The study involved a total of 60 students with 30 in each of 2 introduction to keyboarding classes, 1 online and 1 face-toace class. The students’ t-test scores were used to determine if statistical differences existed between the two groups at the p < .05 level of significance. This research examined the impact of the mode of instruction: online versus face-toace in keyboarding and its relationship to keyboarding achievement with reference to speed, technique and accuracy. A causal comparative design was used for this study. Data for the research were collected using the skill and technique evaluations of the participants. The techniques of the students were observed by the same teacher and a score was given according to a technique rubric. The instrument used to measure speed and accuracy was a timed writing of 5-minute duration. The beginning speed for the online and face-toace classes did not show any significant difference. The ending speed was higher for the face-toace students than the ending speed for online students. Both the online group and the face-toace group increased their speeds significantly by the end of the study. The beginning technique scores for the face-toace class were significantly higher than the online class. At the end of the study, there was no difference in the technique scores of the online and face-toace class. It appears that technique can be taught in both environments with appropriate instructional materials, media, and teacher direction. The face-toace group made significantly fewer errors than the online group at both the beginning and end of the study. There was a meaningful relationship between technique and accuracy found in this study and a meaningful relationship between technique and speed. This shows that proper technique is indicative of both higher speed and fewer errors. Also, there was a meaningful relationship between GPA and speed and accuracy. It is recommended that schools offer keyboarding online because offering the class online will be meeting the needs of so many.

With the rapid development of the Internet, increasingly universities and colleges transfer some of their teaching assignments online. Online learning plays an important role in assisting or sometimes substituting for the traditional face-toace learning. An online message board is one of several online communication tools which are used to assist online learning. We have conducted a study on the role of the online message board in teaching one of these courses, an introductory course in calculus-based physics. The study analyzed students? use of the message board and investigated whether use is correlated with performance in the class. Results suggest that students have benefited from using the online message board. Both homework related message board activities and non-learning message boardn activities were found to be correlated significantly to the grades the students earned in the course.

Although previous research has been conducted on the differences between online and face-toace discussions in the classroom setting, this previous body of research has not focused on the effect the inclusion of an online component of discussion can have on the creation of academic identity. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this research uses three student surveys and three instructor surveys and measures the use of first person pronouns and active and passive voice by students on online discussion boards in order to draw conclusions about the students’ and instructor’s perceptions about the impact online discussion boards have on the creation of academic identity. Similar to previous studies, quantitative data showed no significant difference; however, conclusions drawn from the qualitative data collected suggest that both the students and the instructor participating in the survey perceive that online discussion boards have a positive impact on the creation of academic identity.