The primary purpose of this study was to determine if various types of distance education formats would be suitable for conducting a training course for a computer application. The study sought to determine if a face-to-face format, interactive video format, minimally interactive online format or highly interactive and multimedia rich online format produced similar results in student performance in a training course for a computer application. The secondary purpose of this study was to determine if the increased cost of development of a highly interactive and multimedia rich online format was justified based on observed differences in student achievement in an online environment.

This study consisted of 97 employees of the Mississippi State University Extension Service enrolled in the Introduction to Microsoft Excel 2007 course offered by the Computer Application Services Department of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. The result of an analysis of variance utilizing the method of instruction as the independent variable and the calculated change in score when subtracting the pretest score from the posttest score as the dependent variable resulted in a statistically significant difference in change scores based on treatment at the .05 level. The study also found that face-to-face instruction had the lowest mean cost per unit gained for all methods of instruction studied and the highest mean achievement gained overall.