Graduation Year

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Adult, Career and Higher Education

Major Professor

Waynne James, Ed.D.

Committee Member

William H. Young, III, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Yi-Hsin Chen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Glenn G. Smith, Ph.D.

Keywords

Learning Objects, Self-directed learning, Distance learning, Gender, Major, Age

Abstract

There has been little or no research on the use of a Learning Object in the field of religious studies. The purpose of this research study was to assess undergraduate student knowledge gain outcomes between instructor-provided and learner-directed methods, which is the independent variable, using asynchronous, online, narrated PowerPoint presentations compared to undergraduate student knowledge gain using an online learning-objects unit, in a college-level world religions survey course at St. Petersburg College. This study assessed undergraduate student knowledge gain outcomes between instructor-provided and learner-directed methods among 90 college undergraduate students and determined whether there was a significant difference in the knowledge gain of students, a difference by gender, age, and major, in studying a unit of Jainism online in a world religions survey course using either a narrated PowerPoint presentation or using an Independent Learning Object, as well as their perception of the two methods. Students were divided randomly into two groups with each accessing one of the two learning methods. The results were the Learning Objects students’ knowledge gain was higher than the PowerPoint students, while females scored higher using the PowerPoint and males scored higher using the Learning Object. The implications of this study are that instructors in any discipline could better serve their students if they investigate using Learning Objects in their online learning rather than the use of PowerPoint. The majority of students who used the Learning Object online performed better than students who listened to the PowerPoint, supporting the contention that student-accessed learning leads to greater cognition. The implications of this study are that instructors in many disciplines could better serve their students if they implemented the use of Learning Objects in their online learning rather than the use of PowerPoint presentations.

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