitive intervention for community-dwelling older persons with memory problems: telemedicine versus face-to-face.  International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20:285-286.  

2. Gros, DF; Morland, LA; Greene, CJ; Acierno, R; Strachan, M; Egede, LE; Tuerk, PW; Myrick, H; and BC Frueh (2013).  Delivery of evidence-based psychotherapy via video telehealth.  Journal of Psychopathological Behavioral Assessment, 35:506-521.

3. Means, B., Toyama, Y. Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based practice in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies.  A Report prepared for the US Department of Education, Center for Technology in Learning.

4, Cook, D. A., Levinson, A. J., Garside, S., Dupras, D. M., Erwin, P. J., & Montori, V.M. (2008). Internet based learning in the health professions: A meta-analysis.  JAMA, 10, 1181-96.