The Barriers And Needs Of Online Learners
Abstract
This study investigated some specific barriers and needs that online students are facing when learning English through WebEx system. It compared students’ barriers and needs with their background including gender, computer ownership, and monthly allowance. It also investigated the relationship among computer aptitude, barriers and needs of online learners. The samples were 211 undergraduate students enrolled in Fundamental English course. The instrument in this study was a questionnaire. Results indicated that the levels of needs and barriers of online learners in general were moderate. There were no statistically significant differences at .05 level found in barriers and needs of online learners as classified by gender, computer ownership, and computer aptitude. As hypothesised, there was a negative relationship between computer aptitude and barriers of online learners at .01 level. Students with high computer aptitude had fewer barriers to learn online than those with low computer aptitude. In addition, there was a positive relationship between barriers and needs of online learners at .01 levels. Students with more barriers were found to have more needs to help them to learn online than those with few barriers. Teachers and institutions can take the results of this study into consideration when developing online courses.
Keywords
References
- Berge, Z. L. (1998). Barriers to online teaching in post-secondary institutions: Can policy changes fix it? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration 1(2), Summer (On- line). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/Berge12.html
- Clay, M. (1999). Faculty attitudes toward distance education at the State University of
- West Georgia. University of West Georgia Distance Learning Report, December (On-line). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/attitudes.html Dibiase, D. (2000). Is distance education a Faustian bargain? Journal of Geography in
- Higher Education, 24(1), 130-136. DistanceLearningPlan.com (2013). Benefits of Distance Learning Colleges. Retrieved from http://www.distancelearningplan.com/benefits-of-distance-learning.html
- Galusha, J. M. (2008). Barriers to Learning in Distance Education. Retrieved from http://www.infrastruction.com/barriers.htm
- Greenberg, G. (1998). Distance education technologies: Best practices for K12 settings.
- IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, (Winter), 36-40. Hopey, C. E., & Ginsburg, L. (1996) Distance learning and new technologies: You can't predict the future but you can plan for it. Adult Learning, 8(1), 212-223.
- Kilian, C. (1997). Why Teach Online. Educom Review, 32(4), 31-34.
- Kirby, E. (1999). Building interaction in online and distance education courses. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Annual 1999, 199-201.
- Omoregie, M. (1997). Distance learning: An effective educational delivery system.