Engagement and Performance for Female and Male Students in an Online Course
Discussion, Conclusions, and Implications
As methods of delivering courses using asynchronous delivery strategies are implemented and tested, the findings from this study may provide useful information to those teachers delivering such courses. The basic premise of self-direction allows students to engage and progress at their own chosen pace. Our study provides support for a self-paced assignment structure, at least for all asynchronously delivered courses. Further study of traditional, expository-based courses, is necessary to determine if self-paced assignments would be effective in other formats.
Furthermore, this study has implications for considering gender as a factor when establishing teaching techniques and structures. For example, we found several differences between how females and males engaged in the course. On average, females tended to engage sooner in the course than males. Females also tended to complete the course sooner than males. Procrastination, however, has yet to be clearly identified as a gender-specific personality tendency. Nevertheless, an implication exists that by not structuring early engagement activities for both females and males, differences between these groups will be magnified. It is recommended that early engagement activities for all students be established.
Students' continuous engagement in the course varied. Female students tended to engage in the course for fewer days than males. An implication exists that female students will "learn" less in an asynchronously delivered course than male students, that is, if we accurately measure learning. The qualitative research presented reveals that while the students engaged differently in terms of length of engagement, all of the students (both male and female) mentioned the usefulness and applicability of the concepts they learned in the course.
Male students were more likely than female students to wait until near the last day of the course to complete their engagement in the course. While all the students were able to complete the course on time, male students tended to "back-load" submission of assignments. This resulted in male students receiving less feedback than female students. As noted earlier, an implication exists that in asynchronously delivered courses, an instructor's traditional role of providing feedback is less important than other roles such as motivator, coach, or delegator (Grow, 1991). The qualitative research presented here refutes Grow's idea (1991). The interviewed students noted the importance of the feedback not only from the instructor but also from their peers. It is recommended that methods for instructor feedback and student interaction be provided in an asynchronously delivered course.
Male and female students performed equally well on assignments. This finding is consistent with the literature on gender as a factor in learning in traditional settings.
The authors recognize the limitations of the study and advise caution in the application of these results. Our research did not examine the potential impact of such factors as academic load, involvement in non-academic activities, family responsibilities, and/or work obligations, any and all of which could affect our results. It is recommended that future research examine the factors affecting success in distance education. Our study found that male and female students approach and engage in distance education differently. Nevertheless, their performance does not appear to be affected by these differences in behavior. The reasons for gender's lack of impact on performance have not been determined. One may speculate, as did Carr, Fullerton, Severino, and McHugh (1996), that women who successfully completed distance education courses have developed resilience. On the other hand, women's strategies for learning in distance education courses may be more appropriate than men's, and thus, female students have an advantage over their male counterparts in such nontraditional environments. These are questions we will continue to explore and welcome those willing to work with us.