As shown, significant differences between the two profiles occurred in the categories of employment, computer skills and familiarity with distance learning. As expected, the UID group had web access from both home and work. However, we used the site to augment the courses rather than provide web-based content. Chat was tried but was not successful due to corporate firewall problems. In order to try to determine the efficacy of WebCT, we had to go beyond just student satisfaction.
Grades are an obvious indicator of student performance.
The number of WebCT accesses, or hits, by students may also be an indicator if the greater use of the site indicates greater perceived usefulness. We decided to use Grades, Hits and Ratings, or student satisfaction, as our outcome measures. Hits and ratings alone would be interesting. However, the interactions between the three measures, especially with grades, would also be of interest and valid indicators of efficacy. Figure 1 shows the average number of times a student accessed WebCT over the semester.