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Lifestyle and Studying Habits of Students at

Purely Online Universities and Institutes

Jaber Hassan, Abdulaziz Al-Azmi

Abstract:

This paper will describe the lifestyle and the studying behavior of a special kind of

studentsthose enrolled at purely online universities and institutes. These students

have never met their teachers, and they study their courses purely online on their own.

They choose the time and the place to study and take their next lesson. We assumed

that this kind of new experience would result in a new lifestyle and habits for the

learner. We found that the differences are primarily related to the social aspect of the

student's life and studying times. Other differences include the eating and sleeping

times for some of the students.

Keywords: e-learning, lifestyle, habits, social, student

Introduction:

The Internet has become an integral part in our lives [2], and since learning is one of

the most important aspects in an individual's life [1], the emergence of e-learning was

inevitable.

As the time went and the technology has become outstanding every aspect of a personlife has changed that included the process of learning. Over the years the people

responsible for education have tried their best to make the learning as best as they can

use modern technologies. This made the first brick for the wall of e-learning. Now,

the technology has made it possible to make the learning purely online.

Purely online teaching in our context means that students take their instruction from

the instructor remotely via the Web or other electronic methods without having face-

to-face contact. This technology-enabled delivery of educational content contrasts

with traditional pedagogical methods in educational institutions whereby students are

obligated to take their instruction in face-to-face contact with the instructor [3[.

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Given that this new educational environment has created a new type of student, we

sought to describe the difference between the lifestyle of traditional, classroom-based

students and the lifestyle of purely online learners based on several attributes.

Literature Review

We started our project by searching the Web for studies that discussed online and

face-to-face teaching and the difference between them.

"Social and Technical Interaction Improvement in Creating Online E-learning

Community" [5] by Xin Su and Ye Chen described how the advances in e-technology

have not only enabled universities to provide educational services to world-wide

learners, but also have broken the spatial and temporal barriers for learners to achieve

their educational dreams. Comparing to the traditional face-to-face learningenvironment, some features of e-learning, including social isolation and limited

dialogue, haves been widely criticized by early E-education practitioners and

researchers. In this article, the importance of creating learning communities in an e-

learning environment is discussed. Some basic approaches at both the technical and

social level are proposed to assist online instructors to design more appropriate online

courses to improve e-learning effectiveness.

"Social Aspects of E-learning and Blending Learning Methods" [6] by Ileana

Hamburg, Christiane Lindecke, and Herbert Ten discussed how e-learning

approaches, particularly collaborative ones, have many advantages, but their use also

raises questions about the social ramifications of e-learning. The IAT carried out

some research in this context on collaborative learning and blending methods and on

the effects of e-learning on the roles and relationships of the learners and trainers

within German and European projects.

"Combined Effect of Instructional and Learner Variables on Course Outcomes within

an Online Learning Environment" [7] by Doo Hun Lim and Michael Lane Morris from

the University of Tennessee and Seung-Won Yoon from Western Illinois University

pointed out that although there are many studies focusing on the effect of learner and

instructional variables on course outcomes, few studies have investigated the learners

study habits and the mediating mechanisms among the learner and instruction

variables in their influence on course outcomes. This study examined differences in

learner satisfaction and learning outcomes based on learner characteristics and study

habits and the effects of instructional and learner variables on the course outcomes for

an online course. Data analyses revealed the quality of online instructor, learning

motivation, and learning involvement as significant variables influencing the course

outcomes of the online learning program.

As a result of our review of the literature By going through these papers, we realized

the scope of our project and understood its aspects. We realized that a pure e-learning

experience is very different from the traditional ways of teaching and hypothesized

that this difference would be reflected in the student lifestyle. Lifestyle can bepartially defined by the students sleeping, eating, studying, and socializing behaviors.

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Methods

To test our hypothesis, we distributed surveys to a random sample of online students

from several purely online universities and institutes. The sample was comprised of

676 online students of both genders and ranging in age from 18 to ##. Most of oursampled students were from Arabic or Muslim countries. The students of the sample

came from different countries and different cultures but they had a unified learning

type.

by sending them survey regarding our research

The survey was designed to gather data about the to know the difference between

face-to-face and online student lifestyles and how students perceive the changes in

their lives as related to has changed based on their educational personal experiences.

The questions were varied between multiple choice questions to know the sex, age,

and nationality of the students. Then we had then we had some multiple choice

general questions like the name of the university and the hours dedicated for studying

etc. finally we had the basic questions of the survey in the shape of a scaling wherethe scaling varies between totally agrees and totally disagrees.

Survey items covered the following topics:

After collecting the surveys, the resulted statistics will determine which method is

better than the other in some aspects. They are represented in: the social life of the

student, the studying habits of the student, the changes in eating and sleeping habits of

the student, and the effect of the new studying lifestyle on acquiring important tasks.

We will discuss all of these categories based on the surveys statistics [4[.

A pure e-learning experience is special thing that is very much different from the

traditional ways of teaching so we assumed that this much difference has to have

some kind of effect on the student lifestyle. This is what we will focus on with this

paper.

Lifestyle can be related to the sleeping, eating, and the time spent with the family and

friends and many other aspects.

Studying habits will be affected as well since the presentation of the material and the

way it's taught is completely different between e-learning and traditional learning.

Results

After collecting the surveys, we compiled the data as shown below in Tables 110 and

created Figures 110 to visually compare the datasets. These statistics will help us

determine the effects of learning environment on student lifestyle. the data we needed

for this study was not an easy thing to find since there are not that much students who

use this kind of learning but our doctor managed to find us a group of purely online

universities and institutes then he told us to do our questions for the survey so we can

send them to the students and wait for the results.

So that what we did and after the results came we decided to start working on themand take the good of them and work from there.

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The data we collected were based on the opinion of a random group of pure online

students by asking them specific questions in survey format.

The sample we decided to make the study on them was 676 pure online students from

both sexes and the age range was 18 and older.

The students of the sample come from different countries and different cultures but

they have a unified learning type.

Maybe it's worth mentioning that most of our sampled students are from Arabic or

Muslim countries.

Table 1: Time Dedicated to Studying

What is the time you dedicate for studying usually?Noon 12 4 pm 51

Afternoon 4 6 pm 63

Night 6 12 am 268

After midnight & morning 12 am 12

pm

102

Figure 1: Time Dedicated to Studying

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Table 2: Typical Study Location

Where do you usually study?

Home 462

Caf 5

Office 39Friend's house 5

Internet caf 38

Other 14

Figure 2: Typical Study Location

Table 3: Use of Online Learning to Avoid Restrictions

The reason I use online learning is because I don't like to be restricted by a specific

time or place to study

Totally Agrees 239

Agrees 256

Don't Know 25

Disagrees 92

Totally Disagrees 47

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Figure 3: Use of Online Learning to Avoid Restrictions

Table 4: Effect of Online Learning on Social Life

Online learning affects the social life of the student

Totally Agrees 237

Agrees 308

Don't Know 67

Disagrees 45Totally Disagrees 6

Figure 4: Effect of Online Learning on Social Life

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Table 5: Average Time Spent on Computer

The average time I spend on the computer per day

Less than 1 hour 27

1 2 hours 1702 4 hours 257

4 6 hours 118

More than 6 hours 86

Figure 5: Average Time Spent on Computer

Table 6: Average Time Spent with Family

The average time I spend with my family during the day

Less than 1 hour 34

1 2 hours 97

2 4 hours 180

4 6 hours 142


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Figure 6: Average Time Spent with Family

Table 7: Average Time Spent on Homework

The average time I spend on homework during day

Less than 1 hour 68

1 2 hours 33

2 4 hours 166

4 6 hours 55


Figure 7: Average Time Spent on Homework

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Table 8: Effect of Online Learning on Eating Habits

Online learning affected my eating habitsTotally Agrees 40

Agrees 141

Don't Know 74

Disagrees 312


Figure 8: Effect of Online Learning on Eating Habits

Table 9: Effect of Online Learning on Sleeping Habits

Online learning affected my sleeping time

Totally Agrees 65

Agrees 241

Don't Know 32

Disagrees 249


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Figure 9: Effect of Online Learning on Sleeping Habits

Table 10: Effect of Online Learning on Traffic Jams

Online learning will help reduce the morning traffic jams

Totally Agrees 233

Agrees 313

Don't Know 89

Disagrees 17Totally Disagrees 5

Figure 10: Effect of Online Learning on Traffic

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Discussion

We analyzed the results to determine which answer to each question was most

approved by our sample.

In Figure 1, it is interesting to note that there are a significant number of students who

use their morning to study since they do not have to be in a classroom at a learning

institution. From Figure 2, we can see that most of the students take their lessons and

study at home, which means that most of them do not leave their homes in the

morning. This will cause a change in their lifestyle as they can sleep more in the

morning, and hence they stay up late.

From Figure 3, we can notice that more than two thirds of the sample agreed that the

reason they chose online learning is that it provides flexibility in the time and place of

learning and studying. However, most of the sample said that even though they arefree to choose their time and space of studying, they still have problems in socializing

with others outside the Internet. This can be derived from Figure 4.

Even though the learning of this sample is entirely computer-based, they do not spend

an inordinate amount of time on the computer. As we can see from Figure 5, the time

these students spend on the computer is very normal.

From Figure 6, we can see that while the students said that online learning affects

their social life, most of the sample can find time to be with their families since 95%

of the sample spend more than 1 hour during the day with their families.

Figure 7 shows that the time spent on homework does not differ noticeably between

these students and their counterparts from the traditional branch of learning.

From Figures 8 and 9, we can see that a small group of students noticed some changes

in their eating habits, but 47% noticed a change in their sleeping habits.

Figure 10 tells us that most of the students agree that online learning is a solution to

the problem of traffic jams. This will come as a result of their lifestyle since most of

the students in this sample prefer not to leave their houses in the morning.

Conclusion:

After analyzing the data, we tried to discern a pattern that could help us develop a

picture of the lifestyle and habits of these students.

Based on our sample, we noticed that the lifestyle of the traditional students and that

of the online students did not vary as much as we thought it would. However, some

students experienced more dramatic changes like dedicating the time to study, which

can be a hard job for the students. Another aspect that suffers in the life of an online

student is his or her social life. Students who are exclusively online learners do not

have the social skills that grant them the strength to face the world outside the little

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screen. Regarding the students eating and sleeping habits, there are only minor

changes.

The results we got are based only on the data extracted from the survey, so the

accuracy of our findings is limited by the survey design.

Acknowledgements

We first need to thank Doctor Abdullah, who guided us through the research process.

We also thank all the students who gave us some of their precious time to fill out the

survey. Special thanks go to the students of Al-Madinah International University.

Finally we would like to thank everyone whom helped us in the process of making

this study sometimes without even knowing they did.

References

[1] Archna. (2005). "The Importance of Learning." Available at

http://www.citehr.com/18695-importance-learning-must-read.html

[2] Tao, A. (2005). "The Role of Internet in Our Lives Today."ArticlesBase SC

#239996. Available at http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/the-role-of-

internet-in-our-lives-today-239996.html

[3] McConnell, D. (2000) Implementing Computer-supported Cooperative Learning.

London: Kogan Page Limited. Cited onhttp://jabba.edb.utexas.edu/it/fc_resta_courses_files/itpm/m0_7.html

[4] Lifestyle. (n.d.). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_(sociology)

[5] Su, X., & Chen, Y. (year). Social and Technical Interaction Improvement in

Creating Online E-learning Community." [actual journal publication info goes here].

[6] Hamburg, I., Lindecke, C., & Ten, H. (year). "Social Aspects of E-learning and

Blending Learning Methods. [actual journal publication info goes here].

[7] Lim, D. H., Morris, M. L., & Yoon, S.-W. (year). "Combined Effect ofInstructional and Learner Variables on Course Outcomes within an Online Learning

Environment." [Actual journal publication info goes here].

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