A Comparative Analysis Of Student Performance In Lower Division Computer Science Courses In Face To Face Mode Vs. Distance Learning Mode

Computer engineering and computer science students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) take a two-course sequence on the fundamentals of computer science as parts of their plans of study. The two courses, CIS 113 and CIS 114, cover topics in computer system basics, algorithm design, data abstraction, programming languages, data structures, and program development and debugging. Students may take either course in face-to-face mode or in distance learning mode. This paper presents an analysis of student performance in the two courses for both modes of instruction. The analysis covers course offerings from the Fall 1994 semester through the Spring 2001 semester and includes a population of over 5,700 students. This paper also analyzes variances in the performance among distance learning students. For some instructors, the student course passing rates were consistently higher than for the others. That, coupled with better scores on student evaluations, allowed us to emphasize the impact of teaching style and teaching methodologies on the course outcomes for the distance learning students.