Understanding the context of distance students: Differences in on- and off-campus engagement with an online learning environment

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Understanding the context of distance students: Differences in on- and off-campus engagement with an online learning environment

Associate Professor Stuart Palmer@s_palm .

Institute of Teaching and LearningDeakin University, Australia

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Introduction

Distance education continues to thrive!In part due to a complex relationship with online technologies

Much online learning research ignores the influence of demographic characteristics of system users

There are very real differences in demography, technology experiences and reasons for study between on- and off-campus students

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Context – Deakin University

Approximately 40,000 students

Approximately 30% off-campus

Mature and large-scale OLE implementation providing support to both on- and off-campus students

Previous investigations identified differences in the perceptions and use of elements of the OLE between on and off-campus students

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Methodology

DSO = Deakin Studies Online

In 2011 all coursework students were surveyed about:• demographic and background information;• place and mode of access to DSO;• perception of importance of, satisfaction with, and

frequency of use of, a range of DSO functions;• a number of overall DSO satisfaction measures; and• open-ended written comments about DSO

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Response rate & demographic informationPopulation Sample

Number of respondents 22760 1322GenderFemale 59.5% 67.8%Male 40.5% 32.2%FacultyArts and Education 30.4% 30.1%Business and Law 36.9% 28.6%Health 19.8% 22.9%Science and Technology 12.9% 16.9%Other - 1.5%CampusGeelong – Waurn Ponds 12.1% 14.1%Geelong – Waterfront 5.8% 7.5%Melbourne – Burwood 50.3% 43.5%Warrnambool 3.2% 3.5%Off-campus 28.6% 31.4%Mean enrolment duration 2.24 years 2.42 years

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Place of access to DSO

Primary place of access Other places of access

17.0% 0.2%

82.3%93.6%

0.7% 6.2%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

On-campusstudents

Off-campusstudents

Other

Home

On-campus

75.2%

8.2%

22.8%17.1%20.5%

68.6%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

On-campusstudents

Off-campusstudents

On-campus

Home

Other

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Mode of access to DSO

Primary mode of access Other modes of access

29.5%

69.8%

0.6% 0.1%

Desktop

Laptop

Tablet

Smartphone

Other †

58.5%

44.0%

25.4%30.5%

5.9% 5.9%

29.1%

16.6%

1.8% 1.1%0%

20%

40%

60%

On-campusstudents

Off-campusstudents

Desktop

Laptop

Tablet

Smartph.

Other

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Mean importance and satisfaction ratings for DSO functions

1. Accessing unit guide and other unit information 11. Submitting assignments2. Accessing unit lecture, tutorial or lab notes etc 12. Receiving feedback on assignments3. Interacting with unit learning resources 13. Working collaboratively in a group4. Using the unit calendar 14. Reviewing unit progress5. Reading unit announcements 15. Using the e-portfolio6. Contacting teachers via internal unit messaging 16. eLive synchronous communication tool7. Contacting students via internal unit messaging 17. iLecture class lecture recording8. Reading contributions to online discussions 18. Other iLecture recoding (eg podcasts etc)9. Contributing to online discussions 19. Deakin’s social software10. Completing online quizzes/tests 20. Turnitin plagiarism/originality assessment

Importance:1 = not important; 3 = neutral; and 5 = very important

Satisfaction:1 = not satisfied; 3 = neutral; and 5 = very satisfied

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3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

1211

9

8

6

5

4

3

1

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce

♦ N.S.D. • On-campusOff-campus

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3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

20

18

17

15

14 6

5

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce


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3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

19

1613

1211

9

8

4

3

1

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce


12


3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce


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3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

19

15

13

4

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce


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3.00 3.25 3.50 3.75 4.00 4.252.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

16

1211

9

8

3

1

Satisfaction

Impo

rtan

ce


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Mean frequency of use for DSO functions

1 = never; 2 = less than once/week; 3 = once/week; 4 = once/day; and 5 = multiple times/day

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1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

1 2* 3 4* 5* 6 7 8 9 10* 11* 12* 13* 14* 15* 16 17 18 19* 20*

Mea

n fr

eque

ncy

ratin

g

DSO Function

On-campus Off-campus

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1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

2* 4* 5* 10* 11* 12* 13* 14* 15* 19* 20*

Mea

n fr

eque

ncy

ratin

g

DSO Function

On-campus Off-campus

2. Accessing unit lecture, tutorial or lab notes etc4. Using the unit calendar5. Reading unit announcements10. Completing online quizzes/tests11. Submitting assignments12. Receiving feedback on assignments13. Working collaboratively in a group14. Reviewing unit progress15. Using the e-portfolio19. Deakin’s social software20. Turnitin plagiarism/originality assessment

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Overall satisfaction with DSO

StatementOn-campus

Off-campus Significance

DSO enhances my learning 4.25 4.33F1314 = 2.34p > 0.12

DSO is reliable and available when I need it 3.93 4.21F1314 = 23.85p < 2x10-6

I am satisfied with the level of support I received in using DSO in my studies 3.82 3.93

F1314 = 2.95p > 0.08

1 = strongly disagree; 3 = neutral; and 5 = strongly agree

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Conclusions

In some ways, on- and off-campus students are becoming more alike …

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Conclusions


… but, there were still significant differences between on- and off-campus student engagement with the OLE

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Conclusions



These differences challenge the institution to understand the reasons for them …

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Conclusions



These differences challenge the institution to understand the reasons for them …

… and also challenge the value of one-size-fits-all institutional policies and templates for the use of OLEs

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Thank you for your time

Presentation: http://myqr.co/IvMW

Documents

Understanding the context of distance students: Differences in on- and off-campus engagement with an online learning environment