The Effects of Learning Formats on Student Achievement in an Undergraduate Social Work Program
Abstract
CARMELITA L. DOTSON. The Effects of Learning Formats on Student Achievement in an Undergraduate Social Work Program (Under the direction of DR. ELENI COUKOS ELDER.) The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine which learning format (i.e., traditional face-to-face or online) was the most effective in terms of measuring student outcomes in an undergraduate social work program. Nationally, the Area Concentration Achievement Test (ACAT) is used to measure student learning outcomes in several disciplines, including social work. Analyzed was ACAT scores of students in two social work undergraduate courses (Social Policy and Human Behavior in the Social Environment). Participants (n=241) in this study attended a four-year public university in the southeastern region of the United States. This study used a pre-experimental research design with secondary data. Examined were ACAT content scores for three academic years (2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013). This study also examined if there was a difference in ACAT content scores among students with relation to age, gender, and ethnicity. ACAT content scores, learning formats, age, gender, and ethnicity were data entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the frequencies, means, and standard deviations for each variable. Seven null hypotheses were developed and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. An independent samples t-test was conducted to determine if ACAT content mean scores differed significantly by learning format. Between groups two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to determine if ACAT content mean scores differed significantly by learning format when controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Among the major findings from this study concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in ACAT Policy content mean scores in the online learning format. No statistically significant difference in ACAT Policy content mean scores was found with relation to the participants by learning format, age, and ethnicity.
Subject Area
Social work|Educational leadership|Adult education
Recommended Citation
Carmelita L Dotson,
"The Effects of Learning Formats on Student Achievement in an Undergraduate Social Work Program"
(2019).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI22584839.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI22584839