Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to see if there was a significant difference in engagement among undergraduate health and physical education majors when comparing online instruction to traditional lecture format. Method: Participants in this study were 22 undergraduate health and physical education majors enrolled in the summer semester, in a three-hour class. Two sections of the course were offered to the students. One section was delivered online and the other was delivered by traditional lecture in a face-to-face setting. The course curriculum and assignments were identical for the online and face-to-face courses. Analysis: Thirty-four Likert-scaled questions were used to determine student perception of engagement in the course. Difference in responses of the two study groups were examined using the Mann-Whitney Test (p = .05). Results: The results of this study showed no significant difference in 33 of the 34 variables used to measure engagement. Conclusions: It seems clear from this study that students in undergraduate physical education teacher preparation courses can be engaged in course content, whether that content is offered completely online, or in a traditionally-based face-to-face format.

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