Comparing Web, Correspondence and Lecture versions of a second‐year non‐major Biology course

A comparison of correspondence and Web versions of the same course indicated that, although the students were very satisfied with the Web version, the correspondence section achieved the higher mean final scores in three of the four semesters while the Web course achieved the higher mean score in only one semester. A literature search indicated that there are very few studies which compare the relative successes of Web‐based courses and traditional (lecture) courses as this present study does. In addition most of these other comparative studies are based on only one offering of the Web‐based course, whereas the present study evaluates the Web‐based course over four different semesters.