Understanding the Online Learner

2009 ◽  
pp. 482-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Traditional Classrooms ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
The People ◽  
Learning Programs

The expansion of distance education programs has allowed institutions of higher education to be successful in their collective mission to make educational programs more accessible to adults who normally would not have that access. Indeed, online learning has brought education to the people. Access to school is now as simple as logging on to the Internet in the privacy of one’s own home. Who are these students taking courses online? Why are they in online courses versus traditional classrooms? What is different about them, about their situations, and their expectations? Why are some online learners successful and others not? Why do some online learners continue to work through programs while others drop out? For online learning programs to be successful in the long term, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the online learner. This chapter examines the adult online learner in higher education.

The Same but Different

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Maria Northcote
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Practical Recommendations

The field of online learning, like many other technological innovations, has not burgeoned without controversy. Despite the debates about the role and value of online learning, it has continued to grow in many sectors, especially in higher education. Alongside the growth of online learning, discussions about its benefits and limitations have also flourished, and many studies have investigated the quality and integrity of online courses. This chapter offers an investigation of some of the history of online learning, concluding with a collection of practical recommendations and suggestions for future research directions to guide institutions embarking on online learning programs.

Engage Online Learners

2018 ◽  
pp. 96-118
Author(s):  
Sang Chan ◽  
Devshikha Bose
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
Student Instructor

Online learning will continue to be one of the popular modes of instruction offered by higher education institutions to accommodate different learning needs. Student engagement is critical to the success of online learning. Students should be engaged cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. This chapter discusses design considerations for online courses to promote student-instructor, student-student, and student-content interactions to engage students cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. The chapter also discusses the application of flow theory, specifically, in the design of instruction to engage students during their interaction with course content.

scholarly journals Improving Learner Retention in English Online Courses: Current Situation from a Center of Foreign Languages in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Quoc Hung Luu
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Dropping Out ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Practical Recommendations

Online learning has experienced rapid growth recently, particularly due to many schools’ closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the number of online learners is steadily growing, retaining learners in online courses and programs has posed a challenge. Retention rates are vital data that is indicative of an institution’s ability to engage learners in their learning, satisfy their educational needs, and prevent them from dropping out. With the aim to explore possible reasons why learners drop out in their online learning and identify effective ways to improve learner retention, this study examines 164 online learners at a center of foreign languages through an online survey. The findings indicate that online learning is still a revolutionary trend of education and learner retention rates have been positive in most online courses. Practical recommendations are included so that institutions can use these results immediately to impact their policies and practices.

Using Course Maps for Easy Classroom to Computer Transition

2011 ◽  
pp. 1940-1944
Author(s):  
Stephanie J. Etter ◽  
Lisa T. Byrnes
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
History Of Higher Education ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
History Of

Online learning is the fastest growing segment in the educational marketplace (Conhaim, 2003). As the number of online courses increases and distance learning programs grow in popularity, questions of quality and comparability of online courses with traditional methods naturally arise (Schulman & Sims, 1999). While online learning is the fastest growing educational segment, partly in thanks to on-campus students who choose to take courses online, there are still debates about not only the quality of the course content, but the quality of the technology used as well. According to Bowman (2003), in “the history of higher education, online classes are relatively new, and it is yet to be determined how to take full advantage of the technology” (p. 73).

Engage Online Learners

2016 ◽  
pp. 328-349
Author(s):  
Sang Chan ◽  
Devshikha Bose
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Flow Theory ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
Student Instructor

Online learning will continue to be one of the popular modes of instruction offered by higher education institutions to accommodate different learning needs. Student engagement is critical to the success of online learning. Students should be engaged cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. This chapter discusses design considerations for online courses to promote student-instructor, student-student, and student-content interactions to engage students cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. The chapter also discusses the application of flow theory, specifically, in the design of instruction to engage students during their interaction with course content.

Learners’ perceptions of instructor feedback in e-learning courses – findings from HBMSU, United Arab Emirates

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niyi Awofeso ◽  
Moyosola Bamidele
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Test Reliability ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Instructor Feedback ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Real Person

Instructor feedback is constructive and specific information provided by an instructor to a learner on his or her course work and/or class contributions in relation to the course objectives and expectations. Effective instructor feedback is particularly important in online learning as learners are more likely to withdraw from online learning environments due to delayed, or inadequate feedback, compared with students enrolled in physical classes. Not all learners are equally active, and there are indeed learners who hardly take an active part in online course activities -the so-called lurkers. Courteous instructor feedback to such learners on their limited participation has been shown to improve learners’ participation in online courses. Diligent learners engaged in online learning programs expect feedback to be contextual, supportive, constructive, timely, substantive, summative and formative.  This study examined the perceptions of 66 undergraduate and postgraduate learners on feedback provided in eight online courses facilitated by the same instructor at the School of Health and Environmental Studies, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, UAE between August 2014 and December 2015. Data collection from learners was anonymized and participation was voluntary. The survey sought to elicit learners’ perceptions on the extent to which feedback provided in specified courses were motivational, timely, frequent, supportive, and individualized. A polytomous Rasch model was utilized to analyze the data with Winsteps and STATA. Analysis of the 20 survey questions revealed a real person reliability of 0.82 and a Cronbach Alpha test reliability of 0.96, suggesting that the scale discriminates well between the persons. The real item separation reliability of 0.77 suggests that the questions are reliable in measuring the specified items.  Descriptive analyses revealed general agreement among the majority of learners on the effectiveness of feedback provided by the instructor, although Infit and Outfit Z-standard deviation statistics revealed two questions with unexpected rare (i.e. “mostly disagree” or “completely disagree”) extremes in several learners’ responses.  Unlike single questions related to learner feedback in most Student Perception of Teaching Surveys, this survey instrument comprehensively explores the dimensions of instructor feedback, aspects of which may not be previously known to learners or instructors. Our results indicate that systematic collection and analysis of learners’ feedback comments have a strong potential to enhance feedback competencies of course facilitators, as well as provide a common platform for both learners and course facilitators vis-à-vis the diverse objectives of instructor feedback.  

scholarly journals Computer Literacy and Online Learning Attitude toward GSOE Students in Distance Education Programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lung-Yu Li ◽  
Long-Yuan Lee
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Computer Literacy ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The Body ◽  
Education Management ◽  
Learning Attitude ◽  
Learning Attitudes ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Managerial Implications

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore graduate students’ competencies in computer use and their attitudes toward online learning in asynchronous online courses of distance learning programs in a Graduate School of Education (GSOE) in Taiwan. The research examined the relationship between computer literacy and the online learning attitudes of these students. Data were collected via a survey through 252 GSOE students in Taiwan. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between computer literacy and online learning attitude among the students. Higher computer literacy was correlated with higher online learning attitude. However, no statistically significant difference was found in online learning attitude by gender or by age group. Suggestions and managerial implications were discussed in the study, and would provide contribution both to the body of knowledge in the filed of education management.</p>

scholarly journals The Attitude of the Academic Community towards Distance Learning: A Lesson from a National Lockdown

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. pp262-281
Author(s):  
Marta Migocka-Patrzałek ◽  
Magda Dubińska-Magiera ◽  
Dawid Krysiński ◽  
Stefan Nowicki
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
Academic Year

The number of online courses conducted at universities has been growing steadily worldwide. The demand for this form of education has jumped sharply in the 2019/2020 academic year as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown. The following study uses the case of University of Wrocław and examines how this unprecedented situation would affect the attitude of members of the academic community toward distance learning. The examination, based on quantitative analysis of separated questionnaires distributed among teachers and students, reveals that the previous experience in distance learning strongly correlates with willingness to use it in the future, i.e. after fighting the coronavirus crisis. Thus, the research suggests that the implementation of distance learning may involve the need to put more emphasis on systematic and long-term actions. The results achieved in the study may contribute to improving the ways of implementing distance learning on a large scale in institutions dealing with higher education.  

scholarly journals Online Courses in the Higher Education System of Iran: A Stakeholder-Based Investigation of Pre-Service Teachers’ Acceptance, Learning Achievement, and Satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 117-142
Author(s):  
Reza Dashtestani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learning Achievement ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
University Instructors

This study focused on the acceptance level of higher education stakeholders of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) of online courses in Iran and pre-service teachers’ learning achievement in online courses. Three cohorts of participants who were teaching or learning in online courses included pre-service teachers of TEFL (n=104), TEFL university instructors (n=23), and heads of TEFL departments (n=10). A questionnaire was designed. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to detect differences among the perspectives of the participants. Semi-structured interviews were also utilized. Results indicated that there were significant differences among the perspectives of the three groups of participants about online courses. The pre-service teachers appeared to be relatively positive about online learning, while the university instructors and heads of departments showed a lower level of satisfaction. The participants pointed out several challenges, including the lack of rigor of online courses, the incredibility of the certificates, the lack of technological infrastructures, technical problems, the impractical content of the lessons, the lack of human interaction, the low competence levels of online learning students, and employers’ lack of interest in employing graduates of online courses. The participants also mentioned that pedagogical and technological training was required for both university instructors and pre-service teachers of TEFL. The comparison of pre-service teachers’ mid-term and final scores in the online courses showed a significant difference and improvement of students’ learning achievement in online courses with medium to large effect sizes. In the interviews, the participants also confirmed that online courses could improve student learning.

scholarly journals Expanding Learning Presence to Account for the Direction of Regulative Intent: Self-, Co- and Shared Regulation in Online Learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Hayes ◽  
Sedef Uzuner-Smith ◽  
Peter Shea
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Learning Presence

As the pivotal role of self-regulation has been widely accepted in online learning literature, much interest is focused on identifying pedagogical strategies to help foster regulatory behaviors in online learners. The authors of this article argue that the learning presence (LP) construct, a recently proposed addition to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework of online learning, needs to be included in these conversations. To this end, they re-articulate and clarify the underlying structure of LP by drawing on the theoretical models of self-regulation, co-regulation, and socially shared regulation. They further present examples to illustrate how LP can manifest itself in learners’ discourse in the online learning environment. Finally, they conclude by outlining strategies online instructors can use to help learners execute regulatory behaviors and thus demonstrate LP in online courses.

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