Age and Gender Differences in Online Behavior, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are differences between different age and gender groups of adult learners when they are compared simultaneously on the number of messages they post, self-efficacy improvement and academic performance in an online learning environment. A two-way MANOVA revealed significant main and interaction effects on the dependent variables. Older students posted significantly more messages, but younger students improved their self-efficacy significantly more. Female students improved their self-efficacy significantly more and scored significantly higher on the final exam than male students. Younger male students’ exam scores and younger female students’ exam scores were significantly different from each other.