1.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 1 Towards an Empirical Development of Critical Value Factors of Online Learning Activities By: Yair Levy Yair Levy Nova Southeastern University

2.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 2 Statement of the problem Online learning  central stage in higher educational institutions (Geri & Gefen, 2007; Hiltz & Turoff, 2005)* Dropout from online learning courses appears to remains a problem (Connolly et al., 2007; Levy, 2007; Xenos et al., 2002) Increasing attention to assessment of the effectiveness and success Little attention to the learners’ perceived value or what is important to the learners * For references throughout this presentation, please see the full list in proceedings’ paper

3.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 3 Theoretical Background Activities are at the center of human behavior (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) General Activity Theory –Activities (Hasan & Carwford, 2003) –Learning activities (Lapre et al., 2000) –Online learning activities (Levy, 2006b)

4.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 4 Activity Theory in the Context of Online Learning Source: Levy, Y. (2006b). The top 10 most valuable online learning activities for graduate MIS students. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 2(3), 27-44.

5.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 5 Methodology & Survey Instrument Based on the qualitative work in Levy (2006b) –A list of activities that learners value during their online learning experience (some eliminated in this study for lack of content and external validity) Survey Instrument with 45 online learning activities + demographics A 6-point Likert-type scale –(1) – ‘Not Important’ to –(6) – ‘Extremely Important’ 209 participants (36% response rate)

6.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 6 Data Analyses and Results

7.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 7 Data Analyses and Results (Cont.)

8.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 8 Data Analyses and Results (Cont.)

9.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 9 Data Analyses and Results (Cont.)

10.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 10 Results Five critical value factors of online learning activities: –F1: Collaborative, Social, and Passive Learning Activities –F2: Formal Communication Activities –F3: Formal Learning Activities –F4: Logistic Activities –F5: Printing Activities

11.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 11 Results (Cont.) Items of F1 - Collaborative, Social, and Passive Learning Activities

12.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 12 Results (Cont.) Items of F2 - Formal Communication Activities

13.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 13 Results (Cont.) Items of F3 - Formal Learning Activities

14.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 14 Results (Cont.) Items of F4 - Logistic Activities Items of F5 - Printing Activities

15.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 15 Discussion and Conclusions Five CVFs of online learning activities Administrators and instructors should pay more attention to these factors Instructors should emphasize: –Students’ collaboration, participation in social activities, passive learning of content, formal communications, and formal learning activities. Help reduce student frustration and dropout from OL courses

16.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 16 Thank you! Questions?

17.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 17 Yair Levy, Ph.D. Associate Professor Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences The DeSantis Building - Room 4058 3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Tel.: 954-262-2006 Fax: 954-262-3915 E-mail: levyy@nova.edu Site: http://scis.nova.edu/~levyy/ Contact Information - Levy

18.  2008 - Dr. Yair Levy – Chais 2008, Israel – February 6, 2008. 18 International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS) http://www.ijds.org/ Mission: The mission of the International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS) is to provide readers worldwide with high quality peer-reviewed scholarly articles on a wide variety of issues in doctoral studies using the Informing Science (IS) framework. The editorial objective of IJDS is the facilitation of knowledge enhancement related to doctoral studies in areas such as (but not limited to): informing science, information systems, information technology, information science, information security, and IT education. Yair Levy, Editor-in-Chief (editor@IJDS.org)editor@IJDS.org