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Student Attitudes Toward Web-Based Courses
Jacque Ewing-Taylor
University of Nevada, Reno
Distance education, in a variety of forms has been around for several decades, and a great deal of literature has been generated about the effectiveness of synchronous delivery methods at the university level (Rhodes, 1998). Technological advances in Internet delivery have allowed university course offerings to change from synchronous to asynchronous, and these changes have occurred so rapidly, that Web-based courses have proliferated without significant research into their effectiveness from a student’s perspective. It has only been within the past several years that courses have been offered completely online, using the World Wide Web, wherein the student never sets foot in a traditional classroom, and never has to meet face-to-face with an instructor or his fellow classmates. This is changing the face of higher education at a rapid rate, and the number of students who access their education in this manner is increasing rapidly as well. Although we know a fair amount about the implementation of Web-based courses from the institutional side (costs, time, resources, etc.) (Alavi, Yoo, & Vogel, 1997; Kuittinen, 1998), we have little literature from the consumer side. This paper looks at the state of the literature on student attitudes towards Web-based instruction at the university level.
The literature we do have from the consumer side deals mainly with web-enhanced course instruction, where the instructor has supplemented his course with Web-based technology, ranging from putting syllabi, other course materials and assignments on the web, to virtual simulations and assessment (Allen, 1998; Bowdish, Chauvin, & Vigh, 1998; Chandler & Maddux, 1998; Junk & Fox, 1998; Kuittinen, 1998). The results show that students have positive attitudes in general to web-enhanced course delivery, especially if they feel they have adequate support available (Cooper, 1999; Junk & Fox, 1998; Kuittinen, 1998). Since these courses are still primarily traditional, in that the students are in face-to-face contact with the instructor and each other every week, the positive attitudes reported by students towards introduction of web elements into their courses is probably due, in part, to their facility and fascination with technology in general and with the Internet in particular. Additionally, these enhanced courses are fundamentally unchanged from their original form; the web elements have improved the delivery but left unaltered the underlying subject of the course, allowing the students to both function in a setting with which they are comfortable and familiar, while getting the bells and whistles they expect and to which they are drawn.
Web-based courses, on the other hand, remove the learner from the comfort and familiarity of the classroom, place him in a solitary environment, and require that he access information and course content in a format that is still unusual and often unfamiliar in a learning context. Students enrolled in these online courses report spending significantly more time on course work than in a traditional course (Kroder, Suess, & Sachs, 1998; Mory, Gambill, & Browning, 1998; Powers & Mitchell, 1997). The only exception to this was reported in a study of one undergraduate course at Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom, in which students reported that they spent less time on the Web-based course than on their traditional courses (Ward & Newlands, 1998).
One of the areas reported as being more time consuming in Web-based courses was the interaction with the instructor and other students. Most online courses require that students use e-mail, Internet relay chat (IRCs), or some other form of discussion forum. These communication venues were found to require significant amounts of time be spent by students, in order to foster the online community and connectedness required for the success of Web-based classes (Bowdish et al., 1998; Brown, 1998; Cooper, 1999; Jiang & Ting, 1998; Junk & Fox, 1998; Kroder et al., 1998; Kuittinen, 1998; Mory et al., 1998; Powers & Mitchell, 1997). Some students also report that they spent more time reading for online courses than for traditional courses, because lectures were text-based in the online environment (Kroder et al., 1998; Mory et al., 1998). In spite of the increased time required, students said they found the online courses worthwhile and would take additional courses via the Web (Cooper, 1999; Kroder et al., 1998).
Mitra and Hullett (1997) found that there are several important factors to consider when assessing student attitudes toward online instruction. Their research indicates that student attitudes toward technology, prior experience with technology, experience with specific categories of computer usage, context specific issues and demographics all play important functions in attitude determination. Brown (1998) suggests that students’ skill levels be assessed prior to the start of the course, in order to head off possible technical problems.
Powers and Mitchell’s (1997) research identified four themes related to students’ perceptions of Web-based courses: peer support, inter-student interaction, student-faculty interaction, and time demands. Although none of these themes are unique to Web-based courses, they were nonetheless significant in attitude formation, and must be considered when evaluating student attitudes toward online courses. Ward and Newlands (1998) identified six perceived advantages of online courses:
- better learning resources
- a more flexible pace of learning
- greater choice of when to study
- increased self reliance
- more tutorials/seminars
- improved computer literacy
The most important of these are better learning resources and greater choice of when to study. They also identified eight perceived disadvantages:
- poorer learning resources
- an alienating learning experience
- technical frustrations
- inadequate access to computers
- unfairness
- loss of contact with staff
- loss of contact with other students
- reduced motivation
The most important of these are loss of contact with staff and other students and inadequate access to computers.
There is a great deal of research to be done in this area. Future projects should look at a broad range of Web-based courses, and would include development of one or more instruments to gauge student perceptions of and attitudes toward Web-based instruction. It is not sufficient to gauge the effectiveness of Web-based learning through testing and grades, the outcomes. We need to stop looking at students “from the outside in, (and look) instead . . . from the inside out.” (Marshall, 1999) We need to look at and evaluate the process and attitudes toward this delivery method in order to design more effective courses for Web delivery and to truly determine their effectiveness. Assessment of this nature is then part of an overall plan for instruction, conducted on an ongoing basis, that supports the learner as he engages the subject.
Understanding the attitudes of the students who take our online courses is important for several reasons. Certainly, as educators, we want to offer a good education to our students. We want to make sure they engage the subject. But in addition, the very nature of Web-based courses means that education is evolving rapidly into a far more competitive business than ever before. My own university has seen significant decreases in the enrollments of graduate students in certain disciplines, especially masters level students, since a private, for-profit university opened a branch in our town, and started advertising heavily. This private university offers a large percentage if its courses online, catering directly to the student who needs the flexibility of Web-based courses.
Competition in the education marketplace is not new, but competition on this level is. Universities have competed for years on the basis of our academic reputations, course and curriculum offerings, and costs. The Web has introduced a whole new parameter to this scenario, and has changed the very nature of the competition. The only thing that distinguishes us now is our ability to deliver a high quality educational product in a manner convenient to the student consumer at a reasonable cost. For the same reasons I don’t go to the mall any longer to shop, our students will not come to campus any longer to take our courses.
“But, education is not a consumer commodity,” you say? “Our classes cannot be sold like Harlequin Romance novels,” you say? Increasingly, because of the way our students view what we offer, it is and they can. Online courses and programs are being marketed heavily and sold like commodities.
Whether we like this model of education or not is irrelevant. It is here and we have to be able to deal with it effectively. Most of us are not in the position any longer of telling our potential students that they have to adjust to us. We may or may not have the reputations to expect it, but we certainly cannot afford the arrogance to demand it. This means that most of us have to play on the same field now, whereas in the past, geographic considerations alone often meant we each had our own constituencies we knew had to come to us no matter what we did. Students have choices that they did not have five years ago, and those choices are mighty attractive to many.
Online education is not for every student. But it fits the needs of enough students that it can and will change the nature of higher education in a very short time frame. We must understand this student, and we must create courses and systems that cater to this student. It is far too easy for him to take online courses from some other university that has taken the time to understand him and designed courses accordingly.
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