Women get more than men from e-learning

E.learning Age, Mar 2007

When it comes to e-learning women are far better than men at generating a supportive and engaging learning experience, according to a study of online learners at Edge Hill University in Lancashire.

The research, undertaken during five weeks of an online module, indicates that a rich e-learning experience tends to be formed from an open sense of trust and fellowship between remote learners. Elearners in the study point to women's ability to express themselves more openly and to encourage others to feel at ease in responding to the posted comments made by others.

Dr Simone Kruger, a researcher at the University's SOLSTICE centre for excellence in teaching and learning, is exploring mature parttime student experiences of e-learning at the university using the relatively new method of 'virtual ethnography' (based on observing and participating with her research participants as they engage with online technology for their studies). Issues to do with the creation of an online identity were raised as part of the study and particularly how socialisation in a virtual space impacts on motivation and success in e-learning.

Dr Kruger said: "Participants in online courses may only succeed if they know each other well, and if the learning environment becomes a space in which mutual trust and support can be developed. During my research I observed that particularly female participants were successful in becoming 'more comfortable with one another', in sharing ideas and experiences. The success of female participants in my research may have resulted from their ability to adapt new ways of learning, while at the same time to negotiate and renegotiate their identity. Thereby the female participants showed greater flexibility and intuition necessary to form trusting and supporting online relationships. By contrast, some male participants found it hard to engage with peers and suggested 'I rather do my own thing.' "

Dr Kruger also found that e-learning has a dramatic heightening effect on students' ability to sit back and reflect both on the subject matter and on their own role and capabilities as a 'learner' compared with students who solely study through traditional classroom and text book means.