Logging for success: Advancing the use of WWW logs to improve computer mediated distance learning

Web-based learning environments are popular on campus nowadays. These software packages improve communication between instructor and students, enable students to take charge over their learning processes, and provide feedback data to the instructor. Universities and colleges are called to foot the bill for these computerized tools by training teachers and students on how to use them, adding new computer classrooms, and upgrading the network backbone. Few, if any, of these academic institutions systematically collect and analyze data in order to assess if their investments in this new approach are paying off. How can academic institutions collect and analyze data in order to determine the effectiveness of the new computer mediated distance learning approach? This is the key question addressed in this article.