DIFFERENCES IN GENDER AND LECTURE MODES IN KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTER CONCEPTS PRIOR TO COMPUTER CLASSES

Abstract

A computer concepts test was used to assess student computing concepts knowledge levels in traditional face- to- face and online sections of an introductory computing course. This assessment was conducted during the first semester of the course in order to measure the depth and breadth of student knowledge of computing when they first enter the course. More specific objectives of this study were to investigate whether there is a difference in the level of computer concepts knowledge between (1) students enrolled in online classes and students enrolled in traditional face-to-face classes and (2) male and female students. The results of this study indicate that students with higher computer concepts knowledge levels are more likely than students with lower levels of computer concepts to enroll in an online section. This paper provides an overview of the major computer concepts areas on which students were tested and includes summary of the analyses performed to test the investigation’s hypotheses.