Students Inclination Towards E-Learning: A Study

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1 Students Inclination Towards E-Learning: A Study 1 Sonal Chawla, 2 Anjali Jindia 1 DCSA, Panjab University Chandigarh 2 DCSA, Panjab University Chandigarh 1 sonal_chawla11@rediffmail.com 2 ambitious.7aug@gmail.com Abstract: E-learning is non linear i.e. learners determine how, what and when they access information. It is a dynamic process - transformed, personalized and customized on demand in response to learner and environmental variables. It is available on demand and just in time. The learner controls their own interaction with the content and presentation. The efficiency of starting a program based on e-tools is under the influence of factors such as: students attitudes, the utility they perceive in using these tools, the attitude towards adoption of technology and, the technological background they have. Though there are many advantages, but still students have different opinions and attitudes towards this modern process of learning. This study was designed to examine students attitudes towards e-learning and to enlighten the differences that appear due to socio-demographic profile and also due to the specialty they chose for their college studies. [1] The research paper explores students' attitudes towards adoption of E-learning paradigm by developing a questionnaire that attempts to make students answer the questions like: Online availability of classroom lectures will enhance their learning Their willingness to access the classroom lectures online also Whether they want their department to provide e- learning facilities. Finally the conclusions are drawn. Keywords: Blended learning, e-learning, learning evaluation, learning objects, traditional learning. I. INTRODUCTION Today, e-learning is a common delivery media for education and training within many organizations. Yet, while both the supply and demand for e-learning opportunities has risen in recent years, many professionals are beginning to question whether e-learners are prepared to be successful in an online learning environment. A learner s demonstrated success in a conventional education and training classroom may not be an adequate predictor of success in an e-learning classroom. Earlier modes of distance education (e.g., correspondence courses, radio based courses, video taped lectures) are being updated or replaced with Internet-based learning opportunities or other computer-based modes of delivery. The impact of e-learning development and its introduction as an educational system can be assessed in the light of students characteristics. The successful e-learner must have qualities such as self-motivation, patience, selfdiscipline, easiness in using software, good technical skills abilities regarding time management, communication, organizing. These factors have a direct impact on students attitude towards e-learning. Thus, the attitude can be positive, if the new form education fits the students needs and characteristics, or negative, if the student cannot adapt to the new system, because he does not have the set of characteristics required. Students attitude towards e- learning is influenced by its perceived advantages and disadvantages. E-learning is viewed as a tool for providing opportunities for marginalized and disadvantaged students or who are unable to attend classes due to physical, social and economic constraints. A wider range of students can be reached anytime and anywhere provided that the Internet connection is available, therefore increasing the number of school-age children who access to education system. The movement toward online learning (or e-learning ) has not been limited to institutions of higher education. Today, many private sector organizations use the Internet to deliver training (American Society for Training and Development, 2003; Stephenson, 2003). [2] Universities are making substantial investments in new technologies. Technology has the potential of providing improved presentation and interactivity. 65

2 But, the biggest technological opportunity lies in Internet which is gaining momentum with its proliferation and increase in ease of use. Internet provides unprecedented ways for education delivery. Online learning promises new ways for better resource utilization and provides desirable flexible methodologies to the advantage of the learner, the teacher and the institution. This study, thus, developed a questionnaire with an attempt to take answers from the students for questions related to their Internet usage and their readiness for e- learning. A. Aim of the study II. STUDY To study the student s view about educational effectiveness and usefulness of E-learning and to judge how much they are inclined towards accepting it in place of traditional learning. The main objective is to evaluate the inclination of student s towards E-learning and to see how they rate its benefits. An attempt has been made to make the students answer the questions which will help determining their receptivity for e-learning. The questionnaire consists of questions like: Do they think that class notes of any lectures are easily accessible, even if they miss any? Whether studying through online medium will help them retain more? Is physical presence of teacher extremely essential for learning the course? B. Methodology followed The data for this study was gathered using the 13 item questionnaire. The items were designed to seek responses to: Demographics (age, gender, academic background) Availability of internet Internet usage and purpose of accessing it Web sites they visit and their favorite search engine Whether they use internet for uploading/downloading course material For the last item, data was collected based on the 5-point Likert scale where (-2 = Strongly Disagree, -1 = Somewhat Disagree, 0 = neutral, 1 = Somewhat Agree, 2 = Strongly Agree). In all 215 students responded to the questionnaire and the following results were observed. The following table gives the frequencies (N) along with respective percentage to various items. S# Statement Description N (Yes) % S1 I have easy access to internet S2 I usually upload/download course material/presentations over the internet S3 I have watched an interactive video over the internet S4 I have tried pod-casting S5 I make use of unlimited resources in a proper way S6 I think that online availability of classroom lectures will enhance my learning S7 I would like to access classroom lectures online also S8 I think that my department should provide e-learning facilities When the results were compiled, it was observed that more than 90% students have an easy access to internet Table 1: Students Comments on E-learning. and they want e-learning to become a part of their daily routine. 66

3 No. of students Percentages International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering The questionnaire also included the students responses on weekly internet usage and the activities for which they used the internet. After analysis, it was seen that around 40% of the students were using internet for more than 14 hours per week and that too mostly for social networking. The collected data also showed that around 86% students are already involved in uploading and downloading of course material from internet and 75% students have watched an interactive educational video over the internet. It clearly implies that there has been widespread use of e-learning methodologies among the students. At last, they were made to rate various e-learning parameters on 5 point Likert scale so as to enable us decide what exactly students think about e-learning and whether it can replace the traditional classroom teaching method or is there a need of blending of both the approaches. But still there are students who think that traditional instructor driven teaching methodology is better as compared to e-learning and hence they are either neutral or disagree to these parameters. Below is the graphical representation of the data given in table 1. The results when viewed in a graph (with statements on X-axis and percentages along Y-axis) clearly depict that the.students access the internet for getting online material and they have a positive attitude towards adopting e-learning as they agree with the benefits which e-learning is providing % Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Rating Strongly Disagree Figure 1. E-learning ratings on Likert Scale E-learning is a suitable alternative to the pen/paper based system. Class notes of any lecture are easily accessible, even if I miss one. Studying through online medium w ill help me retain more More topics can be covered in less time by the use of e- learning as compared to conventional medium Physical presence of teacher is extremely essential for learning the course The above graph clearly depicts that around 70% students think that e-learning is better as compared to traditional learning since they have shown positive response towards the above mentioned parameters S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 Statements about internet usage and e- learning Figure 2. Graphical representation of Table 1 C. Discussion and Analysis Out of 97% of the students accessing Internet, 86% are uploading and downloading the study material from the websites and nearly 90% agree to the facts that online study enhances their learning and that their department must provide e-learning facilities. Pearson s chi square test was performed on the collected data by calculating a SCORE_CODE (collective result of the rating as given by the students against the benefits of e- learning i.e. whether they agree or disagree or are neutral) and the following conclusions were drawn. Pearson Chi-Square (a) Weekly Internet Usage 67

4 The test result (p>.05) clearly indicates that there is no relation/association between the internet usage and the adaptability of e-learning. Though it appears that as more and more students use internet in their day to day routine, they will be develop interest for online learning. But since p value shows disassociation, it means they are not using internet for studies but for some other purposes. (E.g. Social networking) but since e-learning is a decentralized way of learning, we can conclude that they may be sharing their knowledge via this medium. (2- sided) Pearson Chi- Square (a) Online availability of class room lectures and e- learning Out of 214 students, almost 50% agree that online availability of class room lectures will enhance their learning. And other 45% are neutral since they have got no exposure to e-learning. So, they are unable to comment on this statement. But here, (p<.05) indicates that there is an association between the students responses and their thinking about e-learning that it will enhance their learning, they would like to access lectures online and their expectation from their department that it must provide e- learning facilities. Students also expect their department to provide e- learning because it will help them to access the notes of any lecture, that they missed, which in turn will enhance their learning and they will be able to retain more. This can easily be concluded from the following Pearson s chi square test: Pearson Chi-Square (a) Accessing notes of lectures (missed by students) online Since majority of the students have shown their interest in having an access to class room lectures through internet also, it indicates that they are slowly trying to take e- learning at par with traditional class room learning. A p value of clearly shows this. Pearson Chi-Square (a) Students views about e-learning with regard to traditional classroom learning III. CONCLUSIONS The main purpose of this research was to analyze students attitude towards e-learning and to determine some factors that have an influence on it. We include in our analysis two aspects: pc experience and attitude towards e-learning. Results revealed that there is a connection between technical abilities and students attitude towards e- learning. Attitude is also influenced by time dedicated to computer use, indicator of pc experience. IV. FUTURE RESEARCH The current research did not actually use an e-learning system. Attitude measurement was obtained only through students knowledge about e-learning coming from different information sources such as media, older colleagues. But still it can be of importance to educational institutions which are planning to include in their teaching programs the e-learning system. Measuring students attitude is the first step to take before starting such a project. Future research will use qualitative techniques applied on small sample of students using or having used an e- learning system. The aim will be to identify problems which appear in the use of IT&C for e-learning. References [1] Bertea, Patricia, Measuring Students Attitude Towards E-learning. A Case Study, [2] Watkins, Ryan, Leigh, Doug, Triner, Don, Assessing Readiness for E-learning, Performance Improvement Quarterly, 17(4) pp [3] Department of Instructional Technology, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, E-learning concepts and techniques, 2006, [4] Dutton, William, Loader, Brian, Digital ACADEME The new Media and Institutions of Higher Education and Learning, Routledge, 2002, London 68

5 [5] Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I., Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behaviour: An Introduction to Theory and Research, 1975 [6] [7] Gad Abdel-Wahab, Ahmed, Modelling students intention to adopt [8] e-learning: a case from Egypt, [9] Garrison, D.R., Anderson, Terry, E-Learning in the 21st century- a framework for research and practice, Routledge Falmer, London,2003 [10] [11] Jung, Marie Louise, Loria, Karla, Mostaghel, Rana,Saha, Parmita, E-Learning: Investigating University Student's Acceptance of Technology el_saha.htm [12] Kling, Rob, Hara, Noriko, Students difficulties in a web based distance education course, an etnographic study [13] [14] Mingasson, Michel, Le guide du e-learning l organisation apprenante, Editions d organisation, 2002, Paris [15] Mishra, Sanjaya, Panda, Santosh, Development and Factor Analysis of an Instrument to measure Faculty Attitude towards e-learning 2007, [16] Nichols, Mark, A theory for e-learning, 2003, [17] Partridge, Helen, Edwards, Sylvia, Establishing the IT Student s Perspective to e-learning Preliminary Findings from a Queensland. 69