Identifying students' attitudes and teachers' shifting roles in an e-learning course

Abstract

During this study an online course was designed and authored based on the social constructivist principle that knowledge is built through interaction with others. A group of students in their final year at the University of Malta's B.Ed. (Hons.) primary track programme, enrolled for this course which was their first experience in e-learning. Assessment procedures were tailored in order to place more value on the importance of interaction between the students and their peers, as well as between the students and their tutors. After course completion the students were asked to fill out an online questionnaire followed by attending focus group sessions, in order to expand on the issues identified through the questionnaire. Part of this survey was based on Q-Methodology in order to identify the attitudes towards e-learning amongst the group of students. Descriptive statistics were applied to the questionnaire responses in order to quantify the magnitude of the answers to each question. Cross tab and Correlation Analysis were used to identify relationships between different factors in the study. The tutors that moderated this online course were interviewed to ascertain how their role differed from the traditional face-to-face classroom. The students valued the contributions of their peers and found that the tutors were more accessible when compared to a face-to-face course. Students also noted that there was a shift in the way discussions were carried out, compared to a traditional face-to-face environment. Two main groups of student opinions were identified; the Convenience and Structure group and Convenience and Resource Availability group. For both groups the convenience of working at home in one's own pace and time was considered to be a great advantage. The first group placed more emphasis on the structure of the course that required more self-discipline; while the second group stressed that at times getting access to the Internet could be difficult and costly.