The Impact Of Online Lecture Notes On Learning Outcomes

A study was undertaken to determine the impact of online lecture notes on learning outcomes of students in a web-assisted first engineering thermodynamics course taught in a traditional faceto-face classroom setting. In the control group lectures were presented using a classroom computer projector and chalkboard. In the test group the same material and approach were taken, but the instructor's lecture notes were made available online the day before each class. Students were encouraged to download and print out the notes and bring them to class to minimize time spent taking notes in class. At the end of each semester, the same multiple-choice final examination was administered and student performances recorded. Although a difference in final exam grades was found between the two groups, with the group having lecture notes available online not performing as well, the difference was not statistically significant. Statistical analyses were also performed among sub-groups in the overall study population. Students were stratified with respect to incoming grade-point-average, academic major, and semester hours completed. No statistically significant differences were found in any of the subgroups examined. Finally, comparisons were made between the two groups on exam questions at two different levels within Bloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Again, no statistically significant difference was found between the control and test groups.