An empirical comparison of traditional and web-enhanced classrooms.

An empirical comparison of traditional and web-enhanced classrooms. Students in a 200-level Psychology course were enrolled in either atraditionally taught section or a web-enhanced section taught by thesame instructor. Both sections were identical in content and formatexcept for the addition of a learning management software package(PageOut[C]; McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., (NYSE:MHP) is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are education, publishing, broadcasting, and financial and business services. Companies, 2002) in the web-enhanced section.PageOut was primarily used to administer on-line reading quizzes.Students in the web-enhanced section had significantly higher examscores than the traditional section. Students also held favorable fa��vor��a��ble?adj.1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds.2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis.3. attitudes about the course and the web site. ********** Discussions of the use of technology in teaching have receivedquite a bit of attention in academic journals in recent years. Themajority of these articles, however, consist of philosophicaldiscussions of the merits of technology (e.g., O'Donoghue Donoghue or O'Donoghue is an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Gaelic �� Donnchadha ‘descendant of Donnchadh’, a personal name composed of the elements donn = ‘brown-haired man’ or ‘chieftain’ + cath , Singh For the fictional global crime syndicate, see .Singh is a Sanskrit word meaning "lion". It is used as a common surname and middle name in North India by many communities, especially by the Sikhs and the Rajputs. ,& Dorward, 2001), descriptions of courses taught entirely over theInternet InternetPublicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the (e.g., Graham, 2001; Lawson The name Lawson can refer to a number of different things: PeopleAlfred Lawson - 20th century American aviator, reformer, utopian and religious leader Alfred Lawson, Jr. , 2000), examples of how instructorscan use technology to enhance their on-campus on-campusadjective Referring to an on-site site of a medical complex with multiple buildings. Cf 'Off campus.'. classes (e.g., Leon LeonMedieval kingdom, northwestern Spain. Leon proper included the cities of León, Salamanca, and Zamora—the adjacent areas of Vallodolid and Palencia being disputed with Castile, originally its eastern frontier. &Parr, 2000; Sherman Sherman,city (1990 pop. 31,601), seat of Grayson co., N Tex., near the Red River; inc. 1858. Originally on a stagecoach route, it is a highway and railroad junction. Manufactures include electronic equipment, processed foods, military equipment, and metal products. , 1998), or assessments of students' attitudesregarding the use of the Internet (e.g., Basile Basilecalumniating, niggardly bigot. [Fr. Lit.: Barber of Seville; Marriage of Figaro]See : Slander & D'Aquila,2002; Jason, Kennedy, & Taylor, 2001). There is a noticeable lack ofarticles, especially in the Psychology literature, that empiricallyevaluate the learning outcomes for students using the Internet in theirclasses. The purpose of the present study was to answer the question ofwhether or not there is an academic performance benefit to the use oftechnology in face-to-face classroom settings. With the rapid growth of access to the Internet and its use inhigher education higher educationStudy beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. settings, there is a need for educators to consider themerits of technology as a pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. tool in both traditional classroomand distance learning settings. It is reasonable to argue that there aremultiple advantages to the use of technology in higher education(O'Donoghue, et al, 2001). For example, researchers have been ableto demonstrate how web-based courses (Newlin & Wang (Wang Laboratories, Inc., Lowell, MA) A computer services and network integration company. Wang was one of the major early contributors to the computing industry from its founder's invention that made core memory possible, to leadership in desktop calculators and word processors. , 2002) andweb-enhanced courses (Ritter rit��ter?n. pl. ritterA knight.[German, from Middle High German riter, from Middle Dutch ridder, from r & Lemke, 2000) can successfully addressthe American Association American Association refers to one of the following professional baseball leagues: American Association (19th century), active from 1882 to 1891. American Association (20th century), active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997. of Higher Education's (1987) sevenprinciples of good higher education practices. In addition to these theoretical pedagogical merits, studentsfrequently report positive experiences with both web-based courses(Jason, Kennedy, & Taylor, 2001; Lawson, 2000) and web-enhancedcourses (Goldstein Gold��stein, Joseph Leonard Born 1940.American biochemist. He shared a 1985 Nobel Prize for discoveries related to cholesterol metabolism. , 1998; Pychyl, Clarke, & Abarbanel, 1999;Varnhagen, Drake drake1. male duck.2. loliumtemulentum. , & Finley, 1997). For example, students inGoldstein's (1998) introductory Social Psychology course found heruse of an Internet activity on implicit personality theories Implicit personality theory (IPA) concerns the general expectations that we build about a person after we know something of their central traits. For example when we believe that a happy person is also friendly, or that quiet people are timid. to be bothenjoyable and helpful in solidifying so��lid��i��fy?v. so��lid��i��fied, so��lid��i��fy��ing, so��lid��i��fiesv.tr.1. To make solid, compact, or hard.2. To make strong or united.v.intr. their understanding of thatconcept. The above research, however, does not address whetherstudents' academic performance is improved by the use oftechnology. These technological advances are still relatively novel formany students and they may simply be responding favorably fa��vor��a��ble?adj.1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds.2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis.3. to thisnovelty Novelty is the quality of being new. Although it may be said to have an objective dimension (e.g. a new style of art coming into being, such as abstract art or impressionism) it essentially exists in the subjective perceptions of individuals. and not necessarily to their superior performance in the course.Anecdotally, Graham (2001) reported that students in her web-based ChildDevelopment class seemed to grasp concepts more quickly than those inher traditionally taught classes, but she presented no data to supportthis assertion. Using a more empirical approach, Wang, Newlin, andTucker (2001) found that students in a web-based statistical methods inPsychology course had comparable end of course grades to students in atraditional statistics course. Hurlburt (2001) also found comparablecourse grades and course completion rates between students taking hiscourse in a traditional or distance-learning section. These two studies address the possible academic achievementbenefits for web-based education, though, and don't address the useof technology in face-to-face classroom settings. The majority ofPsychology faculty are not likely to be engaged in purely web-basedinstruction and instead try to incorporate technology, such as theInternet, in more traditional instruction (Vodanovich & Piotrowski,2001). Because of the significant barriers faculty face in usingtechnology in their classes (Vodanovich & Piotrowski, 2001), it isimportant to determine the pedagogical benefits of web-enhancements toprovide justification for faculty's commitment of time andresources. The best way to answer this question about the benefits ofweb-enhancements is to conduct empirical research Noun 1. empirical research - an empirical search for knowledgeinquiry, research, enquiry - a search for knowledge; "their pottery deserves more research than it has received" with a control groupand an experimental group. There is a surprising lack of this type ofresearch in the Psychology literature. Basile and D'Aquila (2002)conducted a study in which students taking a Principles of Accountingcourse were randomly assigned as��sign?tr.v. as��signed, as��sign��ing, as��signs1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection.2. to a traditional section or a web-enhancedsection. They found no differences between the two sections in terms oftheir attitudes about the course. They did find, however, that studentswho used a computer dally had more positive evaluations of theweb-enhanced section than students who used a computer weekly. Carr CARR CarrierCARR Customer Acceptance Readiness ReviewCARR Carrollton RailroadCARR Corrective Action Request and ReportCARR City Area Rural Rides (Texas)CARR Configuration Audit Readiness ReviewCARR Customer Acceptance Requirements Review , Hewitt, Scardamalia, and Reznick (2002) were also able torandomly assign medical students to a traditional seminar section or acomputer conferencing See chat, videoconferencing and data conferencing. section of a brief otolaryngology otolaryngologyor otorhinolaryngologyMedical specialty dealing with the ear, nose, and throat (see larynx, pharynx). The connection of these structures became known in the late 19th century. rotation. Thestudents in the computer conferencing condition performed significantlybetter on the rotation post-test than the traditional seminar students.In a Geography course, Newham, Mather, Grattan, Holmes, and Gardner(1998) found that the use of Internet sources in completing courseassignments was more engaging for students and contributed to slightlybetter performance than students given more traditional, print sources. In one of the few studies in the Psychology literature comparingstudent performance in traditional and web-enhanced instruction,Aberson, Berger, Healy, Kyle <noinclude></noinclude>''This article or section is being rewritten atOne derivation of the surname is from the Scottish Highland word caol, 'channel', or 'strait'. There are other possible derivations (see below). , and Romero (2000) evaluated the use of aninteractive web-tutorial in teaching sampling distributions to studentsin statistics and research methods courses. Students were randomlyassigned to attend a lecture and demonstration or use a web-basedtutorial An instructional book or program that takes the user through a prescribed sequence of steps in order to learn a product. Contrast with documentation, which, although instructional, tends to group features and functions by category. See tutorials in this publication. on sampling distributions. They found both equivalent pre-testand post-test scores and student evaluations of the two instructionalmethods. Given these results, Aberson, et al (2000) argue that the useof web tutorials is advantageous because it frees up class time forother in-class activities or discussions. Grimstad and Grabe (2004)found that the use of on-line study aids significantly improved examperformance in an introductory psychology course. On the other hand,some researchers have found that on-line quizzes provide little to nobenefit for academic performance (Brothen & Wambach, 2001; Daniel& Broda, 2004). Although promising, the above research does not clearly answer thequestion of whether the addition of web-enhancements to traditionalcourses can improve students' performance. This inconsistency in��con��sis��ten��cy?n. pl. in��con��sis��ten��cies1. The state or quality of being inconsistent.2. Something inconsistent: many inconsistencies in your proposal. inresearch findings is what motivated mo��ti��vate?tr.v. mo��ti��vat��ed, mo��ti��vat��ing, mo��ti��vatesTo provide with an incentive; move to action; impel.mo me to conduct the present study.Over the past three years, I have taught two sections of an introductorylevel Child Development course during each semester se��mes��ter?n.One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year.[German, from Latin (cursus) s . Because bothsections are identical in content and assignments, I had the opportunityto directly compare teaching methods and test the hypothesis thatweb-enhancements would contribute to better course performance. A courseweb site was designed for one of the Child Development sections usingMcGraw-Hill's learning management software (LMS (Learning Management System) An information system that administers instructor-led and e-learning courses and keeps track of student progress. Used internally by large enterprises for their employees, an LMS can be used to monitor the effectiveness of the ) package,PageOut[C]. The PageOut tool allows instructors to select from a varietyof course modules to customize their web pages. My web site consisted ofthe course syllabus A headnote; a short note preceding the text of a reported case that briefly summarizes the rulings of the court on the points decided in the case.The syllabus appears before the text of the opinion. , course schedule, on-line reading quizzes, adiscussion board for posting comments or questions, supplemental coursematerials available through McGraw-Hill, and an online grade book wherestudents could view only their own grades. One section of the course hadaccess to this web site, whereas the other section did not. I predictedthat students in the web-enhanced section would perform significantlybetter on unit exams than students in the traditional section and wouldalso perceive the use of the Internet as a beneficial learningexperience. Method Participants Thirty-nine students (20 in traditional section) in two sections ofa 200-level Child Development course taught by the same instructor at apublic liberal arts college Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts. The Encyclop?dia Britannica Concise offers the following definition of the liberal arts as a, "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge participated in the present study. Studentswere predominantly pre��dom��i��nant?adj.1. Having greatest ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force. See Synonyms at dominant.2. White and traditional age. Materials Course exams. Both sections were given the same five unit examsduring the semester, which consisted of multiple choice, short answer,and short essay items. Items were based on material from class lecturesand the textbook textbookInformatics A treatise on a particular subject. See Bible. and were graded by the instructor. I made every effortto be blind to course section during grading. Exam scores are reportedas percentages. Web site evaluation. The web-enhanced section completed a 14-itemsurvey regarding their attitudes about the course web site and on-linequizzes (from Basile & D'Aquila, 2002). Students indicatedtheir agreement with each statement on a 1 ("stronglydisagree") to 5 ("strongly agree") Likert scale Likert scaleA subjective scoring system that allows a person being surveyed to quantify likes and preferences on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the least important, relevant, interesting, most ho-hum, or other, and 5 being most excellent, yeehah important, etc . Highscores indicated more positive evaluation of the course. End-of-course evaluations. Both sections completed theCollege's mandatory 41-item end-of-course evaluations. They werealso asked to indicate what they liked, disliked dis��like?tr.v. dis��liked, dis��lik��ing, dis��likesTo regard with distaste or aversion.n.An attitude or a feeling of distaste or aversion. , and would have likedto change about the course in a free response format. Two independentcoders (myself and a colleague) coded these responses as described inthe Results section. Procedure Section 1, the traditional section, served as the controlcondition, and Section 2, the web-enhanced section, served as thetreatment condition. I randomly selected these section assignments priorto the start of the semester. It was not possible to randomly assignstudents to conditions given our school's course registrationprocess, but they were unaware of the instruction methods prior to thefirst day of class. In addition to the common information for bothsections, the syllabus for the web-enhanced section clearly explainedthe use of the course website. Students were not made explicitly awareof the difference between the two sections to maintain manipulationfidelity. The sections were taught in the same classroom in back to backclass periods during the day session of a fall semester. Both sections used the same textbook (Child Development; Santrock,2001), were given the same reading assignments, writing assignments, andexams, and were presented with the same lectures and in-classactivities. The in-class activities were pass/fail in nature, worth 2-4points each, and could not be made up if a student was absent. The onlydifference between the two classes was the use of PageOut[C] in theweb-enhanced section. Through PageOut[C], students were required tocomplete 10-item reading quizzes for each assigned reading before Ibegan coveting that topic in class. Items for the reading quizzes wereselected from the test bank provided by the textbook publisher and weretime limited at 15 minutes. Once the topic was discussed in class, thequiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players (as individuals or in teams) attempt to answer questions correctly. Quizzes are also brief assessments used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills. was no longer available for students to complete, aninstructor-controlled feature standard in most LMS packages. Quizzeswere graded on a pass/fail basis, and students received 3 points foreach successfully completed quiz. All of the reading quizzes accountedfor approximately 10% of their final grade. To equate e��quate?v. e��quat��ed, e��quat��ing, e��quatesv.tr.1. To make equal or equivalent.2. To reduce to a standard or an average; equalize.3. the pointdistributions in the two sections, students in the traditional sectionreceived points for more of the in-class activities than students in theweb-enhanced section. Because of this distribution difference, studentsin the web-enhanced section did not receive points for any of thein-class activities in the last unit of the course (unit 5). In addition to the on-line quizzes, the other main feature of thecourse web page was the links to a variety of ancillary Subordinate; aiding. A legal proceeding that is not the primary dispute but which aids the judgment rendered in or the outcome of the main action. A descriptive term that denotes a legal claim, the existence of which is dependent upon or reasonably linked to a main claim. study aidsprovided by the McGraw-Hill online learning center. The online learningcenter is a public website advertised on the back of the textbook and sowas available to both sections of the course, but the traditionalsection was not explicitly encouraged to use it. Unit exams were given on the same day in both sections. The Chairof the Psychology Department administered both the web site evaluationsand end-of-course evaluations on the same day at the end of thesemester. Results Exams. Exams were analyzed an��a��lyze?tr.v. an��a��lyzed, an��a��lyz��ing, an��a��lyz��es1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations.2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of.3. by a 2 (section) by 5 (exam) ANOVA anovasee analysis of variance.ANOVAAnalysis of variance, see there withrepeated measures on the last factor. There was a marginally significantmain effect of section (F(1, 36)=3.89, p=.057, [eta.sup.2] =.103) suchthat the web-enhanced section had higher scores on unit exams than thetraditional section (means=80.68% and 72.67%, respectively). To address the possibility that these section differences aretypical, exam scores from two identically taught sections of ChildDevelopment during the previous two semesters were also compared. Examscores were submitted to the same 2 (section) by 5 (exam) ANOVA withrepeated measures on the last factor. There were no significantdifferences between the two sections in either of the previous twosemesters, suggesting that a between section exam score difference isnot a typical occurrence for this course and instructor. In addition to the overall exam scores, responses to the itemsassessing material only covered in the text were analyzed separately.The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate how well the on-linereading quizzes contributed to students' comprehension comprehensionAct of or capacity for grasping with the intellect. The term is most often used in connection with tests of reading skills and language abilities, though other abilities (e.g., mathematical reasoning) may also be examined. of materialpresented in the text, but not in the class lectures that were virtuallythe same in both sections. The percentages of correct responses to eachof these items were calculated for each section. A one-way ANOVArevealed a significant main effect of section (F(1,46)=4.91, p=.03,[eta.sup.2] =.096) such that the web-enhanced section was more likely toanswer the text-only items correctly than the traditional section(means= 77.42% and 65.3%, respectively). These findings, taken together, clearly suggest that the studentsin the web-enhanced section benefited from their use of PageOut, atleast in terms of their exam performance. The web site provided ampleopportunity for prompt feedback as students were studying which perhapsallowed students to more accurately evaluate their comprehension andfocus study efforts on topics they found most confusing con��fuse?v. con��fused, con��fus��ing, con��fus��esv.tr.1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off.b. or difficult. In-class activities, on-line quizzes, and exams. To further examinethe exam performance of students in the two sections, their grades oneach of five unit exams were correlated cor��re��late?v. cor��re��lat��ed, cor��re��lat��ing, cor��re��latesv.tr.1. To put or bring into causal, complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relation.2. with the proportion of in-classactivities completed in each unit of the course. For the web-enhancedsection, the proportions of on-line quizzes completed in each unit werealso correlated with unit exam scores. As noted in Tables 1 and 2, class participation, as indexed by theproportion of in-class activities completed, was not strongly related toexam performance in either section. For the web - enhanced section,however, there was a clearer connection between completing the on-linequizzes and unit exam performance. For unit exams 2-4, those studentswho completed a greater proportion of quizzes for that unit tended tohave higher exam scores on those unit exams. So, students may benefitmore from the active process of completing a quiz and receiving feedbackabout their performance than simply participating in an in-classactivity. Website evaluations. In general, students in the web-enhancedsection had favorable attitudes about the use of the course web site andthe on-line quizzes (see Table 3). A dependent-samples t-test t-test,n an inferential statistic used to test for differences between two means (groups) only. This statistic is used for small samples (e.g.,N t-ratio, stu-dent's t. comparedthe students' responses to the items about the web site with theitems about the on-line quizzes and revealed that students perceivedmore benefits from the web site, in general, than the on-line quizzes(t=3.09, p= .007, means=3.94 and 3.52, respectively). Most notably, students found the web site provided a"satisfying learning experience" and was helpful "forkeeping up to date with material" and "in learning".Although the students' ratings of these items for the onlinequizzes Online quizzes are quizzes that are published on the internet and are generally for entertainment purposes. IntroductionOnline quizzes are a popular form of entertainment for web surfers. were lower than those for the website, in general, theirperceptions were still positive. It's possible that the mandatory,graded, and strictly scheduled nature of the on-line quizzes contributedto students' slightly less positive attitudes. End-of-course evaluations. There were no significant differences instudents' objective end-of-course evaluations. Both sections hadequally favorable ratings of the course and the instructor. Twoindependent coders ,blind to the students' experimental conditionduring the coding process, analyzed the responses to the open-endedquestions A closed-ended question is a form of question, which normally can be answered with a simple "yes/no" dichotomous question, a specific simple piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices (multiple-choice question), if one excludes such non-answer responses as dodging a . First, the coders independently derived the categorystructure based on the students' responses. Once the coding schemewas agreed upon Adj. 1. agreed upon - constituted or contracted by stipulation or agreement; "stipulatory obligations"stipulatorynoncontroversial, uncontroversial - not likely to arouse controversy , each coder counted the frequencies of each categorywithin all of the students' free responses. Initial agreement washigh (over 85%) and all discrepancies were resolved through discussion.Several categories of responses emerged from this qualitative analysis Qualitative AnalysisSecurities analysis that uses subjective judgment based on nonquantifiable information, such as management expertise, industry cycles, strength of research and development, and labor relations. and are summarized in Table 4. Chi square chi square (kī),n a nonparametric statistic used with discrete data in the form of frequency count (nominal data) or percentages or proportions that can be reduced to frequencies. analyses revealed that the traditional section reportedliking the format of the class (i.e., "I liked how we work in groupand did activities to break up the class time") more frequentlythan the web-enhanced section did ([chi square]=4.37, p=.037). The mostfrequent positive comment from students in the web-enhanced sectionrevolved re��volve?v. re��volved, re��volv��ing, re��volvesv.intr.1. To orbit a central point.2. To turn on an axis; rotate. See Synonyms at turn.3. around their perceptions of their own learning (i.e., "Itwas a fun learning experience.") which is consistent with theirpositive evaluation of the course website as a satisfying learningexperience. Some students in the web-enhanced section did complain aboutthe web site, but their difficulties were either an access issue ortechnical problems with the web site. For both sections, the maincomplaints were the amount of information covered in the course or thetesting format. Most of the suggestions for change revolved around bothof those issues as well. Discussion The results of this study suggest that the use of an LMS likePageOut[C] has multiple benefits for students in traditional classroomsettings. First, the LMS likely improved student achievement for thosein the web-enhanced section. Although this finding was only marginallysignificant, the moderate effect size ([eta.sup.2] =.103) suggests thatthis difference is meaningful and the marginal significance is more aconsequence of small sample size. This performance difference is likelyattributable to the web-enhanced students' better classpreparation. They had a stronger incentive to complete the assignedreadings on time and also had access to a wide variety of study tools 24hours a day. Of course, the Internet is not required for the administration ofreading quizzes. The use of on-line quizzes, however, offers severaladvantages over in-class quizzes. First, on-line quizzes are graded bythe computer, saving the instructor time and providing students withimmediate feedback about their comprehension of the material. Studentscan take the quizzes as soon as they've read the material insteadof having to wait for the next class meeting. The timed nature of thequizzes was probably also beneficial as it probably prevented studentsfrom using the less effective 'quiz-to-learn' strategy(Brothen & Wambach, 2004). Second, as noted by Aberson, et al(2000), valuable class time is not taken by quiz administration and caninstead be devoted to other learning activities. Finally, if instructorsknow that students have a basic understanding of a topic before class,they can allot al��lot?tr.v. al��lot��ted, al��lot��ting, al��lots1. To parcel out; distribute or apportion: allotting land to homesteaders; allot blame.2. more class time to discussion and the hands-on activitiesthat the students in this course perceived as beneficial to theirlearning. The correlational findings also lend support to the assertion thatweb-enhancements predict better course performance. The more on-linequizzes a student completed in a particular unit, the better theyperformed on that unit exam. However, the proportion of in-classactivities completed was not similarly predictive of unit examperformance. Although in-class activities are discussed and correctanswers are given, as appropriate, there is no direct and personalfeedback provided to students regarding their processing of thematerial. It is entirely possible for a student to be a passiveparticipant in an in-class activity, but passive participation is simplynot an option for a timed and individually completed on-line quiz. Of course, these conclusions about the benefits of web-enhancementscould be stronger had students been randomly assigned to the coursesections. Unlike much of the research comparing web-based, distanceeducation and traditional courses (i.e., Wang, et al, 2001), however,students did not self-select the web-enhanced section. This lack ofself-selection Self-selectionConsequence of a contract that induces only one group to participate. adds credence to the claim that web-enhancements mayprovide an achievement advantage for students in traditional educationsettings. Students also perceived educational benefits to the course web siteand had positive evaluations of the course. Consistent with Basile andD'Aquila (2002), there were no differences between the sections instudents' perceptions of the course. Although the difference wasnot statistically significant, it was interesting that the web-enhancedstudents commented most often that their learning experience was whatthey most enjoyed about the course, whereas the traditional studentscommented most often about liking the in-class activities. Theweb-enhanced students' perceptions about their learning seemed tobe consistent with their performance in the course. Although implementation of a course web site does take asignificant amount of time (Hurlburt, 2001; Lawson, 2000),these resultssuggest that our efforts may be worthwhile. If students report enjoyingLMS packages that can improve academic achievement, it is a curricularenhancement that all faculty should at least consider using. I would like to thank Tim Jay for his assistance in data coding andfor comments on an earlier version of this manuscript manuscript,a handwritten work as distinguished from printing. 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Maria Bartini, PhD, Department of Psychology, Massachusetts Collegeof Liberal Arts This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. . Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to toDr. Maria Bartini at mbartini@mcla.edu.Table 1 Correlations of Unit Exam Scores with Proportion ofCorresponding In-class Activities and On-line Quizzes for theWeb-enhanced Section Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4 Exam 5In-class activity 1 .38 .17 .23 .19 .16In-class activity 2 .26 .32 .10 .16 .54 *In-class activity 3 .53 * .24 .51 * .47 .45In-class activity 4 .01 .10 .06 -.02 .41In-class activity 5 (a) -- -- -- -- --On-line quiz 1 .33 -.16 .18 .14 .05On-line quiz 2 .32 .49 * .33 .19 .80 **On-line quiz 3 .33 .23 .75 ** .54 * .51 *On-line quiz 4 .10 .33 .58 * .54 * .46On-line quiz 5 .13 .38 .60 ** .69 ** .32N= 17, * p<.05, ** p<.01,(a) no points were awarded for activities in Unit 5 for theweb-enhanced section.Table 2 Correlations of Unit Exam Scores with Proportion ofCorresponding In-class Activities for the Traditional Section Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4 Exam 5In-class activity 1 .09 .11 .30 .28 .30In-class activity 2 -.01 .12 .33 .31 .20In-class activity 3 .04 -.06 .47 * .26 .28In-class activity 4 .21 -.04 .46 * .26 .36In-class activity 5 .05 -.24 .22 .12 -.07N = 20, * p <.05Table 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Web-enhanced Students'Evaluations of the Website and On-line Ouizzes Std.Item N Mean DeviationAccessing information from the course homepageor the Publisher's Web site was:a. A satisfying learning experience 17 4.24 .56b. A worthwhile experience 17 4.06 .66c. Helpful in learning the material 17 4.18 .64d. A difficult task (reverse coded) 17 3.12 1.45e. Helpful in preparing for exams 17 3.82 .73f Helpful for keeping, up to date with material 17 4.24 .66Completing the on-line reading quizzes was:a. A satisfying learning experience 17 3.59 .94b. A worthwhile experience 17 3.35 .93c. Helpful in learning the material 17 3.71 .69d. A difficult task (reverse coded) 17 3.41 1.18e. Helpful in preparing for exams 17 3.35 .79f Helpful for keeping up to date with material 17 3.76 .90Table 4 Summary of Narrative Evaluations by Type of SectionLikes Traditional Web-enhanced section sectionFormat/activities 58.8% 23.5%Student focused (i.e. learning) 47.1 58.8Instructor/pedagogy 29.4 35.3Material 11.8 29.4Dislikes Traditional Web-enhanced section sectionAmount of Material 52.9 35.3Format/tests 41.2 70.6Instructor/pedagogy 5.9 0.0Nothing, 5.9 0.0Chances Traditional Web-enhanced section sectionFormat/tests 41.2 41.2Nothing 35.3 35.3Amount of Material 17.6 11.8Pedagogy 11.8 0.0