ENGAGING STUDENTS IN ON-LINE LEARNING: Does Gender Matter in Adoption of Learning Material Design?

Abstract

Education is reforming with the birth of internet. Learning is not solely based on classroom basis but also through on-line. The revolution of internet turn learning not solely based on face-to-face but also through virtual teaching. The expansion of teaching deliveries suggests that we need interactive mechanism to accommodate course material for on-line students. However, creating on-line material required the conception of online instructional design. A suitable online material design will permit learners to engage with learning activity. Learners will have opportunity to develop their own understanding. In addition, appropriate learning material will enhance learner’s knowledge construction from their short term memory to their long term memory. The purpose of this paper is to discover the learning material design approach based on gender. The aim of this research is to evaluate teacher’s adoption of online material design. The research used Keller’s ARCS model. The sample consists of 30 teachers from distance education learning. The findings of this study reveal that gender differed in their adoption of learning material design specifically on getting attention of the student. The result also shows that relevance and satisfaction also contribute to gender differences in learning material adoption. Limitations of the study and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

Keywords

• Online learning
• Distance learning
• online instructional design
• motivation to learn