Towards an Innovative Web-Based Lab Delivery System for a Management Information Systems Course

While online systems are an essential component of distance learning, they can also play a critical role in improving the delivery of activities in a traditional laboratory setting. The quality and effectiveness of online course delivery is often compared to equivalent face-to-face alternatives. In our approach, we have harnessed what we feel to be the best of both delivery methods. We have developed a web-based system with some novel characteristics for use in a face-to-face laboratory-based Management Information Systems course. To assess its impact, we surveyed 110 students where approximately half completed the lab using our web-based system while the other half completed a paper-based equivalent. The promising results have encouraged us to develop further experiments to measure student performance as well as the impact of video versus text in presenting activity instructions.