THE EFFECTS OF WORLD WIDE WEB INSTRUCTION AND TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING STYLES ON ACHIEVEMENT AND CHANGES IN STUDENT ATTITUDES IN A TECHNICAL WRITING IN AN AGRICOMMUNICATION COURSE

Abstract

The purpose of this experimental study was to determine the effects of types of instruction and learning styles in a three-credit hour, technical writing in an agricommunication course on their achievement and attitudes towards writing, learning about writing, computers and the Internet. The two methods of instruction were traditional instruction without a laboratory and World Wide Web instruction with a laboratory. Two applications questions on the midterm examination and the major class project were used to measure students’ achievement. To measure the attitudes of the students, a semantic differenctial instrument was developed. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was used to determine preferred learning styles. Significant differences were found to exist between type of instruction for both achievement and attitudes. WWW-dependent instruction was significantly higher for group means on achievement. The WWW-dependent class also had a higher mean gain for attitude toward writing. No significant difference was found between learning style groups on achievement and attitudes. There was no significant interaction effect between type of instruction and learning style on achievement or attitudes.