No abstract

One of the most common uses of a course management system in the on-campus environment is to offer lecture resources to students. Few researchers have investigated how students use such resources. This study considers student use of lecture resources that offer a representation of the lecture presented (i.e. lecture outline, lecture summary, audio recording) and the relationship of the use of such resources to examination performance and attendance. The present research is argued to be an extension of research that investigated the benefits of providing students instructor notes conducted some 30 years ago. The Internet provides a practical way to apply some of these ideas and to collect data on the reaction of students to the opportunity to view lecture resources. Students made very little use of the audio recordings. We suggest audio recordings may be regarded by students as less efficient and less useful than text-based lecture summaries. The use of online lecture resources, lecture attendance, and examination performance were positively related. For one of three examinations, there was a significant negative interaction of note use and attendance in predicting examination performance providing some support for the hypothesis that students may be able to successfully compensate by viewing online lecture resources when unable to attend class. Because students in this study were not asked to explain their use of these resources, the present findings are regarded as speculative. However, given the interests of many practitioners in providing students lecture resources, the descriptive data and the relationships observed here encourage additional investigation.

The relationships among the frequency of access to online lecture notes, examination performance, and class attendance were investigated. Data on use of online notes were gathered from the log maintained by the server and from student responses to a questionnaire. Students who made any attempt to access online notes viewed notes associated with 74% of classes and most notes were viewed during the period of time corresponding to the delivery of lectures in class rather than the time period immediately before examinations. While students did indicate that access to notes was a factor in missing class, students who viewed online performed better on course examinations. Access to notes was associated with several different reasons for class absences. Of the reasons for missing class, only the frequency of absences associated with competing academic activities was related to examination performance.

No abstract

Although claims of media bias are abundant, systematic and scientific investigations of potential biases are rare. The present study was an attempt to determine whether a perception of bias would be found in the headlines of lead or major stories taken from the Web sites of two major American news organizations, CNN and FOX News, during the final two months of the 2004 presidential campaign. Significant perceptions of bias were found. Overall, headlines taken from CNN were rated as significantly more liberal than those taken from FOX News. Headlines taken from FOX News were rated as slightly on the liberal side of neutral. With CNN's headlines slightly to the left of FOX News', instructing participants that the headlines came from a particular source did not influence the results. Although the study by no means provides the definitive answer to whether major news organizations have biases, it indicates that perceptions of bias exist.