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ISSN 2201-2796
Shantha Fernando
Dept of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Katubedda, Sri Lanka
shantha@uom.cse.mrt.ac.lk
Indika Perera
Dept of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Katubedda, Sri Lanka
indika@uom.cse.mrt.ac.lk
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue V, May 2014 43
ISSN 2201-2796
learners perspective of effectiveness and how the grounded TABLE 1: DIMENSIONS FOR DESCRIBING QUALITY
theory allowed discovering a new dimension of Network of
Opportunity. As an outcome of this paper, the factors affecting
Dimension
Reference
to effectiveness in eLearning will be presented by rank where
Dimensions for effectiveness of eLearning
any interest party could easily identify and apply to address in
improving the effectiveness in eLearning to their organization.
Especially as a developing nation, effective eLearning could
bring inclusive development beyond the Millennium Institutional support, course development, [9]
Development. In conclusion this study quote the highlights of teaching/learning, course structure, student
major factors which impact effectiveness which will influence support, faculty support, and evaluation and
the policy objectives in education in order to achieve the assessment
targets in vision 2020. Clear planning; robust and reliable [10]
infrastructure; good support systems for
2. OBJECTIVE staff and students, including training and
written information; good channels of
The main objective of this paper is to explore the communication between staff and students;
dimensions of effectiveness from learners perspective regular feedback to students on their
catering to the current demand. It is mainly because unlike the learning; clear standards for courseware
past eLearning is facing huge transformations in development; ongoing evaluation with a
pedagogically and the technology vise where many people strong student input
experiment the effective methods to succeed in the future. Institutional commitment; technology; [11]
Next objective is to provide a ranking to the dimensions where student services; instructional design and
it is necessary to identify the most important dimensions to course development; instruction and
address in providing an effective eLearning solution. Findings instructors; delivery; finances; regulatory
in this paper will be a major input to the eLearning educators, and legal compliance; and evaluation
trainers and designers to focus in the users expectation to Structure/ virtual environment; [12]
achieve their goals. communication, cooperation and
interactivity; student assessment; flexibility
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
and adaptability; support (for students and
A. Meaning to Effectiveness staff); staff qualifications and experience;
vision and institutional leadership; resource
Most of the literature identifies effectiveness as meeting allocation; and the holistic and process
the goals of the stakeholders in eLearning. At the same time aspect.
its supported to claim effectiveness in eLearning can be Educational planning (clear mission and its [11]
measured by return on investment [3], analysis of learning integration in institutional policies);
outcome [4], content quality, systems quality and service instruction (instructional design, content
quality [5] development, delivery and evaluation);
human resources (students, academic
B. eLearning effectiveness faculty and administrative staff); physical
resources (facilities, hardware and
E-Learning effectiveness is complex and depend on software/network system); management and
stakeholders view, it has many dimensions. Some argue that administration; and educational results
the effectiveness of eLearning should be judged by the same (stakeholder satisfaction and social
criteria and standards as face-to-face education. Others hold recognition)
that conventional quality concepts are not appropriate because Collaboration, technology, costs- [13]
eLearning is structurally different [6], [7]. Yet others argue expectations-benefits in formation
that while certain general principles of quality should apply to transparency of provider and courses,
both conventional and eLearning, there are certain features course structure and presence didactics
unique to eLearning that should also be addressed, such as Institutional support, course development [14]
synchronous/asynchronous interactions, open access to vast dimension, course structure, teaching and
resources and distributed learning [8]. And eLearning learning, evaluation and assessment, student
typically relies to a greater extent than conventional education support, Faculty support
on learners motivation and commitment to interactivity and Checking a courses relevance to the [15]
collaboration, which make it more difficult to scale and assure organizations needs; analyzing content
the quality of eLearning. quality and usability; and applying
instructional design methodology in course
The findings of the dimensions in 9 frameworks are development
summarized in the Table 1. Flexibility, responsive teachers, materials [16]
and course design, access to resources, and
online assessment and feedback
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue V, May 2014 44
ISSN 2201-2796
Scrutinizing through the dimensions of past literature, it actual finding may subject to statistics. Then test the
was evident that the criteria was primarily influenced by hypothesis through experimentation in the real world.
eLearning institutions and faculty and administrators, which However in order to identify the phenomenal changes and
means it has shown fewer interests given to the users of the how the user depend on the changes in MOOC learning in
systems who learn from it in their day to day activities. web 2.0 new era, it is appropriate to use the research method
However, the dimensions found in the literature lacked Grounded theory which is a powerful research method for
empirical evidence of learners perspectives of eLearning collecting and analyzing data and to formulate a theory
quality [13]. However Cashion and Palmieri [16] conducted a inductively from the analysis.
study of Australian learners views of vocational education
and training provided online, and found that learners rated the 4. METHODOLOGY
factors illustrated Table 1. For these learners, quality factors
cited in earlier sections of this paper were rated as less As the first step, this research conducted a qualitative data
important; specifically, institutional planning, infrastructure, gathering and analysis of data collected from participants of
administration and management, and faculty support. eLearning over 2 years of time. It is important to understand
the depth of social reality, contextual importance in the new
Another study of online learners was conducted in the web.2.0 era. In qualitative method, researcher is involved in
European context. After interviewing European learners with every step listening to human needs , responsive and adaptive
extensive experience of eLearning, Ehlers [13] empirically to explore what actually the users in eLearning finds as
identified seven key factors of eLearning as stated in Table 1. effective for them [23]. A qualitative study designs in
He found that European learners regarded course process- understanding the eLearning culture which focus on
related dimensions such as presence, didactics and individuals live experience of events and also going beyond
collaboration as more important than institutional adding to existing body of knowledge in forming theories
considerations such as vision, planning and finance in grounded on data as Grounded theory being used. Fig.1
assessing the effectiveness of eLearning. These findings show explains the steps taken in the Grounded theory.
that there can be important differences between learners and
providers regarding the concept of effectiveness and that there
is need for further investigation into the learners views of Initial Interviews &
Open
eLearning effectiveness in various contexts to inform and
beginning Purposive Observations
improve QA frameworks in eLearning in different domains.
& Broad Sampling
Despite all of the above factors recent literature on research
Massive Open Online Course(MOOC) as emerging
technology for eLearning shows that learners perspective
drives towards more in harnessing the collective intelligence
through collaboration is high among peers and also the time Theoretical Data Data
taken for feedback has reduce tremendously [17]. Apart from Sampling Analysis- Analysis-
those individual interactions with interface, content and Memo Coding
lecturer has increased rapidly and students expectations are writing
high within the learning framework [18]. Recent research by
Pashler [19], states students expect frequent review and
formative feedback at well spaced intervals leads best
outcomes of the students and make them highly motivated More depth
with any type of learning. Y Theoretical
questions in
Situation
C. Use of Grounded Theory
interviews If e
and point
This research used Grounded theory in order to identify the observations
latest dimensions in students perspective of eLearning. It is N
mainly due the fact that this theory investigates the actualities
in the real world and analyses the data with no preconceived Building
ideas or hypothesis [20]. In other words, grounded theory
suggests that theory emerges inductively from the data [21].
theoretical Model
Though it can be used in different types of research, grounded
theory is often adopted to formulate hypotheses or theories Fig.1. Steps taken in the Grounded theory
based on existing phenomena, or to discover the participants
main concern and how they continually try to resolve it [22].
The most recent transformation of eLearning is the In step two, an instrument was created using the analysis of
MOOC, which provided eLearning to many participants data in the step 1. In order to develop the studys instruments,
unlike earlier the participants were selective. As a relevant existing instruments and literature were reviewed.
consequence of mass access to the education via online, their Validity of the instruments was determined by Content-
perspective of effective eLearning may have affected. The Related Validity. In general, the content-related evidence
traditional research designs which usually rely on a literature demonstrates the degree to which the items on an instrument
review leading to the formation of a hypothesizes where the are representative of a domain or universe of content. To
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue V, May 2014 45
ISSN 2201-2796
establish content validity for this studys instruments a panel 9.Collaboration Does it allow to collaborate with
of experts from the online educational practices reviewed each peers and also the other interest
item to ensure constructing an instrument that reflected the networks
domains of interest. Suggestions for modifications on some of
the items and scaling were provided by the panel. This 10.Interactivity Does it allows enough
included rephrasing items and deleting others that seemed interactions to keep the student
repetitive. After carrying out the necessary modifications, the engage with the course
panel reported that the instruments were appropriate for the
study and that the language was clear. B. Building Instrument Validity and Reliability
Step three was a questionnaire conducted using instrument Based on the dimensions found in the initial step, the next
rubric created in step 2. The analysis of the results will step was to build and discover whether the instrument support
provide the factors which will affect the effectiveness of accurately to find the information of user perceptions of
eLearning as per the participants perspective. effectiveness in eLearning.
Two statistical methods were used to determine reliability
A. Sampling via SPSS (version 10.0 for Windows): first, was an internal
consistency approach by calculating the value of alpha
As for sampling technique, our study used judgmental
reliability co-efficient. As it is clear in Table 3, all measuring
sampling. Therefore we selected very active users of
criteria have desirable reliability coefficient (Cronbachs
eLearning where they have carried the practices at least 6
alpha). Likewise factor analysis results show the validity of
months of time. It was important to focus on highly productive
the questionnaire.
answers from participants in a short period of time [24].
TABLE 3: RELIABILITY AND FACTOR ANALYSIS
B. Data Collection
Data collected from 121 students from round the world. Reliability Factor
Mix of methods as Focus groups from the eLearning platforms Analysis Analysis
in MOOCs, observations and interviews, and a rubric Dimension
No of Questions
questionnaire with 5 point likert scale was conducted from
Cronbachs
highly active users in eLearning platforms in local and global
Extraction
students.
Alpha
Value
Eigen
5. DATA ANALYSIS
TABLE 2: DIMENSIONS IDENTIFIED BY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS 7.Future Directions 3 0.893 0.588 1.314
8.Assesment 6 0.722 0.536 2.548
Key factors Description 9.Interactive 4 0.874 0.673 1.270
1.Technology How was the introducing new 10.Collaborate 3 0.872 0.567 2.673
technology changed the
eLearning perception
2.Pedagogy Manner that course was
designed to support the needs of Table 4 describes the dimensions and the factors which
the user used describe the concept. The Questions in the questionnaire
3. Motivation How motivated the student to was based on the framework provided in the Table 4 and
take courses online added with 5 point likert scale.
4.Usability Is it user-friendly to access the
platforms and media TABLE 4: FRAMEWORK OF THE INSTRUMENT
5.Content/ Are the materials up to date and
Key Dimensions Factors supports to dimension
Material meet the goals of learner
1.Technology HW support
6.Support for Do the system or the platform
SW support
Learners accommodate users needs and
Media & Mode of delivery
support
2.Pedagogy Student interaction with faculty/
7.Assesment How the evaluation of courses
tutors/ students
carried out
Learning pace
8.Future Recognition to the course and
Methodology followed by
Directions how the industry will look at
lecturers desi
what course did
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue V, May 2014 46
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6. DISCUSSION
3. Motivation Attention
Relevance Many researches attempts to identify factors affecting to a
Confidence effective eLearning paradigm. Some try to relate eLearning
Satisfaction quality is the main factor for the effectiveness and therefore
4.Usability interface design address the quality dimensions. [25] Among them there are
learning environment researches to find the user perception of satisfaction on
navigation eLearning [26], [27].
feedback
Answering to the bigger problem What the learner wants
5.Content/ Relevancy
from eLearning? our research uniquely identified that the
Material Updated
Rich collaborative information most important dimension they require is to be interactive.
The research discovered that student value more towards the
6.Support for Psychological and social support
interactions between other students and the lecturer or the
Learners for students
instructor kept them leading towards their goals of learning.
Administrative support
As the below quotes from the interview, it is well elaborated
Student complaints procedure
the need of it.
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
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ISSN 2201-2796
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2014, Scientific Research Journal
Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue V, May 2014 48
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2014, Scientific Research Journal