Surveying instructor and learner attitudes toward e-learning Presenter: Jenny Tseng Professor: Ming-Puu Chen Date: April 12, 2008 Liaw, S., Huang, H., & Chen, G. (2007). Surveying instructor and learner attitudes toward e- learning. Computers & Education, 49, 1066–1080.

2 Introduction E-learning refers to the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance. Only a small amount of e-learning literature assesses both instructors’ and learners’ attitudes toward using e-learning as teaching and learning tools.  Understanding users’ attitudes toward e-learning facilitates the creation of appropriate e-learning environments for teaching and learning. Goals of the research  Surveying instructor attitudes toward e-learning as a teaching assisted tool  Investigating learner perceptions toward e-learning as a learning assisted tool  Exploring from the viewpoint of users including instructors and learners guidelines when deploying e-learning

3 Literature Review (1/2) Developing effective e-learning  Three considerations Learner characteristics  Attitudes, motivation, belief, and confidence need to be identified  E-learning signifies autonomous learning environments Instructional structure  Multimedia instruction enables learners to develop complex cognitive skills Interaction  learners to learners, or learners to instructors  Cooperative learning

4 Literature Review (2/2) Attitudes toward e-learning  3-TUM (three-tier technology use model) A conceptual approach for investigating user perceptions toward information and Internet technologies form three tiers  The tier of individual experience and system quality evaluates how individual experience and system quality influence individual affective and cognitive components  The affective and cognitive tier investigates how affective and cognitive components change individual behavioral intentions  The behavioral intention tier predicts individual behavioral intention to use technology for a particular purpose

5 Research Hypotheses Hypotheses of instructor attitudes  The quality of e-learning is positively related to instructors’ perceived enjoyment, usefulness and self- efficacy toward it  The instructors’ perceived enjoyment usefulness and self-efficacy toward e-learning is positively related to their intentions to use it Hypotheses of learner attitudes  Self-paced learning, instructor-led learning and multimedia instruction are a predictor to learners’ attitudes toward e-learning as an effective learning tool

6 Research Methodology Participants  Understanding instructor attitudes A sample of 50 instructors from a university were asked to answer a questionnaire after the 4-h seminar on ‘‘How to Use E-Learning for Teaching Purposes” A total of 30 responses were collected  Understanding learner attitudes 168 college students who took either ‘‘Introduction to Computer Science’’ or ‘‘Introduction to Computer Network’’ courses were asked to complete a questionnaire after using the e-learning environment for six weeks Instruments  The data for this study was gathered by means of a questionnaire included three major components Demographic information Computer and Internet experience Attitudes toward e-learning

7 Results (1/4) Results of instructors’ attitudes  Many of the variables significantly correlated with each other

8 Results (2/4) Results of instructors’ attitudes - continued  Perceived system satisfaction could predict perceived self-efficacy and perceived usefulness  Multimedia instruction could predict perceived enjoyment  Perceived usefulness and perceived self-efficacy could predict instructors’ behavioral intention to use e-learning

9 Results (3/4) Results of learners’ attitudes  Many of the variables significantly correlated with each other

10 Results (4/4) Results of learners’ attitudes - continued  All three independent variables are predictors

11 Discussion Perceived system satisfaction is a crucial factor to influence instructors’ perceived self-efficacy and perceived usefulness toward e-learning Multimedia instruction is a critical predictor for instructors’ perceived enjoyment When understanding instructors’ behavioral intention to use e-learning environments, perceived usefulness is the greatest contributor, and then perceived self-efficacy learners’ attitudes toward e-learning as an efficient learning tool can be predicted positively by three factors (e-learning as a self-paced learning environment, e-learning as a form of multimedia instruction, and e- learning as an instructor-led learning environment) When building an e-learning environment, these three factors should be taken into consideration in order to create an efficient learning environment

12 Conclusion (1/2) The present study helps us understand instructor intentions and learner attitudes toward e-learning User perceptions toward e-learning could include affective, cognitive, behavioral, and social components  Attention to these four aspects would serve as an ideal beginning to further our comprehension of the role of attitude factors when using learning technologies  From the results of social perspectives, instructors’ leadership or assistance is a critical factor to affect learners’ attitudes

13 Conclusion (2/2) Based on the results of investigating instructors’ and learners’ attitudes, four guidelines should be considered when facilitating e-learning  Vivid multimedia learning instruction  Highly autonomous learning environments  Enhancing instructors’ and learners’ asynchronous or synchronous communications  Improving learning effectiveness