Date of Award

12-1995

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Karen Currie, PhD

Abstract

Satellite distance education delivery typically has one main drawback -- limited student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction. Telecommunications technology, more specifically computer-mediated communication (CMC), has made it possible for educational institutions to overcome this drawback. This research examines the comparative effectiveness of CMC supplemented satellite distance education delivery and traditional face-to-face education delivery. The three dependent variables that were measured to compare the two educational delivery methods included: performance, interaction, and attitude outcomes. Pre- and post-course instruments were administered in a non-equivalent quasi-experimental design to students enrolled in an Air Force Institute of Technology's School of Systems and Logistics software engineering Professional Continuing Education course. Descriptive statistics and parametric tests were used to analyze these results (at alpha = .05). The parametric tests indicated that the distance education group and traditional group differed significantly on two demographic areas, educational level and self-rated computer proficiency, and on the pretest, final exam and overall course grades. The distance education and traditional group were not significantly different on pre-course attitudes towards computers, midterm exam grades, and post- course instructor and course ratings.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GIR-LAL-95D-1

DTIC Accession Number

ADA302817

Comments

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Logistics and Acquisition Management of the Air Force Institute of Technology

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