Leadership competencies and perceptions of students following a traditional or web-based graduate academic leadership course

The intent of this study was to determine if leadership competency levels of the students enrolled in a graduate level leadership course were different when taught in Web-based versus traditional classroom settings. Specifically studied were leadership competency scores based on self-perceived leadership skills, leadership expertise, and Web-based and traditional classroom style. The population for this study consisted of students enrolled in a graduate level leadership course in the Spring semester of 2003. The participants completed a questionnaire to ascertain how much they remembered and used the competencies taught in the leadership course. They also responded to how their leadership perceptions and practices changed after completing the course. In addition, the participants completed a section that assessed their self-perceptions of leadership skills. This study found that the instructional format of a graduate level leadership course did not affect how much the students remembered or used the competencies presented. However, it was discovered that women in the Web-based section had a stronger perception of themselves than women enrolled in the traditional section. Furthermore, Web-based instruction combined with high perceptions of leadership expertise had a positive affect on the Decision Making Scale score.