Teaching in Cyberspace: Online versus Traditional Instruction Using a Waiting-List Experimental Design

To test the effectiveness of an online introductory psychology course, we randomly assigned students to a large, traditional course or to an online course from a population of students who indicated that either course type was acceptable using a “waiting list” experimental design. Students in the online course performed better on exams and equally well on paper assignments compared to students in the traditional course. Online students also showed greater satisfaction with the course than those in the traditional course. Our results indicate that students who are amenable to taking either an online or a traditional course performed as well in an online course as students enrolled in a large, traditional course.