The Role of the Course Website in Improving Access to Educational Materials for Nontraditional Aviation Students

Abstract

Nontraditional students have become the rule rather than the exception in many collegiate aviation programs. These students are often constrained in terms of their ability to devote the same amount of time to their classroom efforts as do their traditional peers. Such constraints may result from scheduling conflicts with work or, to a lesser extent, scheduling conflicts due to the location of classes at multiple and physically-separated campuses. Provision of classroom materials such as course syllabi and lecture notes, through the use of a course website, can help alleviate some of the scheduling concerns that affect nontraditional students. It is instructive to determine the degree to which such a website helps students
feel that the convenience of their learning experience has been improved. A study of the use of a course website for this author’s aviation classes over a period of two semesters in 2006 and 2007 indicates significant improvement over those courses not employing websites in perceived learning convenience as a result of easier student access to course materials.