Comparisons of Performances Between Online Learners and Offline Learners Across Different Types of Tests (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION A considerable body of research on distance learning suggests that there is no significant difference in achievement levels between online learners and offline learners (E.G., The Institute for Higher Education Policy (1999), Chamberlin (2001) and Yin et. al. (2002)). However, most of these previous studies examined the course grade but not the components of the course grade such as multiple choice questions, assignments, problems, etc. Besides that, online learners may perform differently than offline learners due to differences in student perception, available learning tools, use of the learning tools, and other technical issues. (See Barker (2002), Beard et. al. (2002), Dunbar (2004), Kendall (2001), Lightner et. al. (2001), Perreault et. al. (2002), Schulman et. al. (1999), Schwartzman et. al. (2002), and Woods (2002)) Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine student performances in those course grade components (multiple choice and non-multiple choice questions, in particular) to see if there are any differences in their performances between on-line learners and off line learners.