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Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

5-2004

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Terrence A. Tollefson

Committee Members

Nancy Dishner, Rhona Cummings, Russell F. West

Abstract

While administrators, faculty and students of community colleges have embraced web-based instruction, it is essential to understand the progress and success of such instruction. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate whether there were differences in completion and passing rates between courses offered in traditional classroom and web-based instructional formats that were taught by the same instructor(s) at least once using both instructional media. The secondary related purpose was to determine whether there were differences in completion and passing rates among courses taught in different academic disciplines, including both traditional and web-based courses. The population consisted of 3,601 students enrolled in courses offered in both instructional delivery formats during the academic years 1998 through 2002.

The findings demonstrated that the proportion of female students enrolled in identical courses offered in the web-based format was higher than the proportion of their male counterparts enrolled in the same instructional format. Approximately two-thirds of the students enrolled in courses offered via the web-based format in this study were 23 years and older as compared with students 22 years and younger. Differences in both completion and passing rates were found between the traditional and web-based formats. In both instances the rates for traditional instruction were higher.

When course grade point averages (GPAs) were compared in both formats, courses offered in the traditional classroom setting had higher mean GPAs as compared with the mean GPAs of identical courses taught by the same instructor or instructors in the web-based delivery method. Regarding differences among academic divisions, for the courses offered in the traditional format, no differences in the mean course completion rates were found. However, there were differences for identical courses offered in the web-based format. The study's findings revealed that there were differences in the mean passing rates for courses offered in traditional format. When the GPAs were compared among the seven academic divisions, differences were found for courses offered in the traditional format. Despite no differences found in course completion rates between younger and older students in web-based instructional format, significant differences were found in identical courses offered in the traditional setting.

Document Type

Dissertation - restricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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