Comparison of Student Outcomes in a Campus and a Distributed Learning Class

Abstract

Although interest and development of online and distributed learning (DL) has increased in recent years, the social work community has not fully embraced these formats. Many social work students are unable to commute to universities and DL education can provide degree options. A nonexperimental study using a convenience sample was done comparing student outcomes from campus and DL research methods classes with 44 students. Results indicated that final course scores did not statistically differ by course format. Results from this study confirm previous studies' conclusions that online and DL courses are an effective format for social work education.

KEYWORDS:

• impact of technology
• online education
• virtual classroom

Notes

*p < .05. **p < .01.