Surveying instructor and learner attitudes toward e-learning

The trend of using e-learning as a learning and/or teaching tool is now rapidly expanding into education. Although e-learning environments are popular, there is minimal research on instructors’ and learners’ attitudes toward these kinds of learning environments. The purpose of this study is to explore instructors’ and learners’ attitudes toward e-learning usage. Accordingly, 30 instructors and 168 college students are asked to answer two different questionnaires for investigating their perceptions. After statistical analysis, the results demonstrate that instructors have very positive perceptions toward using e-learning as a teaching assisted tool. Furthermore, behavioral intention to use e-learning is influenced by perceived usefulness and self-efficacy. Regarding to learners’ attitudes, self-paced, teacher-led, and multimedia instruction are major factors to affect learners’ attitudes toward e-learning as an effective learning tool. Based on the findings, this research proposes guidelines for developing e-learning environments.     

Motivation to seek help and help efficiency in students who failed in an initial task

In the present study, we investigated whether help-seeking behaviors differ in their respective links to motivational variables such as achievement goals, help-seeking perceptions and self-efficacy. Eighty-two students who had failed to solve an initial word-processing task were invited – but not forced – to choose help before engaging in a comprehension task. While 19 of them did not seek help of any kind, 63 students opted for help. Taken together, our results suggest that i) those who refused to seek help did not differ from those who agreed to seek help on either motivational variables (except for self-efficacy), but ii) those who succeed on the comprehension task after using help were those who showed higher self-efficacy. The implications of these results for future research on the help-seeking process in interactive learning environments are discussed.     

How does Internet information seeking help academic performance? – The moderating and mediating roles of academic self-efficacy

Although researchers tend to agree that Internet is a good source for learning and research, little empirical data has substantiated this claim by specifically linking time and effort spent on the Internet for school related information seeking to academic performances. This research investigates the relationship between vocational high school students’ information seeking activities on the Internet, academic self-efficacy, and academic performance. We propose that academic self-efficacy both mediates and moderates the relationship between Internet information seeking and academic performance. Using survey data from 295 vocational high school students in Taiwan, we found that the positive effect of Internet information seeking to students’ academic performance is mediated through academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy, at the same time, moderates the relationship between Internet information seeking to academic performance such that students’ with low academic self-efficacy benefit more from Internet information seeking in regard to their academic performance. We discussed the implications of our findings and provided future directions for research.     

Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a multidimensional instrument for college students’ readiness for online learning. Through a confirmatory factor analysis, the Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) was validated in five dimensions: self-directed learning, motivation for learning, computer/Internet self-efficacy, learner control, and online communication self-efficacy. Research data gathered from 1051 college students in five online courses in Taiwan revealed that students’ levels of readiness were high in computer/Internet self-efficacy, motivation for learning, and online communication self-efficacy and were low in learner control and self-directed learning. This study found that gender made no statistical differences in the five OLRS dimensions, but that higher grade (junior and senior) students exhibited significantly greater readiness in the dimensions of self-directed learning, online communication self-efficacy, motivation for learning, and learner control than did lower grade (freshman and sophomore) students.     

Face-to-face,blended, flipped,or online learning environment? Impact on learning performance and student cognitions

This study compares four learning environments: face-to-face learning (F2F), fully e-learning (EL), blended learning (BL), and flipped classroom (FC) with respect to students' learning performance. Moreover, this present research studies changes in perceived flexibility, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy beliefs of students, and the interaction effects in these student variables on learning performance. Two learning environment design elements: (1) lectures (2) group discussions building on guiding questions, were manipulated to create the four learning environments. Third-year undergraduate students (n = 106), enrolled in the “Animal and Human Physiology” course at CanTho University (Vietnam), were randomly assigned to one of the four learning environments. The results suggest a significant positive differential effect on learning performance when studying in a FC and BL setting. No significant interaction effects could be observed regarding changes in perceived flexibility, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. However, significant differences between learning conditions were observed in perceived flexibility. Analysis of focus group data corroborate the finding that students experience more flexibility in time and place when studying in FC, BL and EL environments. In addition, students in a FC environment reflect significantly larger positive changes in their self-efficacy. But, the qualitative data show how positive perceptions about flexibility, motivation and self-efficacy are often cancelled out by negative perceptions.     

Using instructor-led Facebook groups to enhance students’ perceptions of course content

Research on the impact of instructor-guided Facebook usage in college classrooms shows that the technology can increase students’ cognitive and affective learning, yet the role of social media in the classroom remains contentious. Analysis of open- and closed-ended survey data from 87 students enrolled in university courses from 15 institutions showed that students participating in a class Facebook group reported more interest in and perceived more value in course content, felt closer to the course and perceived their instructors as more involved. Effects on perceived closeness to course instructors and classmates were negligible, and effects on instructor immediacy or credibility were not found.     

The impact of computer self-efficacy,situational interest and academic self-concept in virtual communities of inquiry during the distance learning procedures through Second Life

The current study investigates a case where the online learning procedure in three-dimensional (3D) technologically-advanced environments of the Web 2.0 is growing at an exponential rate. In this occasion it is highly imperative need to understand students’ interactions in this innovative mode of e-Education that requires from educators and scholars not only analysis conceptually, but also an empirically-driven optimization. The community of inquiry (CoI) model (or framework) consists to be as one of the most prominent multi-dimensional constructs that it is widely used to represent several distinct dimensions of social presence, teaching presence and cognitive presence, as a unique and fundamental theoretical concept to measure students’ interactions in contemporary electronic environments. Although, the effectiveness of these multi-dimensional constructs creates a dilemma to researchers who want the breadth and comprehensiveness of this model for the precision and clarity of users’ (instructors and students) dimensions with other motivational and learning variables. To address this dilemma, the current empirical study presents statistical analyses from the “trinity” constructs of the CoI model by utilizing correlation and hierarchical regression analyses with two fundamental motivational (computer self-efficacy and situational interest) and another one learning (academic self-concept) variables. This study goes one step further and introduces the conspicuously indisputable intervention of a virtual (V)CoI and its utilization in multi-user virtual worlds, like Second Life (SL). The study findings of one hundred thirty-five (135) participants who enrolled in several online sessions unveiled that the situational interest was the only significant predictor of social presence. The computer self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of the CoI model, while on the other hand academic self-concept was a significant predictor in a revamped attempt to validate the strong relationship among constructs within it. According to the aforementioned reasons, it can be surmised that the successful combination of the VCoI in Second Life, surpassing irrefutable and inherent shortcomings to a future-driven sustainable use and growth.     

Online and hybrid university-level courses with the utilization of Second Life: Investigating the factors that predict student choice in Second Life supported online and hybrid university-level courses

The radical restructure of hybrid and online learning course delivery methods at university-level held in Second Life has been widely and positively acknowledged from a large academic literature body. However, it is still absent the clarification of students’ socio-cognitive factors that predict their choice to attend at least in one of these course delivery methods. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relation between several personal factors and students’ choice to participate in these contemporary methods. A targeted sample of 325 voluntary students (170 who participated in hybrid sessions and 155 who participated in online sessions) completed a survey to assess socio-cognitive factors (self-efficacy, metacognitive self-regulation and task value), achievement-related emotions (pride, anger, relief and shame) in academic settings (before and after finishing various learning activities) and satisfaction levels of each method with also final grades from their examination processes to be included. Logistic regression confirmed higher levels of students’ self-efficacy and satisfaction in learning outcomes for those who took part in (fully) online rather than those who enrolled in hybrid courses. The study results revealed that students would prefer to take further courses in the online course delivery method. Conclusive remarks may provide meaningful information to the educational community in order to understand better how the socio-cognitive constructs of motivation are related to the students’ participation in future-driven educational activities held in Second Life by using the online or hybrid course delivery methods.     

CMS-based simulations in the writing classroom: Evoking genre through game play

The incarnation of many Internet-based courses is informed by traditional notions of classroom instruction in which course/content management systems (CMSs) like WebCT™ and Blackboard™ are used to reproduce actions undertaken in brick-and-mortar classrooms. In this article, I argue that the way in which the CMS is configured and deployed can provide students with the sense that they are immersed in a social activity other than taking a college course. Elaborating on a simulation-building methodology developed by Clark Aldrich, I show how we have created a CMS that helps communication instructors evoke and immerse students in discourse-demanding situations. This sense of immersion is especially important for communication-intensive courses in which students seek to practice disciplinary and workplace genres whose social motive may not be readily reproducible within the confines of the (computer) classroom.     

Computer use and the gender gap: The issue of access, use, motivation, and performance

Since the beginning of computerization, it has been of interest whether there are differential effects on computer behavior, in particular in terms of computer access, computer use, and motivational variables, such as computer self-efficacy. The current research addresses the questions if the gender-related differences in this respect persist to the present day and if there is also a difference in actual performance characteristics. A sample of 48 university students (23 male) was administered a technology self-efficacy questionnaire, a survey on computer access, recorded a user diary, and turned in a computer task. Results show that the gender gap is closing as far as computer access and self-efficacy are concerned. Also, female and male students report comparable amounts of computer usage for their studies. User behavior appears to be gender-specific as males spend more time at the computer for personal purposes. There is also some evidence that male students outperform female students at a computer task (remastering of Power-Point slides). Conclusions for creating computer-based learning environments are discussed.     

Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label “learning presence” moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included.     

Influence of polling technologies on student engagement: An analysis of student motivation,academic performance,and brainwave data

This study compared clicker technology against mobile polling and the Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) strategy to investigate how these methods may differently affect students' anxiety, self-efficacy, engagement, academic performance, and attention and relaxation as indicated by brainwave activity. The study utilized a quasi-experimental research design. To assess the differences between the effects of clickers and mobile polling, the study collected data from two courses at a large research university in Taiwan in which 69 students used either clickers or mobile polling. The results showed that mobile polling along with the JiTT strategy and in-class polls reduce graduate students' anxiety, improve student outcomes in an environment comprising both graduate and undergraduate students, and increase students' attention during polling. However, brainwave data revealed that during the polling activities, students' attention in the clicker and mobile polling groups respectively increased and decreased. Students nowadays do not find smartphones a novelty; however, incorporating them into class is still a potentially effective way to increase student attention and provide a direct way for instructors to observe the learning effects of lectures and improve their teaching approach on that basis.     

Students’ perceptions of collaboration, self-regulated learning, and information seeking in the context of Internet-based learning and traditional learning

This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of three aspects of learning - collaboration, self-regulated learning (SRL), and information seeking (IS) in both Internet-based and traditional face-to-face learning contexts. A multi-dimensional questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived capability, experience, and interest. The analyses explore (1) potential differences of students’ perceptions between Internet-based and face-to-face learning environments and (2) potential differences in the three aspects in relation to learners’ attributes and the use of the Internet and enrollment in online courses. This study surveyed students in a higher education institute who had had experiences with Internet-based and face-to-face learning. The results showed that students perceived higher levels of collaboration (capability only), SRL (capability and experience) and IS (capability, interest, and experience) in Internet-based learning than in traditional learning environments. In terms of students’ education level, graduate students perceived higher levels of capabilities and interests in some of the aspects, than undergraduate students. In addition, for Internet-based learning, significant differences in collaboration and SRL were found derived from time spent on the Internet related to learning; and students’ perceptions of collaboration, SRL, and IS were all positively correlated to students’ online course-taking experience. Implications for online learning practices and instructor’s facilitation are discussed.     

How undergraduate students meet a new learning environment?

We evaluated if the theory of planned behavior explains students‘ activity in a web-based learning environment. Two of the considerations of the theory, attitude toward the behavior (behavioral beliefs and outcome evaluations) and perceived behavioral control (computer self-efficacy), were evaluated. The scope was also widened to students' approaches to learning and anxiety in computer using situations as well as their interpretations of the environment and the learning situation. Forty-two undergraduate medical and sociology students completed the questionnaire assessing attitudes, self-efficacy, anxiety and approaches to learning before and after the web-based courses. The attitude toward the behavior, efficacy beliefs, approaches to learning and anxiety in computer using situations did not predict the activity in the learning environment, but students interpreted the environment and the learning situation more negatively after the courses. Students' anxiety and approaches to learning also affect some of their expectations and experiences after the courses.     

Instructors' choices for a WWW-based course-support environment

In 1997 the Faulty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente made the decision to start using the Web for course support. This was the start of a faculty-wide implementation. In the first year we started working extensively with our instructors, particularly all of those responsible for the first-year courses. Twenty courses required for all students and several senior elective courses are now using their tailored-made Web-based course-support environments. In addition, during the 1998–99 academic year all of the second-year courses were adapted to be delivered with their new course-support environments. In this paper we describe how a broad range of instructors, not only those who volunteer or have an initial interest in using WWW-based course support, but also those who are required to do so as part of a faculty-wide change process work through a design process based on rapid prototyping to evolve tailor-made WWW-based course-support environments. What are the options instructors choose for these environments and how popular are various types of options (for example, shared workspaces, WWW boards for computer conferencing, etc.) for course-support environments? Trends and implications in the set of options chosen by instructors in our faculty are discussed.     

Learning variables,in-class laptop multitasking and academic performance: A path analysis

This study examines the relationships among learning variables, multitasking, and academic performance. Based on a survey with 176 college students, zero-order correlations were first tested between multitasking behaviors and grade. After identifying the relevant multitasking behavior (i.e., multitasking with laptops in lecture halls), the multitasking pattern was entered into a path analysis in order to understand its impact on grade, in comparison to learning variables. It is found that in-class laptop multitasking has a negative impact on grade, with an effect size similar to the impacts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, although in a reversed direction. Furthermore, the path analysis shows that self-regulation behaviors are negatively associated with in-class laptop multitasking, suggesting that we should look at in-class laptop multitasking as lack of self-regulation. Finally, the results indicate that self-efficacy and extrinsic motivation influence self-regulation behaviors, implying that educators and parents need to encourage students' self-regulation of laptop multitasking behaviors through building students' senses of self-efficacy and learning motivations (or employing strategies where laptops are used deliberately as part of class), instead of simply banning laptops in classrooms.     

A cloud-based learning environment for developing student reflection abilities

Students learn new knowledge effectively through relevant reflection. Reflection affects how students interact with learning materials. Studies have found that good reflection abilities allow students to attain better learning motivation, comprehension, and performance. Thus, it is important to help students develop and strengthen their reflection abilities as this can enable them to engage learning materials in a meaningful manner. Face-to-face dialectical conversations are often used by instructors to facilitate student reflection. However, such conventional reflection methods are usually only usable in classroom environments, and could not be adopted for distance learning or after class. Cloud computing could be used to solve this issue. Instructor guidance and prompting for initiating reflection could be seamlessly delivered to the students’ digital devices via cloud services. Thus, instructors would be able to facilitate student reflective activities even when outside the classroom. To achieve this objective, this study proposed a cloud-based reflective learning environment to assist instructors and students in developing and strengthening reflection ability during and after actual class sessions. An additional experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in an industrial course. Results show that the learning environment developed by this study is able to effectively facilitate student reflection abilities and enhance their learning motivation.     

So you are going to be an online writing instructor: issues in designing,developing, and delivering an online course

Online education is increasing exponentially in colleges and universities. In this article, writing instructors are introduced to theories of instructional design that form the foundation to support effective student learning. We present a series of guidelines, derived from these theories and our research and teaching, that writing instructors may use to design, develop and deliver their online courses. We present considerations for instructors such as the need for the course, an analysis of the learners, appropriateness of the course for online delivery, pedagogical concerns, and resources. We then discuss how best to support students in online environments. We conclude with suggestions for faculty support and training for online course delivery.     

The role of academic emotions in the relationship between perceived academic control and self-regulated learning in online learning

Self-regulated learning is recognized as a critical factor for successful online learning, and students' perceived academic control and academic emotions are important antecedents of self-regulated learning. Because emotions and cognition are interrelated, investigating the joint relationship between perceived academic control and academic emotions on self-regulated learning would be valuable to understanding the process of self-regulated learning. Therefore, this study examined the role of academic emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom) in the relationship between perceived academic control and self-regulated learning in online learning. The path model was proposed to test the mediating and moderating effects of academic emotions. Data were collected from 426 Korean college students registered in online courses, and a path analysis was conducted. The results demonstrated that enjoyment mediated the relationship between perceived academic control and self-regulated learning, but the moderating effect of enjoyment was not significant. Boredom and anxiety did not have significant mediating effects on self-regulated learning, whereas they showed significant moderating effects in the relationship between perceived academic control and self-regulated learning. The role of academic emotions in learning and their implications for facilitating students' self-regulated learning in online learning were discussed based on the findings.     

Perceived stress,sensation seeking,and college students’ abuse of the Internet

College students (n = 140) were examined to test whether sensation seeking and perceived stress would predict abuse of the Internet. Previous studies have found that disinhibition, boredom susceptibility, and total sensation seeking scores were related to Internet abuse ( 9 and 30). Because stress has been documented to have a negative effect on students ( Pierceall & Keim, 2007), and may be linked to Internet use ( Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001), it was tested as a possible predictor of Internet abuse. This study also analyzed abuse of the Internet for sexual purposes, because sexuality is prevalent online, and college students are in an age of sexual exploration. Results of stepwise regression analyses revealed that disinhibition and total perceived stress were predictive of Internet abuse for sexual purposes, and perceived hopelessness and boredom susceptibility were predictive of Internet abuse for non-sexual purposes. Implications for students and Internet abuse are discussed.