Student barriers to online learning: A factor analytic study

This article reports on a large‐scale (n?=?1,056), exploratory factor analysis study that determined the underlying constructs that comprise student barriers to online learning. The eight factors found were (a) administrative issues, (b) social interaction, (c) academic skills, (d) technical skills, (e) learner motivation, (f) time and support for studies, (g) cost and access to the Internet, and (h) technical problems. Independent variables that significantly affected student ratings of these barrier factors included: gender, age, ethnicity, type of learning institution, self‐rating of online learning skills, effectiveness of learning online, online learning enjoyment, prejudicial treatment in traditional classes, and the number of online courses completed.     

Student satisfaction and online teaching

This paper presents an analysis of the response of student satisfaction scores to online delivery for courses at a large Australian university. Taking data from 2653 courses delivered since 2011 we employ a difference-in-differences estimator approach to evaluate the impact of a transition from face-to-face learning to online learning of courses on student satisfaction. We estimate that, on a five-point scale, conversion to online learning lowers course satisfaction by about 0.2 points and instructor satisfaction by about 0.15 points. These correspond to shifts relative to the underlying distributions of about 25–30% of a standard deviation. Some implications of the (slight) relative unpopularity of online learning are discussed.     

Learning preferences and readiness for online learning

Using a sample of 314 Australian university students the Readiness for Online Learning questionnaire was tested for its technical characteristics of reliability and factorability, with results indicating the instrument has promise both for research and for practice. The factor analysis identified a factor associated with self‐management of learning, and one of comfort with e‐learning. These factors are interpreted and discussed within a framework of the broader literature on learning preferences associated with flexible delivery and resource‐based learning.     

Supporting writing for assessment in online learning

This article explores some specific issues involved in online learning and assessment. It draws on data from a postgraduate course for professional educators, delivered globally online, and highlights the relationship between students’ online discussion and their written assessed work, arguing that we need to focus on both of these in terms of the writing demands they make on students. In so doing it utilizes a theoretical framework which conceptualizes writing as contextualized social practice. The paper illustrates the complexity of the rhetorical demands being made on students in these new environments of teaching and learning and, in focusing on writing, complements present approaches to online learning which have, to date, tended towards collaborative and constructivist perspectives. The article highlights the relationship between pedagogy, technology and assessment. It concludes with a discussion of the design of an online writing resource to support student writers on this particular masters programme.     

Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning

This paper explores various strategies for creating engaging online learning environments. It describes a framework which identifies and distinguishes between the critical elements needed in the design of online learning: the content of the course, the learning activities and the learning supports. It demonstrates through practical examples how each of these elements can be manipulated in deliberate ways to influence learning processes and outcomes. The paper supports the notion that online courses are best when they arc engineered to take advantage of the learning opportunities afforded by the online technologies, rather than being used as supplements to conventional teaching programs.     

在线核学习的一般形式探讨

探讨了在线核学习基于梯度与基于优化的两种一般性框架,分析了这两种框架显式更新模式下的内在一致性,给出了求解分类与回归问题的具体更新规则.并且讨论了与显式更新对应的隐式更新模式,给出了在线核学习的一般形式.最后,分析了显式更新模式下在线核学习的算法性能.     

A flexible framework for online collaborative learning

This paper presents a framework for online collaborative learning, also known as telecollaboration. At the centre of this flexible framework are online collaborative educational experiences where knowledge creation and knowledge in action are the nexus of social, teaching and cognitive presence based on the Community of Inquiry model of Garrison, Anderson and Archers [Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (1999). Critical thinking in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105]. The framework provided should guide educators as they design, develop and implement authentic educational experiences within local, national or international settings in partnership with other educational stakeholders.     

Evaluating online learning communities

This article reviews recent evaluation studies of online learning communities to provide a systematic understanding of how such communities are evaluated. Forty-two representative studies were selected and categorized into a newly developed taxonomy of online learning community evaluations. This taxonomy is divided into four components: evaluation purpose, evaluation approach, measures for evaluation, and evaluation techniques. The findings suggest that it is inappropriate to conceptualize evaluation of such communities as a one-size-fits-all, generalizable measure of “good” or “bad.” Instead, we recommend a comprehensive, on-going, diagnostic approach to measuring clusters of indicators, or syndromes, of a particular OLC and examining the causal relation assumed by the evaluators between what is measured and the success of OLC as an imputed outcome.

也淡开放教育的"网上教学"

总结性评估结束后,开放教育转入日常教学,作为开放教育主要教学手段之一的网上教学也日益受到大家的重视.但这一活动在开展过程中还存在着一些误区,分析这些误区并拿出具体的改进措施,才是搞好开放教育网上教学的关键.     

Student personality characteristics and optimal college learning conditions: An extensive search for trait-by-treatment interaction effects

The goal of this research project was to discover those personality characteristics of college students which predispose them towards learning more effectively from one, rather than some other, particular instructional format. Over 800 students in each of two college courses were taught by one of four different methods, and three broad classes of criterion information were assessed: (a) knowledge of course content, (b) amount of extra-curricular reading, and (c) degree of student satisfaction. Each student completed an extensive battery of personality measures, which yielded over 350 test scores. The ratio of significant interaction effects to the number expected by chance was only 4 to 3. Consequently, new interaction scales were developed empirically in each course, and these were then cross-validated in the other course. In general, these new scales did not produce statistically significant interaction effects upon cross-validation, and scales constructed from items which produced significant interactions in both courses showed low internal consistency and low convergent validity. Factors which could have attenuated the strength of trait-by-treatment interaction effects are discussed.The report is a summary of the findings presented in Goldberg (1969), a monograph which is available to readers wishing additional details of the investigation. Help with the design and implementation of the project was generously provided by William A. Bricker, Leslie A. Davison, and Vello Sermat. The author also wishes to acknowledge, with great thanks, the research contributions of Richard R. Jones, Gale H. Roid, Steven G. Ashton, Edwin S. Shiman, and Molly Stafford. Research funds for this project were first provided by the Oregon State System of Higher Education and by the University of Oregon through its Institute of College Teaching. Major support for the data analyses was provided by the Office of Education (Grant No. OEG-4-7-061693-0420), and later by Grant No. MH12972 and Grant No. MH10822 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service. Preliminary data analyses were carried out using the facilities of the Computing Center at the University of Oregon; the analyses were completed at the Computing Center of Oregon Research Institute, and the Health Sciences Computing Facility, UCLA, sponsored by N.I.H. Grant FR-3.     

Student assessment and learning for a changing society

This article examines the traditional roles of assessment and the current demands for assessment to ‘gear up’ education systems in response to global economic changes. It argues that in the next millennium, and with the information revolution, it will be important to foster higher order skills and good learning strategies in a high proportion of our students. The article goes on to consider, set against the critical relationship among high-stakes testing, teaching and learning, the nature of high-quality assessment programmes. It will present evidence of impact of the national assessment programme on teaching in England and Wales in the United Kingdom.     

Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments

Since online learning has a different setting from the conventional classroom, online educators need to use some special techniques and perceptions to lead to success. Moreover, adults have special needs and requirements as learners compared with children and adolescents, thus online educators should know how adults can learn best because of their special characteristics. Philosophical and methodological shifts also affect instruction. Many researchers have suggested that constructivism should be applied in distance education. Thus, this paper attempts to examine the impact of constructivism in online learning environments when focusing on adult learners. The author develops the connection between constructivism and adult learning theory. In addition, the paper proposes instructional guidelines using the constructivist approach in online learning for adults.     

Profiles in self-regulated learning and their correlates for online and blended learning students

This study examines a person-centered approach to self-regulated learning among 606 University students (140 online, and 466 in blended learning mode). Latent profile analysis revealed five distinct profiles of self-regulated learning: minimal regulators, restrained regulators, calm self-reliant capable regulators, anxious capable collaborators, and super regulators. These profiles showed that: (1) differences in academic success are associated with a learner’s capacity for motivational regulation and self-regulated learning strategy implementation, (2) online learners are more likely to belong to profiles that are more adaptive, and less reliant on collaborations with others, (3) for learners at the lower end of the self-regulation spectrum, an increase in both motivational regulation and adoption of self-regulated learning strategies may be academically beneficial, and (4) high motivational regulation and strategy adoption can be all for naught, if the student is also highly anxious with worry and concern regarding performance.     

在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度的影响

在线学习投入是保证"停课不停学"期间在线教学质量的重要条件。对大学生开展调查,运用描述统计和回归分析法对疫情期间大学生在线学习准备度的现状、大学生在线学习投入度的现状进行分析,可以发现在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度的影响以及在线学习自我效能感、感知教师支持、在线学习平台体验在其中的中介作用。结果表明:大学生在线学习准备不足;大学生在线学习投入整体不高;大学生在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度具有显著影响;在线学习自我效能感、感知教师支持、在线学习平台体验在在线学习准备度和在线学习投入度之间存在中介效应。因此,可以从技术支持维度、在线学习资源设计维度、教师支持维度着手提升学生的在线学习投入度。