This study was conducted to determine if there were
possible areas of student individuality and uniqueness
that might contribute to successful completion of distance
education courses as compared to successful completion of
traditional classroom courses. Five areas of possible
differences were identified and studied: 1) differences
between the number of successful completers, 2)
differences in individual student learning styles, 3)
differences in individual student self-directed learning
readiness, 4) differences in individual student
motivation, and 5) differences in individual student
personal profiles.
The data collected in this research project came from
132 students enrolled in Psychology 111, a distance
education course and traditional classroom course at
University of Alaska Anchorage. Three survey instruments
were used to collect the data as follows: Kolb's Learning
Style Inventory (LSI), Guglielmino's Self-Directed
Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), and a General
Questionnaire. In addition, students' final class
standings (Pass/Fail) were used to determine completion
status.
Findings of the study indicated that there was no
statistically significant difference between the number of
successful completers of distance education courses as
compared to successful completers for traditional
classroom courses. Findings also indicated that areas of
learning style and learning readiness had no effect on the
successful completion rates of students enrolled in
distance education courses as compared to students
enrolled in traditional classroom courses. Motivational
differences appeared between the two groups studied in two
areas, "Retraining" and "Fits my work schedule." The
study findings also suggested that there were
statistically significant differences in distance
education students' personal profiles as compared to
traditional classroom students' personal profiles in such
areas as gender, full-time student status, marital status,
and number of dependents. / Graduation date: 1994
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35518 |
| Date | 12 October 1993 |
| Creators | Anderson, Michael R. |
| Contributors | Cole, R. Lee |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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