Date of Award

4-2000

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. David Cowden

Second Advisor

Dr. Charles Warfield

Third Advisor

Dr. Robert Finkelmeier

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Abstract

The focus of this study w as a comparison of learning acquired by adult students in two accelerated sections and one nonaccelerated section o f a college-level course in diversity held at a private school in the Midwestern United States. The course was identical in title, instructor, course materials, examinations, and course outcomes. To measure other potential differences in the experience of the three sections, student participants were asked to complete a precourse survey, postcourse survey, and postcourse classroom environmental assessment instrument called the College and University Classroom Environment Instrument (CUCEI; Treagust & Fraser, 1986).

Upon completion of the course, three methods were used to measure student learning in the three course sections. These were final examination, course grade, and a survey question found on the postcourse survey asking students to rate their knowledge acquisition in the course.

The findings of the study were that accelerated students outperformed their nonaccelerated counterparts on the final examination. Performance on the course grade and responses on the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. survey question asking for student perception of learning were indistinguishable between sections.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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