Performance and Satisfaction of Resident and Distance Students in Videoconference Courses

Abstract

Distance learning is common in higher education, especially online course and degree offerings. However, an older form of distance education, videoconferencing, continues to be used as a method of course delivery. Although some studies have considered the effectiveness of such courses, their findings are mixed and some were conducted with older forms of technology. The present study compares student performance and course and instructor satisfaction between resident and distance students across videoconference undergraduate criminal justice courses. The analyses indicate that students receiving the course through videoconference had lower final grades and were less satisfied with the course and the instructor than those students simultaneously receiving the course through resident instruction, even after controlling for instructor and campus effects.

Keywords:

• Videoconference
• distance learning
• interactive television

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Notes

1 Instructor names changed throughout the paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey J. Roth

Jeffrey J. Roth is an assistant professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Slippery Rock University. His research interests include crime prevention, burglary, criminological theory, and structural predictors of property crime.

Mari Pierce

Mari Pierce is an associate professor in the Administration of Justice Department at Penn State Beaver. Her primary research areas include disparities in punishment decisions, criminological theory, and judicial responses to crimes against children.

Steven Brewer

Steven Brewer is an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at East Carolina University. His research interests include mass shootings, police corruption and misconduct.