Student Participation in a Web-Based Computer Science Course

The Open University of Israel (OUI) is an institution of higher learning with an open admission policy which is based solely on distance learning and self-study. The teaching methods practiced at the OUI combine traditional and Web-based distance education. The traditional distance education is based on written materials sent to the students at their homes. The Web-based distance education includes course Websites which provide an interactive learning environment. This paper describes a research we have been conducting regarding the use of a typical CS course Website. We analyze the extent of use of the course Website; we categorize the kinds of activities the students perform in the course Website and we locate the most popular pages in the Website. We present the percentage of students who use the course Website; we analyze their usage profile and check the correlation between the students' grades and the amount of activity they perform in the course Website. We also check to what extent the students use the discussion group and whether there exists a gender difference in this use