Achievement, Attitude, and Learning Style in Online Courses

This monograph discusses a study conducted with a §sample of graduate education students enrolled in §online and in-class courses. The study examines the §differences in achievement among students enrolled §in similar courses, delivered through competing §instructional modalities: online and in-class. These §students' attitudes toward computer-based learning §and their learning-style preferences were examined §to note existing relationships among the variables §as they relate to overall performance in respective §courses. Significant findings revealed that certain §learning-style preferences correspond to greater §satisfaction and improved performance in online §courses, which provides some explanation as to why §individuals may be more successful than others in §online courses. The study provides implications for §improved practice in customizing online and in-class §courses to meet students' needs. It is also noted §that these findings, when applied, may help to raise §student awareness of their own learning styles, §increase retention at various levels of higher-§education, and enhance the delivery of advisement §based on learning-style assessment.