Online university learning: Cognitive and affective perspectives

Online university courses have become popular in many universities and colleges throughout the world. In addition to the relative cost‐effectiveness of online learning, there are studies that indicate that students reach satisfactory achievement levels in these courses. The major aim of the present research was two‐fold: to examine students’ academic performance in a mandatory first‐year university Internet‐based “Introduction to statistics” course and to investigate psycho‐pedagogical variables which contributed to students’ online learning, compared to learning of students who participated in a traditional lecture‐based “Introduction to statistics” course. Results of the study indicate that students who participated in the mandatory online course reached similar academic performance levels to those achieved by students who participated in the traditional lecture‐based course. In addition, the findings indicate that participation in the online course improves psycho‐pedagogical attitudes towards online learning despite the initial misgivings of the participants in the course.