I am still in the process of arranging my interviews, but have the surveys completed and have been analyzing the data in preparation for the interviews. The surveys were sent and returned via email. The first part of the survey covers basic personal information, the second and third sections ask the participants to rate the their comfort, proficiency, and perceived usefulness in regard to computers and technology in general as well as the learning platforms for ASU online courses, including the AET Zone, AsULearn, discussion boards, Wikis, and class blogs. The final set of questions calls for 2-3 sentence answers about a the participants' experience with online courses.
The first sections of the survey have taught me a short lesson in preconceptions. From personal experience and my perceived opinions of others' ideas, I had thought tha, given that none of the participants fell into a digital generation, that computer proficiency and comfort levels might fall into the "moderate" and perhaps even "low" ranges. However, the vast majority of the students indicated high comfort levels and high levels of proficiency with all technologies, with many students updating their own computers and performing above-basic troubleshooting. Almost all replies indicated that the participants turned to computers and the internet first for informational needs, including questions, socialization, and household management.
Of the 5 learning platforms, the AET Zone ranked first in usefulness and ease of use and, while tools such as blogs and wikis ranked high in ease of use, most did not find them particularly useful.
Participants also indicated that they felt the online classes (meetings in glass classroom and online assignments) tended to be harder than face-to-face meetings and classwork, echoing the articles from my lit review that indicated students rarely felt that internet courses were the 'easy way out.' Technological issues, such as faulty equipment, problems loading software and plug-ins, and poor connections all negatively affected the effectiveness of online meetings, and the nature of the online meeting rooms, according to the participants, often caused confusion with too many people tryiong to speak or catch the professor's attention.
The convenience of online meetings was not as large a factor as I had predicted, and students appreciated the lack of drive time but disliked the early meeting time and idea that the online meetings took away from free time.-John Harrington
Comments (5)
John- I think your findings will be interesting. Even though the participants are not from the digital generation, maybe they have been exposed to this digitalness through grad school. They might have answered just the opposite if you had asked some students just starting the program.
Posted by Jill Mann | March 21, 2009 12:33 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 00:33
John,
I think your research project on virtual education. I agree that online courses tend to be more difficult than face to face meetings. I thought it was interesting that so many people for comfortable using the AET zone because there are so many different ages that are in graduate school. It is very exciting that we are all becoming tech savy. Good luck with the rest of your project!
Posted by Elizabeth McMullan | March 21, 2009 9:52 AM
Posted on March 21, 2009 09:52
John,
I think it's interesting to see the preconceptions we bring to things and how the action research methodology can work to correct them. I would have had the same assumptions as you regarding the students' computer proficiency, and was surprised to see your findings. It's funny, though, that even though they (and most of us) are so reliant on computers, there are still aspects of online learning that are difficult/inconvenient. I look forward to seeing your finished project!
Posted by Tara Smith | March 22, 2009 8:49 PM
Posted on March 22, 2009 20:49
When I got the email looking for participants for your project I knew this was one project I was going to keep my eye on. That first day of classes where we were introduced to the Zone had me freaking out! I had never seen virtual reality before that day, had heard of it, never seen it. Yet I feel like I picked up on it fairly quickly. That's the catch: we may not be digital natives but we are up on technology because we watched it evolve. I think that is why your results surprised you. I am not surprised at your findings, not at all. If I had participated in your survey, my answers would probably have been the same as the majority.
Posted by Sherry Fender | March 22, 2009 9:34 PM
Posted on March 22, 2009 21:34
Fascinating! I'm following your study in earnest in hopes that I can improve this online research course. The survey has given you an overall picture so now I hope your interviews will give you more details about the "why."
Posted by Alecia Jackson | March 24, 2009 9:28 PM
Posted on March 24, 2009 21:28