Analysis of Student Use of a World Wide Web Site Created as a Supplement for General Chemistry Instruction

A World Wide Web (WWW) site was developed on the subject of acids and bases for use as a supplement to the General Chemistry course. The site was used in two consecutive years of the course. Its effectiveness was assessed with surveys and with comparisons of grades for users and nonusers. Results show that students in general do not use the site to target their self-reported problem areas; instead, they tend to progress through the site in a linear fashion. Those students who used the site to help them with their problem areas were able to achieve a modest grade improvement over their performance on other exams.