Online or face-to-face? Students' experiences and preferences in e-learning

Which aspects of e-learning courses do students experience as being favorable for learning? When do students prefer online or face-to-face learning components? These questions were the subject of a research study in a sample of 2196 students from 29 Austrian universities. The students completed a questionnaire on their experiences attending an e-learning course, on their perceived achievements, and on their preferences for online or face-to-face learning components. Students appreciated online learning for its potential in providing a clear and coherent structure of the learning material, in supporting self-regulated learning, and in distributing information. They preferred face-to-face learning for communication purposes in which a shared understanding has to be derived or in which interpersonal relations are to be established. An especially important result concerns students' perceptions of their learning achievements: When conceptual knowledge in the subject matter or skills in the application of one's knowledge are to be acquired, students prefer face-to-face learning. However, when skills in self-regulated learning are to be acquired, students advocate online learning.