Student Opinions of Online Learning Systems Nicholas Verno, Senior CIS Major Westminster College Faculty Advisor - Dr. Terri Lenox

Technology in Education Technology is in every aspect of our lives Personal, workplace, education Educational involvement is growing rapidly o Computers/tablets in classrooms o Transition from paper to electronic o Online Learning Systems

What is an Online Learning System? Defined as any form of educational material which is readily available for distribution over the Internet o The intended audience can access the materials easily Online Learning Systems, abbreviated OLS, can take the place of an instructor or be used as a tool to aid an instructor’s lectures

Types of Online Learning Systems Fully-online OLS – no instructor present, course is completed in its entirety online o Synchronous – alongside other students, deadlines are present o Asynchronous – without other students, no deadlines present Partially-online OLS (Hybrid) – course is taken in online segments and face-to-face segments

Examples of OLS Coursera (fully online/asynchronous)

Examples of OLS Pearson MyLab (part of hybrid)

What is the Point? OLS are designed to make the material more accessible With their ease of use and accessibility, OLS should revolutionize education for the better Do they make learning easier and more effective?

Previous Studies 2013 Study by RELATE Education Group Traditional Physics class vs. Physics MOOC o MOOC – Massive Open Online Course Concluded that cannot statistically show MOOC or traditional is better Course evaluations at the end determined it was strictly opinion based

Other Studies US Department of Education – 2010 o No statistical evidence University of Toledo – 2007 o No statistical evidence University of California Davis – 2003 o No statistical evidence University of British Columbia o No statistical evidence

Helpful Insights Into Online Learning Format of the OLS can impact learning o Association of Institutional Research in Toronto, 2002 Features of OLS (i.e. extra practice, solution help, quizzes) can affect the opinions and attitudes towards online learning

Applying Principles To My Project 8 students engage in using Coursera OLS o “Learning How To Learn” Pre/Post-test design process: o Determine question types o Scaled questions at first, switched to open ended More personal responses o Generate questions to receive desired feedback Analyze pre/post tests

“Learning How To Learn” Asynchronous fully online course taught by Neurobiology and Engineering professors – University of California – San Diego Covers techniques about how to learn across various subjects o Math, science, sports, literature, arts, etc. Different learning modes of the brain Studying practices (memorization, avoiding procrastination) 4 hours of video, 3 hours of exercises, 3 hours of bonus materials

Questions to Answer Did the use of Coursera alter their opinions about the willingness to use OLS in general? After working with Coursera, would the students recommend it to others? How does the impact of having prior experience with OLS change the students’ opinions of Coursera?

Pre-test Statistics o 5 of 8 students initially preferred traditional o 62.5% o 7 of 8 students would take a fully online course o 87.5%

Pre-test Statistics Major Problem o 4 of 8 students claimed lack of teacher interaction (50%) o 2 of 8 students with said format of answers (25%)* o 2 of 8 students responded understanding was not required to get the correct answer (25%)* * - with prior experience

Pre-test Statistics Major Benefit o 5 of 8 students said working at their own pace (62.5%) o 3 of 8 students said having review/extra practice (37.5%)

Post-test Statistics Online vs. Traditional o 6 of 8 students preferred traditional over online(75%) o 2 of 8 students preferred online to traditional (25%)

Post-test Statistics Recommendations o 5 of 8 students would not recommend taking (62.5%) o 3 of 8 students would recommend taking (37.5%)

Conclusions What does all of this data tell us? o Cannot statistically show that one method is better o Using Coursera changed the opinions of some who initially thought online was better o Coursera had a negative effect on some of the participants’ learning process o Some participants said using Coursera was better than previous experiences with OLS

Conclusions This small study leaves other questions to be answered in the future: o Does a student’s personality affect the opinion of OLS? o Would varying learning styles steer the opinions of students in a certain direction? o If the students weren’t already enrolled in classes at a traditional university, would their opinions change?