¶ … College Students Choose Online Courses Over Traditional Ones The fact that today's college students select so many online courses over traditional ones (even the same exact course) is perhaps surprising, especially for those who themselves attended a college or university when no such courses existed. Such individuals might question the appeal (and the educational value) of such remote, relatively anonymous courses. The topic is relevant to faculty, administrators, staff, and students at colleges and universities everywhere, worldwide. The topic is significant to the field of instruction because it bears on how instruction takes place: online, in the classroom, or perhaps in combination, or through other technological means like satellite television. The topic is significant to instructional design because online courses must be designed differently from traditional ones, with chat rooms, e-mail, bulletin board dialogues, and postings typically replacing class discussion. More detailed course content is delivered in writing, over the internet. The topic is significant to instructional technology because technology makes online learning and teaching possible. Online instruction technology is also always changing, necessitating new online learning and teaching methods, training, and instructional design.

The topic of online student learning could be explored through a quantitative, a qualitative, or mixed approach, but would likely yield the...

One quantitative approach might be to survey two groups of students, those enrolled entirely or mostly in online courses, and those enrolled entirely or mostly in classroom courses, over a pattern of two or more semesters, and From those two identified groups (online and non-online students) the researcher would select a population sample to survey and/or interview about why they prefer either online or traditional classes. The survey method would be strictly quantitative; the survey/interview method would be mixed, and an interview only method would be qualitative. Of these three, I feel a quantitative approach, using statistical analysis of sample population responses would work best.
There are many ways of collecting samples consisting of both online and traditional students. The first important first step in selecting a sample is to be able to recognize a pattern in particular students' typical mainly online (or non-online) course selection, over a period exceeding just one semester. Students showing a trend one way or the other for two or more semesters could be invited to participate in the study. The size of the sample would depend on the size of the school and its online and non-online student population(s), but should be determined in advance to make sure the sample is large enough for statistical significance.

The paragraph should introduce the topic, state why there…