Achievement, Attitude, and Learning Style in Online Courses: is the Virtual Classroom for Everyone?

This monograph discusses a study conducted with a sample of graduate education students enrolled in online and in-class courses. The study examines the differences in achievement among students enrolled in similar courses, delivered through competing instructional modalities: online and in-class. These students' attitudes toward computer-based learning and their learning-style preferences were examined to note existing relationships among the variables as they relate to overall performance in respective courses. Significant findings revealed that certain learning-style preferences correspond to greater satisfaction and improved performance in online courses, which provides some explanation as to why individuals may be more successful than others in online courses. The study provides implications for improved practice in customizing online and in-class courses to meet students' needs. It is also noted that these findings, when applied, may help to raise student awareness of their own learning styles, increase retention at various levels of higher- education, and enhance the delivery of advisement based on learning-style assessment.