This 50 page paper discussed the issue of the effectiveness of Online training and continuing education courses. The essay begins by explaining the terms effective or successful education cannot really be defined. A comprehensive discussion of this issue is provided. This section also includes a discussion of the seven principles of effective education and evaluation processes. The literature review reports and discusses numerous Online continuing education or professional development courses, their purpose, how they were evaluated, when that information is provided, and what critics say about Online learning. The Methodology section provides a comprehensive discussion of the design-based research model, including a comparison with a more scientific model and why design-based is so useful. Specific statistical data included. 1 Table included. Bibliography lists 25 sources.
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fields. What do the terms mean? In reality, these terms mean whatever the persons using them mean by them. As Leontovich said: "Effective education is a vague idea for it
is subjective" (1998). Although we depend on these terms to describe any number of things, they have no meaning in and of themselves. They have dictionary definitions. For example, Encarta
offers multiple definitions for the word effective (adjective), including but not limited to: 1. causing a result, especially the desired or intended result. 2. successful, especially in producing a strong
or favorable impression on people. 3. actual or in practice, even if not officially or theoretically so (Encarta(r) World English Dictionary, 1999). The definitions for successful (adjective) as found in
the electronic Encarta: 1. having the intended result 2. having achieved or gained much, especially wealth, fame, or power (Encarta(r) World English Dictionary, 1999). And, for success (noun): 1. the
achievement of something planned or attempted 2. impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power 3. something that turns out as planned or intended (Encarta(r) World English Dictionary,
1999). If we look at the first definition for each word, we find they are basically the same: causing a result, especially the desired or intended result; having the intended
result; the achievement of something planned or attempted. We could conclude that effectiveness and success in education is defined as achieving the intended result because success is the achievement of
the result and effectiveness is the degree to which something resulted in success. This inherently tells us that there must be a specific intended or planned result, that intended result
would be the objective. As a hypothetical example related to Online continuing education: the objective is for at least 85 percent of the participants to pass a certification exam as