Students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning: Their relation to learning achievements and course satisfaction
Introduction
Over the past few years, digital media have enriched the teaching and learning experiences and have become commonplace with university students and lecturers (Engelbrecht, 2005, Liaw et al., 2007). Joint endeavors have been made in the last 10 years by universities in Austria to introduce e-learning, i.e., the application of digital media for teaching and learning. With financial support by the government, universities have been encouraged to develop e-learning strategies. These initiatives resulted in a variety of best-practice examples for e-learning and course development (Pflichter, 2006). The advancement of e-learning at universities is also influenced by the development of technical support, e.g., by the widespread introduction of learning management systems (such as Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, etc.) (Alexander and Golja, 2007, Coates et al., 2005). In a survey carried out in 2006, more than 3000 students from various Austrian universities were asked how often they use learning management systems in their courses. In the social and business sciences, 60% of students reported using such systems ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’. In other subjects, at least 30–40% of students reported using such systems ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’ (Unger & Wroblewski, 2006).
Even though the application of e-learning at universities has increased rapidly, little is known about students’ expectations and experiences. Until recently, research focused on students’ experiences with specific aspects of e-learning courses, e.g., the interaction with an instructor, learning with a specific learning management system, or certain characteristics of a course (Alexander and Golja, 2007, Coates et al., 2005, Engelbrecht, 2005).
The aim of our research was to obtain a general view of students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning. By means of regression analyses, we investigated those expectations and experiences contributing to perceived learning achievements and course satisfaction. Our objective was not to examine specific courses or best-practice examples but to survey a large sample of students in order to obtain a broad picture of e-learning as it is offered in Austrian universities.
Section snippets
Theoretical background
When designing an e-learning course, instructors are faced with many considerations and decisions that consequently affect how students experience instruction, construct and process knowledge. These decisions related to the didactic design of a course may refer to one of five fields of instruction (Brophy, 1999, Ehlers, 2004):
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Course design, learning material, and electronic course environment: Brophy (1999) assumes that the structure and coherence of the curriculum and the learning material are
A study on students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning
Our study investigated how students’ expectations of e-learning courses, i.e., important and desirable characteristics of a course, and their experiences in an e-learning course relate to learning achievements and course satisfaction.
Discussion
The results of the research contribute to an understanding of which characteristics of an e-learning course and learning behaviors are important for learning achievements and satisfaction. They can be seen as a description of students’ experiences and offer recommendations of how to design e-learning courses under the general conditions at universities (e.g., the availability of only specific learning management systems, the necessity to offer courses to a large number of participants, etc.).
Conclusion
In our study, two aspects contribute strongly to learning achievements and course satisfaction: students’ achievement goals and the instructor. Students who considered gains in competencies as especially important, experienced higher achievements. Furthermore, the results of our study emphasize the instructor’s expertise and role as a counselor and facilitator in learning. The instructor does not become less important in e-learning. On the contrary, students experience the instructor’s support
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