Student Awareness Towards E-learning: Study From Different Markets

eLearning has taken a front seat in education ever since the breakout happened.

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There has been much discussion around what to do, how to do, students’ expectations and all the related concerns of eLearning. However, we first need to understand how much students are aware of eLearning. Ideally, this should be the first step to plan as per students’ knowledge and determine the gaps that need to be acknowledged. 

In this post, we have mentioned 5 major studies that look into student awareness towards eLearning, considering major factors that directly impact it. 

1. Awareness of Online LearningAmongPost Graduate Students: A Study by S.K. PANNEER SELVAM

This study attempts to assess the online learning awareness among postgraduate students of Science and Arts colleges in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The objective of the study is to find out the eLearning awareness among postgraduate students considering differences.  

The study focuses on the following parameters to conduct the research:    

• Study the significant difference between male and female Post Graduate students in terms of online learning awareness. 
•  Study the difference between first year and second year Post Graduate students in terms of online learning awareness. 
•  Analyze the difference between science and art students in terms of awareness of online learning. 
•  To understand the difference between Post Graduate students with computer knowledge and without computer knowledge in the relation of awareness on online learning. 
• To understand students’ awareness of online learning based on their place of stay, I.e., Hosteller and day scholar. 
• To study their awareness of eLearning considering variables of usage of Internet among Post Graduate students’.  

To analyze students’ awareness on eLearning, the research was conducted by presenting a questionnaire to over 250 students in Erode district.  

CONCLUSION

Gender plays no role in effecting students’ awareness of eLearning. As per the study, there’s no significant difference in eLearning awareness among male and female students.  

For the second hypothesis, it is concluded that students in the first and second years have similar awareness about eLearning. There’s no significant difference in awareness of eLearning among students from different college years.  

The third hypothesis shows a difference where students show a significant difference in their awareness of eLearning. The study states that science students have more awareness of online learning than their counterpart arts postgraduate students.  

Further, the postgraduate students with computer knowledge have more awareness of eLearning than postgraduate students without computer knowledge. 

For the fifth hypothesis, hosteller has more awareness of online learning than day scholars. And lastly, from where students access the internet plays no role in determining their awareness of eLearning.  

Check out the complete report here.  

2. Awareness and Usage of E-Learning Materials among Students of National Open University of Nigeria 

The study aims to analyze students’ awareness of elearning in a distance learning mode. Since elearning plays a central role in distance education, the study focuses on using elearning materials among students in a distance learning program.  

It is a descriptive survey guided by research questions. 400 students have participated in the survey, and the data collected is validated by experts. The study was carried out in south-east Nigeria in four NOUN study centres namely: Awka (Abagana), Enugu in Enugu State, Owerri (Nekede) in Imo State and Umudike in Abia State. 

A checklist titled “Distance Education Students Awareness and Usage of E-learning Materials” (DESAUELM) is used to derive inputs from the participating students. The checklist comprises of two sections, A and B, which is a total of 30 items.   

The research primarily focuses on the following questions:  

 1. What are the e-learning materials that students of distance education are aware of for their learning? 

 2. What e-learning materials do students for their learning in distance education? 

CONCLUSIONS

As per the report, most students are aware of the major instruments of eLearning. Considering the nature of their program, they require various media and technology and their tech integration is at the core for their learning and teaching requirements. Going by the name of learning materials mentioned in the list; some of which are computer (laptop, palmtop, notebook, tablet and pocket computers), internet and e-mail, e-readers and e-books among others; the findings revealed that the students are aware of the majority of the e-learning materials for learning. But, it also points the concern regarding the usage of these materials. Despite being aware of these materials and their effects on students” learning students do not use most e-learning materials. This means that usage is where the problem lies. 

Recommendations

The study further recommends the following:  

1. The government should take initiatives for sustaining awareness. This could be done by the creation of more ICT parks, e-learning resources centres and cyber cafés. 
2. Since the study reveals the concern of low usage of e-learning materials by the students, it is recommended that the government procure adequate e-learning resources needed in distance education. Resources such as internet computers, videophone systems and teleconferencing devices, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), and Digital Satellite Systems. 
3. The government should encourage students to train on the use of eLearning materials in various technology parks and centres. The training should be free of cost. 
4. Prioritize uninterrupted and regular supply of electricity for better student experience. 
5. There should be criteria for selecting the best student on the use of e-learning resources. At the end of the session, prizes/awards should be given for encouragement.

Check out the complete report here.  

3. Student Awareness Towards E-LearningInEducation: A research from TATI University College in Malaysia 

The study aims to understand students’ awareness of eLearning. Students from TATI University College in Malaysia have participated in the research as respondents. These students have been exposed to eLearning on campus. Over 200 students participated in the study, and multiple regression analysis was performed on the students’ perceptions on eLearning concerning gender, year of study, faculty, technology usage and the awareness of e-learning implementation. A questionnaire was used to collect data from students. Three sections of questions derive data from students. It consists of demographic profile, technology usage and e-learning implementation.   

The questions are on the background information such as year of the studies, gender of the student and faculty being studied. Questions regarding technology usage are to understand students’ background in technology usage. The second section of the questionnaire focuses on questions regarding eLearning implementation to seek information regarding ease of use, self-efficacy and usefulness.  

CONCLUSION

As per the report, the results show no significant difference in awareness of eLearning among different genders. On the technology usage, the stats show that most students are aware of eLearning and technology usage; standing at is 99.5%. It is only 0.5 per cent unaware of technology usage.  

As far as implementation is concerned, the report states that the e-learning system is useful in their study based on students’ input. To this, 46.90 per cent of students agree, and 32.10 strongly agree. Only 2.60 per cent strongly disagree, and 3.10 per cent disagree. Students not sure stood at 15.30 per cent. Based on these digits, it is evident that the students are aware of eLearning implementation and prefer using technology in their study.  

The section of questions that deal with the quality of elearning shows that; 52 per cent students agree that it is easy to use, while 26.50 per cent strongly agree to this. Only a 4.60 per cent disagree to ease of use in eLearning, and 1 per cent strongly disagree. Students who are unsure about the ease of use in eLearning stood at 15.30 per cent.   

The questions related to self-efficacy in the questionnaire that ask students if e-learning affects their self-efficacy show that 46.90 per cent agree, 28.90 per cent strongly agree, 2.60 per cent disagree, and 2.10 per cent strongly disagree. Students not sure stood at 19.60 per cent.  

Students are aware of eLearning and its implementation. They enjoy using eLearning as it helps them in their learning and education needs. Students who are not aware of eLearning should be given more exposure during their eLearning sessions/classes.   

Read the full paper here.  

4. A Study on Students’ perceptions on the implementation of e-learning: Helpful or unhelpful? By L Vitoria, MMislinawatiand N Nurmasyitah 

This research was conducted to understand students’ awareness and expectations of eLearning. The main purpose was to develop an eLearning module for the Primary Education Department of Syiah Kuala University in Indonesia.  

The study used the “Four-D” Model of instructional development which consisted of Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate. This would give the university in-depth information on creating an eLearning module that best fits students’ expectations and needs.   

This research focuses on the Develop stage where the users’ (participants of the study; also, the students) perception was assessed to understand the module’s implementation. 19 students from the third semester participated in the study. The data was collected from a questionnaire following an interview. The questionnaire was constructed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which suggested that two crucial factors influencing users’ acceptance of technology were perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.  

CONCLUSION

From the data collected, the result showed that the students perceived the e-learning web-based module useful. They find the eLearning module improving their understanding, independence, self-discipline, motivation to learn, and interactions with each other and with the teacher. Also, the students agreed that the e-learning web-based module was easy to use. Hence, this study implies that the integration of technology in education is beneficial at the university. 

Check out the full paper here.  

5. The Awareness and Use of Electronic Learning Platforms: A Case of a Developing Country

The study investigates the status quo on use and awareness of e-learning platforms in some senior high schools in the Accra metropolitan area of Ghana. The emphasis is on a few parameters, including perception, training, accessibility, and infrastructural availability.  

More than 300 responses are analyzed to derive the result of the research.  

The focus of the study was to address the following questions: 

• What is the perception of students and teachers towards the use of e-learning platforms? 
• How accessible is the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to students? 
• What is the level of e-learning training that the staff and students possess? 
• How accessible are the e-learning platforms to the students during non-teaching hours? 

Questionnaires were used to collect data from the participants of the survey. The cluster sampling method was used to select the schools and a random sampling method selected the participants. The participants’ age group ranged between 15 – 60 years, with the average age group was 15 – 19 years from six senior high schools. The main instrument for the study wan an online survey. The students sampled in the study come from five major programs options; i.e., Business – 20.4 per cent, Science – 10.8 per cent, General Arts – 65.8 per cent, Agricultural Science – 0.4 per cent and Visual Arts – 2.5 per cent.  

CONCLUSION

Key factors concerning eLearning considered in this study are computer skills, demographics, e-learning training, perception, accessibility, adoption and duration of eLearning platform usage.  

Considering the four questions, this study focused on looking at the findings for each of them.  

What is the perception of students and teachers towards the use of e-learning platforms?

Participated respondents have a favourable perception of the integration of eLearning. As per the data majority of the respondents are aware of eLearning (75.4 per cent), and most of them acquire limited knowledge in the usage of eLearning platforms (70.2 per cent). More than 90 per cent of participants support the use of eLearning. This was attested by the fact that a total of 289 respondents, 96 per cent of the total surveyed are highly motivated to incorporate eLearning.  

How accessible is the IT infrastructure (computers and internet facilities) to students?  

Speaking of the It infrastructure availability (computers and internet facilities) to students; the finding suggests that this was the major issue. As per the data, 61.4 per cent of the respondents stated that they do not have the accessibility of IT facilities, which is a major demotivation and a barrier for them to adopt eLearning.    

What is the level of e-learning training that the staff and students possess? 

As per the study students and the staff do not have adequate training of elearning. The data from findings suggest that 84.0 per cent had no training in the use of e-learning platforms.    

How accessible are the e-learning platforms to the students during non-teaching hours?  

The last part looks at the accessibility and availability of internet access to respondents during the non-teaching periods. As per the data, 91.2 per cent had access to the internet during non-teaching periods, mostly non-residential students. As per the study, if we go by the rules and regulations of most SHS, students cannot use electrical gadgets in schools. Boarding house students also do not get any access to the internet unless on vacations. This could also be a reason why students and teachers were slow to ICT integration.   

All in all, the findings in the report suggest that students know of e-learning and e-learning platforms but aren’t trained adequately. Computer literacy is on the lower side, and most schools do not have enough ICT labs and reliable internet. This affects eLearning adoption. Students majorly use mobile phones for internet access. Also, since there are strict rules in the school regarding no mobile phone usage, it cuts down on students’ opportunities to use eLearning.    

Check out the recommendations and in-depth details of the study here.  

The studies mentioned above come from different parts of the world (Ghana, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia), but all the reports’ crux are very similar. In all the reports, it is evident that gender plays no role in awareness of eLearning among students. They are aware of the benefits of eLearning and are willing to incorporate it into their learning methods. However, what else is common is the untrained staff, the leniency of authorities to provide students with the right and an environment necessary for eLearning. The studies recommend training for staff and a well-made IT infrastructure so that students can use eLearning without any hindrance.