Statistics on Online Statistics

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Statistics on Online Statistics
A Comparison of Online and Traditional Classes

• Karen A. Estes, Ph.D.
• St Petersburg Junior College
• Tarpon Springs Center
• estesk_at_spjc.edu

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STA 2023The Course

• STA 2023 fulfills 3 of the 6 credit hours of the
  general education requirement
• STA 2023 is required by many majors
• Business Majors
• Nursing/Medical Majors
• Education Majors--optional

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STA 2023--Course Delivery

• Traditional face-to-face lecture
• Online using WebCT
• Television Course
• TeleWeb Course
• AM Express

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Classes in the Study

• Fall 98-99 2 traditional 1 online
• Spring 98-99 2 traditional 1 online
• Fall 99-00 2 traditional 1 online
• Spring 99-00 2 traditional 1 online
• Fall 00-01 2 traditional 2 online
• Spring 00-01 2 traditional 2 online
• (incomplete data for Spring 00-01)

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Enrollment Trends Online

• Fall enrollments have increased each
  year1998/1999 to 1999/2000 to 2000/2001
• Spring enrollments dropped from 1998/1999 to
  1999/2000 but increased significantly in 2000/2001

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Enrollment Trends Online
Overall EnrollmentOnline in Black
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Enrollment Trends Traditional

• Fall enrollments have shown slight increases.
• Spring enrollments dropped slightly from
  1998/1999 to 1999/2000 but and increased slightly
  in 2000/2001
• My classes are taught in a computer labmaximum
  class size 26. The classes are close to full.

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Enrollment Trends Traditional
Overall EnrollmentTraditional in Black
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Statistics on Online Statistics
Student Demographics
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Student Type

• Over the three years of students enrolled in my
  STA 2023
• 57.5 of the students were enrolled in
  traditional classes.
• 42.5 of the students were enrolled in online
  classes.

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Student Type
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Age Comparisons

• Online students appear to be significantly older
  than traditional students.
• 50 of online students are older than 26 while
  75 of traditional students are younger than 25.
• The mean age for online students is 28.2 while
  the mean age for traditional students is 24.1.

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Age Comparisons
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Age Comparisons
Online
Traditional
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Age Comparisons
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Gender Comparisons

• There do not appear to be significant gender
  differences between online and traditional
  students.
• Online students 57 are females and 43 males.
• Traditional students 62 are females and 38
  are males.

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Gender Comparisons
Online
Traditional
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Employment Comparisons

• Online students work considerably more hours per
  week than traditional students.
• The median hours worked is 40 for online and 29
  for traditional students.
• About 56 of online students work at least 40
  hours per week.

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Employment Comparisons

• Online students work considerably more hours per
  week than traditional students.
• 75 on online students work
• at least 32 hours per week.
• 75 of traditional students work
• at most 30 hours per week.

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Employment Comparisons

• Online students work considerably more hours per
  week than traditional students.
• Online students work a mean of 34.5 hours per
  week.
• Traditional students work a mean of 26.2 hours
  per week.

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Employment Comparisons
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Employment Comparisons
Online
Traditional
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Credit Hours Comparisons

• Online students enroll in somewhat fewer credit
  hours than traditional students.
• The median number of credit hours is 9 for online
  (not necessarily all online hours) and 11 for
  traditional students.
• The mean number of credit hours is 8.9 for online
  and 10.2 for traditional students.

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Credit Hours Comparisons

• Online students enroll in somewhat fewer credit
  hours than traditional students.
• 75 of online students enroll in fewer than 12
  credit hours.
• 50 of traditional students enroll in more than
  11 credit hours.

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Credit Hours Comparison
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Credit Hours Comparison
Online
Traditional
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Statistics on Online Statistics
Outcome Comparisons
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Controlled VariablesClass Materials

• Instructor
• Karen A. Estes
• ActivStats, Academic Year 2000-2001
• Paul Velleman
• DataDeskStudent Edition
• Paul Velleman
• The Basic Practice of Statistics, 2nd ed
• David S. Moore
• Handouts
• Karen A. Estes

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Controlled VariablesExams

• Unit 1, Unit 3, and Final exams are identical for
  both online and traditional.
• The traditional students take a Unit 2 exam while
  the online students have a Midterm Exam which is
  the Unit 2 exam with additional questions from
  Unit 1.

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Controlled VariablesExams

• The unit exams change from semester to semester
  but the content is the same.
• The exams are primarily short answer with some
  essay and multiple choice.
• All exams have a section requiring data analysis
  (with DataDesk) along with the appropriate
  interpretation.

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Semi-Controlled VariablesReports

• Both online and traditional students are required
  to complete reports.
• The past two terms, the reports have been the
  same.
• The two previous years, the traditional students
  did more reports.
• Students are required to work in groups in both
  classes.

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Online Class Grading

• Weekly Quizzes15 of the grade
• Unit 1 Average15 of the grade.
• Midterm Average25 of the grade.
• Unit 3 Average15 of the grade.
• Final25 of the grade.
• Class Participation5 of the grade.

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Traditional Class Grading

• Four Unit Exams50 of the grade
• Four Major Reports25 of the grade
• Final Exam25 of the grade

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Unit 1 Comparison

• Online students and traditional students have
  similar scores on the Unit 1 exam.
• The median score is 85.5 for online and 87 for
  traditional students.
• The mean score is 80.4 for online and 83.5 for
  traditional students.

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Unit 1 Comparison
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Unit 1 Comparison
Online
Traditional
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Final Exam Comparison

• Online students have significantly lower scores
  than traditional students on the final exam.
• The median score is 76 for online and 85 for
  traditional students.
• The mean score is 76.3 for online and 83.5 for
  traditional students.

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Final Exam Comparison
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Final Exam Comparison
Online
Traditional
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Linear Relations

• The scatterplot predicting Final exam scores
  based on Unit 1 exam scores.
• Both Online and Traditional students show a
  positive linear trend, but the correlations are
  moderate.
• Correlations
• Traditional r 0.571
• Online r 0.420

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Linear Relations
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Linear Relations

• The regression equation predictions, show on an
  average the traditional students score 6 7
  points higher.

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Final Grades
Overall Traditional students have better final
grades than Online students.
Online
Traditional
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Final Grades
 
 

• Overall Traditional students have better final
  grades than Online students.

 
 
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Final Grades

• Withdrawal rates.
• Online 39.4
• Traditional 13.2
• Success defined as A, B, or C.
• Online 44.4
• Traditional 77.0

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Final Grades Progression
 
 

• Success (A, B, C) for online students has
  increased over the 5 terms.

 
 
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Student Survey of Instruction

• Students are surveyed each term using an online
  survey.
• The questions are evaluated with a 7 point Likert
  scale.

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Student Survey of InstructionResults

• Communicates effectively via the internet.
• 6.29
• Responds to student concerns and questions.
• 6.62
• Gives assignments, exams and/or quizzes that
  apply to course content.
• 6.16

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Student Survey of InstructionResults

• The technical challenges of this course were
  reasonable and manageable.
• 6.43
• I would recommend this online course to other
  students.
• 5.02
• Based on my experience in this course, I would
  take another online course.
• 6.52

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Student Survey of InstructionStudent Comments

• This course was very tough and took a lot of
  discipline. Its very time consuming. The
  course can be frustrating at times and the
  students need to be able to learn on their own.
  It all comes down to how much the student puts
  into the course.

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Student Survey of InstructionStudent Comments

• Dr. Estes made herself available much more than
  in a traditional class. I would definitely take
  her again.
• I think Dr. Estes is too hands on of a teacher
  to teach online. Her availability was great, but
  if I had time to go to a scheduled appointment or
  to take a call I would not be taking the class
  online.

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Student Survey of InstructionStudent Comments

• Even though working with other students online
  for a project was challenging, I looked forward
  to another chance to do so. All in all, the
  course was very well delivered. The book and
  CD-rom package were very well chosen and
  complemented each other well.

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Student Survey of InstructionStudent Comments

• The projects helped to solidify concepts learned
  during the lesson and the quizzes are excellent
  study aids. There are students in my ECO 2023
  class who took an intro stats class requiring a
  120 in addition to the 80 text. (The
  ActivStats CD was much cheaper.)

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Evolution My Online Course Improvements

• Daily course presence (M F)
• Regular Online Office Hours
• Email
• Bulletin board
• More structure
• Weekly quizzesopen book, two attempts
• Calendar set at beginning of termsome additions
  are made during the term

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Evolution My Online Course Improvements

• Written Reports
• DataDesk analysis and interpretation.
• At least one report for each unit.
• Unit Average is 75 from the exam and 25 from
  the reports.
• Personal checks for some students.
• I phone students.
• I ask students to phone me.

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Evolution My Online Course Improvements

• Online Tutor
• Former student from Fall 2000-01
• Entered into class list
• Monitors the bulletin board
• Tutors on campus three days per week, including
  Sunday afternoon

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Evolution My Online Course Improvements

• Focus groups--After the midterm and final exams I
  ask students for feedback as to what works and
  what does not work.
• Textbook change
• Reports
• Bulletin board changes

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Project EagleSPJC Online Improvements

• E-CampusThe SPJC Portal
• http//www.spjc.edu/se/ecampus/
• One single log-in address for all online courses.
• One program director for all distance classes.
• Cyber Advisor available online.
• Formal procedure for obtaining Proctors.

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Project EagleSPJC Online Improvements

• E-campus Help Link
• Increased technical help for students
• Increased hours
• E-course Catalog--searchable.
• Online Registration
• In progress Prerequisite skill assessment and
  training for students

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Project EagleSPJC Online Improvements

• Significantly increased technical support for
  faculty
• Training in WebCT
• Each campus has at least one instructional
  technologist
• Much more help with creation and maintenance of
  courses (instructor is much more Subject Matter
  Expert)

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Instructional Technology Advisory Group

• A group of faculty, instructional technologists,
  and administrators who meet monthly to deal with
  issues for technology enhanced classes.
• Co-chaired by the Vice President for Education
  and Student Service and Director of Instructional
  Technology.

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Question and Answer