STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN AN ON-LINE INTRODUCTION TO EARTH SCIENCE COURSE

Comparing student performance in my three fall 2003 Introduction to Earth Science sections brought up a major question: do students learn less material in an internet class than they would if taking that same course in the classroom? If so, why?

In one of my Earth Science sections, I delivered lecture material via the internet (WebCT) while the other two were traditional, face-to-face classes. Students in all sections completed labs on campus. Students took the same exams (3 hour-long exams and a cumulative final), which were administered on campus.

A larger proportion of internet students failed the exams compared to my traditional students. The skewed distribution affected mean test scores, which were 10% lower for the internet section for all of the exams. However, the final grade distributions were similar in all sections, possibly because internet students were more likely to hand-in assignments. At first glance it appears that they did just as well, but the low test scores suggested that the internet students did not learn the material as well as the traditional students.

The majority of students take my internet course because it offers them flexibility in scheduling. However, I wonder if many of the 1st and 2nd year college students lack the time management skills and self-motivation necessary to learn as much as they are able. In midterm evaluations, the majority of internet students (15 out of 20) reported spending less than 5 hours per week on the course. This was despite my instructions to spend between 6-9 hours per week (not including lab). For comparison, my traditional students were in the classroom 4.5 hours every week.

There are other possible explanations for poor exam performance. For example, this specific group of internet students may have had different abilities or motivations than the traditional students. Some internet students claimed they had hard times interpreting what information was the most important to study, and the WebCT format may have hindered some. WebCT seemed to hamper conversation among classmates (especially students who were new to the technology), so questions may have gone unasked. Ideally, addressing the causes of poor exam performance will help mend the divide between internet and traditional students.