title: A statistical analysis of dental hygiene students' grades in online and on-campus courses and performance on the National Board Dental Hygiene Exams.
abstract: The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a difference between the academic performances--measured by grades and performance on national exams--of dental hygiene students enrolled in online and on-campus nutrition courses. Researchers gathered data from 54 dental hygiene students who took a nutrition class in the fall semesters of 1998 and 1999. Students' ages, their course averages, grade-point averages (GPA), and performance on the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) were correlated, and regression analysis and two sample t-tests were performed on the data. The results indicated a weak r2 value (0.291) for GPA as a predictor of course performance and a low r2 value (0.074) for GPA as a predictor of the NBDHE score. Even though the online students had a higher GPA (not statistically significant), data suggests no difference in course average and performance on NBDHE tests between the online and on-campus students. A trend analysis indicated that students with a lower GPA who enrolled in the online courses performed lower than on-campus students.
authors.affiliation: Clayton College & State University, Morrow, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Eugenia B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Bearden
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Deis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education*; D020375:Education, Distance; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education; D009862:Online Systems; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013044:Specialty Boards; D014495:Universities