Characteristics of students who enroll and succeed in psychology Web-based classes.

Abstract

This study compared the cognitive-motivational and demographic characteristics of students enrolled in 3 Web-based sections of Psychological Statistics with their counterparts in 3 conventional (face-to-face) sections of this course. No demographic differences were found; however, cyberstudents exhibited a greater external locus of control than conventional students. The authors also investigated whether there were any predictors of student performance in Web courses. Measures of on-line course activity (e.g., homepage hit rate), a high need for cognition, and an internal locus of control were predictive of cyberstudent success. The authors discuss the implications of these results for instructors who are considering the design and implementation of Web-based classes.