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While online learning is nothing new, research regarding student perceptions of online courses is limited and has generally focused on those who have taken online courses. Data were collected from 180 students taking criminal justice courses on campus at a large 4-year university in the Southwest and 100 students taking criminal justice courses in an online program at that same university. The analysis focuses on differences in perception between students who have taken online courses and those who have not. Results indicate that there are differences in perceptions by online course experience for the total sample, by the extent of online experience, for different age groups, and by the sex of the respondent.
INTRODUCTION
Distance education is a method of instruction that allows course instructors and enrolled students to use a variety of methods, some of which are driven by technology, for course delivery and the facilitation of learning (Valentine, 2002). Varieties of distance education include mail correspondence, television-based courses, and online instructional methods. Interaction between the instructor and students is critical, as it facilitates learning in the absence of face-to-face meetings in a class- room setting. Mail correspondence and televi- sion-based courses allow instructors and students to be separated by space and time; however, with the rapid development of tech- nology and its availability for implementation and use on university campuses, simulcasts via the Internet can approximate the face-to-face interaction that students receive in the traditional classroom (Teaster & Blieszner, 1999; Valentine, 2002).
It is due to the affordability and accessibility of technology for students - specifically computers and Internet access - that distance education through online means is growing at an exponential rate. Online course enrollments grew from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004 (Sloan Consortium, 2005). Furthermore, 3.5 million students reported taking at least one course online during the Fall 2006 semester, approximating a 10% increase from 2005 (Allen & Seaman, 2007). Because of this growth, it has been argued that using the Internet for course instruction is becoming part of the core emphasis at universities across the United States (Feenberg, 1999; Gaytan, 2007; Larreamendy-Joerns & Leinhardt, 2006), as the size and number of programs have expanded (Sloan Consortium, 2005). Some universities are even requiring that students...