"The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between achievement and the
quantity of online course materials that students printed and the frequency with which they
reported using them. One hundred thirty-two graduate students from one of 11 hybrid or online
classes voluntarily completed a self-report survey asking how much they printed (0%, 25%, 50%,
75%, 100%), how often they used printed materials (almost never, rarely, sometimes, often,
almost always), and preference for either print, onscreen, or none. Neither quantity printed nor
frequency used was related to achievement. But learner preference was associated with
achievement; onscreen preference learners had higher mean rank scores than print and no
preference learners. There were no achievement differences between the online and hybrid
learner groups. Learners, who printed more, used more and preferred print online materials and
experienced more onscreen reading difficulty than learners who printed less. Learners who used
print materials more preferred reading printed materials, had difficulty reading onscreen, and
were older. "
