An empirical study of face-to-face and distance learning sections of a core telecommunication course

Abstract

We present an empirical study that compared the student learning outcomes of face-to-face and distance learning sections of a Telecommunications course. Student performance was assessed based on the course grade, which included the final exam, quizzes, assignments, and midterm exam scores. Both classes were taught by the same instructor, and had similar content and assessment measures. The study factored in the students' demographics such as gender, work and residency status to assess their impact on student learning. In addition, data stored in the learning management system (LMS), BlackBoard", were collected and used to understand student activities within the system, and determine their relation with student performance. The number of times the material was accessed and the time duration spent on assessments are some of the examples of the data that were included in the study. The results show that there is a correlation between students' use of Blackboard and student performance. We found a significant statistical difference between course grades of the face-to-face and distance learning sections. We did not find any evidence for significant difference across a range of demographic factors.