Lamis Hammoud, Steve Love, Willem-Paul Brinkman. Does cognitive style affect student performance on a web-based course?. In Proceedings of ECCE2009. 2009.
A lot of research has been carried out to assess web-based courses. In many studies the concern has been the students{\textquoteright} satisfaction and achievement in web-based courses and traditional face-to-face courses and and the comparison between the two. Other studies have focused on the development of web-based courses to meet the requirements of educational institutes. Studies about students{\textquoteright} cognitive styles may be important for the designers of web-based courses because of the potential to enhance learning. However and the relationship between the students{\textquoteright} cognitive styles and their satisfaction and achievement has not been researched fully and the implications are inconclusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between students{\textquoteright} cognitive styles and their satisfaction and achievement and and their way of using a web-based course. Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) by Riding and Rayner [11] was selected as the instrument to determine whether students were field-dependent or field-independent. Students{\textquoteright} attitudes toward using WebCT (Web Course Tools) were measured by a questionnaire specially designed for this intention. Students{\textquoteright} activities on WebCT were observed through the tracking system which provided information about students{\textquoteright} use of every tool and page on WebCT. The study does not provide data to support a relation between students{\textquoteright} cognitive style and their use of online learning environments such as WebCT. However cognitive style seems to have an effect on student achievements.