HOW DO ONLINE STUDENTS DIFFER FROM LECTURE STUDENTS?

Authors

  • John Dutton
  • Marilyn Dutton
  • Jo Perry

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v6i1.1869

Keywords:

Learning Effectiveness, Access, Student Satisfaction, Distance Education, Internet

Abstract

This study has two primary objectives. First, we want to know how students who enroll in online classes differ from their peers in traditional lecture classes. Our second objective involves both exploring what factors influence performance among online students, as well as whether those factors differ for online and lecture students. Our comparisons are of two large sections of a course in computer programming for which almost the only difference was that one section consisted of on-campus lectures, and the other section was online. We find that online students do differ from lecture students in a number of important characteristics. However, when we examine class performance and course completion, we find that the factors which influence performance seem to have a stronger impact on lecture students, but we cannot reject the hypothesis that factor coefficients are the same for the two groups.

References

Boulet, M. and Boudreault, S. Using Technology to Deliver Distance Education in Computer Science. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 87, No.4, pp 433-436, October, 1998.

Davis, J. L. Computer-Assisted Distance Learning, Part II: Examination Performance of Students On and Off-Campus. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 85, No.1, pp 77-82, January 1996.

Dutton, J., Dutton, M. and Perry, J. Do Online Students Perform as Well as Lecture Students? Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 90, No. 1, pp 131-136, January 2001.

Liu, X., MacMillan, R. and Timmons, V. Assessing the Impact of Computer Integration on Students, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp 189-203, Winter 1998.

Navarro, P. and Shoemaker, J. Policy Issues in the Teaching of Economics in Cyberspace: Research Design, Course Design, and Research Results. Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp 359-366, July, 2000.

Russell, T. L. The No Significant Difference Phenomenon, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 1999.

Smeaton, A. F. and Keogh, G. An Analysis of the Use of Virtual Delivery of Undergraduate Lectures, Computers and Education, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp 83–94, 1998.

Spooner, F., Jordan, L., Algozzine, B. and Spooner, M. Student Ratings of Instruction in Distance Learning and On-Campus Classes, Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 92, No. 3, pp 132-140, January/February, 1999.

Snell, J. and Mekies, S. Online Education and Academic Rigor: a Research Note. Journal of Instructional Psychology, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp 194-195, September, 1999.

Bengiamin, N., Johnson, A., Zidon, M., Moen, D. and Ludlow, D. The Development of an Undergraduate Distance Learning Engineering Degree for Industry – A University/Industry Collaboration. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 87, No. 3, pp 277–282, July, 1998.

Wallace, D. and Mutooni, P. A Comparative Evaluation of World Wide Web-Based and Classroom Teaching, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. 211–219, 1997.

Fan, T., Li, Y. and Niess, M. L. Predicting Academic Achievement of College Computer Science Majors. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp 155-172, Winter 1998.

Ward, M. and Newlands, D. Use of the Web in Undergraduate Teaching, Computers and Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp 171-184, September, 1998.

Zandvliet, D. and Farragher, P. A Comparison of Computer-Administered and Written Tests. Journal of Research on Computers in Education, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp 423-438, Summer 1997.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-19

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2002)

Section

Empirical Studies

License

As a condition of publication, the author agrees to apply the Creative Commons – Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY) License to OLJ articles. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

This licence allows anyone to reproduce OLJ articles at no cost and without further permission as long as they attribute the author and the journal. This permission includes printing, sharing and other forms of distribution.

Author(s) hold copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restrictions