Academic beliefs and behaviors in on-campus and online General Education biology classes

This study examined the effect of course delivery mode on academic help-seeking beliefs and behaviors, academic self-efficacy, and the levels of individual interest in biology of students in an entry-level General Education biology course. This intersection of online education, science courses, and academic success factors merits attention because the growing impact of the expansion of online education on undergraduate success, particularly in science courses, has not been fully studied. The specific questions guiding the study examined: whether course delivery mode impacted individual interest in biology; whether course delivery mode impacted help-seeking beliefs and behaviors; and whether course delivery mode, individual interest, and academic self-efficacy predicted academic performance in the course. Participants (N = 183) were enrolled in either online or on-campus sections of a biology course at a large public university in California. Quantitative data for the study were collected through two online surveys in a pre- and post-test design and analyzed via Chi-square, t-tests, and regression analysis using SPSS. The findings of this study indicate that course delivery mode does not impact individual interest in biology. The data further indicate that academic help-seeking beliefs and behaviors vary by course delivery mode. This study also finds that while neither self-efficacy nor individual interest predict performance in the course, course delivery mode is shown to impact performance, although the reasons for this difference are unclear. The results of the study will be useful to course designers and administrators of online education as they seek to maximize the experiences of online students.