Student Success in Face-to-Face and Online Sections of Biology Courses at a Community College in East Tennessee

<p>The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there were significant differences in student success in face-to-face and online biology courses as categorized by gender, major, and age; and as measured by lecture grades, lab grades, and final course grades. The data used for analyses included data from 170 face-to-face sections and 127 online sections from a biology course during the fall and spring semesters beginning fall 2008 through spring 2011.</p><p>Researchers have reported mixed findings in previous studies juxtaposing online and face-to-face course delivery formats, from no significant differences to differences in grades, learning styles, and satisfaction levels. Four research questions guided this study with data analysis involving t-tests for independent groups and chi-square tests.</p><p>This researcher noted significant differences in the results of this study: grades, success rates by gender, success rates by health and nonhealth majors, and nontraditional age (&#8805;25) success rate were higher for students in the face-to-face courses; and the attrition rate was higher for students in the online course sections. There was no significant difference found in the success rate for traditional age (<25) students in the face-to-face sections compared to those in the online sections.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Garman, Deanna Essington

• completion
• face-to-face
• online
• web-based
• biology courses
• Student success
• community college
• Education
• Educational Methods

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1408

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2601