Development, delivery, and outcomes of a distance course for new college students

Library Trends, Summer, 2001 by Nancy O'Hanlon

Each quarter, 93 percent of respondents felt that the course subject matter was well organized. Similarly, approximately 90 percent of respondents each quarter agreed that the tutorials used as an e-text for the course were helpful. About 10 percent of respondents were neutral on this question. Since almost one-fourth of enrollees in Spring characterized their prior Internet experience as significant, it is not surprising that some may have found little benefit in the tutorials. As one student stated in the comment space of the evaluation form, "I feel that I didn't learn too much from the course. I have years of previous Internet experience, however, so I simply already knew most of the information covered." This student may have registered for this course simply to fill a one hour schedule gap. It is also reasonable to suspect that the preferred learning styles of some portion of the neutral respondents were not well supported by the predominantly visual online tutorials.

Table 9 provides additional data from student course evaluations. Approximately 90 percent of respondents each quarter agreed that the course met its goal--i.e., to develop the skills needed to use the Internet effectively. Opinion varied on whether the UVC 120 course will help them succeed in other OSU courses. Between 19 and 33 percent of respondents were neutral on this question. Some of this response may be attributed to the fact that relatively few courses require students to do independent research. Some may be due to the hesitancy of instructors to allow students to use Internet resources in research projects. And finally, since many students are freshmen, they may not yet know much about the other courses they will be required to take and so be unable to formulate a response to this question.

Student perceptions of their own learning improved significantly in Spring 2000, with almost 90 percent of respondents indicating that they learned a great deal. This may be a reflection, to some extent, of improvement over time in our ability to manage the course and enhancements to various assignments.

Johnson, Aragon, Shaik, and Palma-Rivas (2000) analyzed learner satisfaction and learning outcomes for online and face-to-face learning environments in a recent article. They cite studies that indicate that online students are most satisfied when courses offer flexibility, when the technology functions reliably, and when the instructor acts as a facilitator (p. 32). The authors also note that: "In terms of learning, the frequency or depth of exclusive student/instructor interaction may have some bearing on how much students feel they have gleaned from the course" (p. 45). Instructor/student communication is a critical component of any course, but particularly so in an asynchronous self-paced online course such as UVC 120. The instructors in UVC 120 initiated regular contacts by e-mail with students as a group and individually and also responded to individual student e-mail questions or phone calls promptly (usually the same day). This accessibility was frequently noted in the student comment portion of evaluations. Issues related to course communication, along with other challenges presented by this course, are discussed more fully in the following pages.