Volume 17, Number 4, June 2016

EN:

Slowly but surely, open and distance learning (ODL) programmes are being regarded as one of the most practical ways that universities across the world are increasingly adopting in order to increase access to university education. Likewise, Mzuzu University (MZUNI) set up the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) to oversee the running of these programmes in 2011. In this study, we adopted the Transactional Distance Theory (Moore, 1997) to investigate the modes of instructional systems, benefits or opportunities, and the challenges associated with the delivery of ODL programmes at MZUNI. By self-administering a questionnaire to 350 ODL students and 9 Heads of Department in the Faculty of Education whose programmes are offered through ODL, we found that instructions are mostly delivered to students through print-based instructional materials. The major benefits noted include increased access to quality higher education, affordable tuition fees, and flexibility in payment of fees. However, we established some challenges which need to be addressed by the University which include, delayed feedback of assignments and release of end of semester examination results, absence of information for courses of study, poor communication between the Centre and departments, and poor remuneration for lecturers.

EN:

South Africa is characterised by high unemployment levels, a low Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity rate, and a high small business failure rate. Entrepreneurship and small business development is seen as a solution to end unemployment in South Africa. A study to understand how to improve small business support was conducted at the University of South Africa and has shown that alumni are unable to apply theoretical knowledge acquired from their studies. The purpose of this article is to explore the potential of the University of South Africa in becoming more entrepreneurial to address the aforementioned challenges. A desk study that reviewed literature was conducted to identify different constructs associated with an entrepreneurial university, namely entrepreneurial education, research and development, innovation, commercialisation and incubation, and stakeholders. In addition to traditional teaching methods, various alternative approaches can be used to stimulate entrepreneurial education to develop the skills of learners/students. To address these challenges a closer relationship between academia, government, and industry is paramount. It is recommended that universities incorporate entrepreneurial education in all their qualifications, expose students to on-the-job training, assist with the incubation of business ideas that students have, and provide a platform for cross-pollination of knowledge between industry, academia, and government.

EN:

This paper shares analytical insights on the position, challenges and potential for promoting Open Educational Resources (OER) in African Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) institutions. The researchers sought to use a participatory research approach as described by Krishnaswamy (2004), in convening a sequence of two workshops at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) as a strategy for collecting data to obtain the aforementioned insight. The principal workshop objectives were to analyse the existing status of OER at the OUT and subsequently to share lessons learned in OER creation and production, integration and use, and hosting and dissemination. Other objectives were to discuss the rationale for an institutional OER policy and identify a suitable work-flow process for developing OER at the OUT. The workshop participants were purposively selected for their experience in co-developing OER materials with various outside organisations. The study included 28 representatives of the OUT academic units, and one facilitator from OER Africa. Research techniques used to collect data included a questionnaire, focused group discussions, presentations, and panel discussions. Results indicated that OUT staff were willing to engage with OER but had limited awareness, skills and competencies in the creation, integration and use of OER. The outcome of the study was the development of nine draft OER resolutions expressing needs that include the development of a comprehensive institutional OER policy related to existing institutional policies in order to guide, support and promote research and sustainable OER practice via holistic participation. Enabling strategies included capacity building, increased internal and external collaboration, and enhanced access to and visibility of OER via the institutional repository.

EN:

Meeting teacher expectations for a professional development programme (PDP) is expected to strengthen sustainable applied competence as programme outcome since teachers will be more motivated to apply the programme content in practice. A revised distance learning (DL) programme was augmented by a practical component comprising a work-integrated portfolio and audio-visual material, aimed to support the applied competence of practising teachers in the South African context. An evaluation of the way the programme measured up to teacher expectations was deemed critical for future DL programme design. A qualitative study based on an interpretivist philosophical approach collected data of teacher expectations for and of the practical component through multiple methods. Their contributions were linked with four main themes related to applied competence as identified in the literature. Participant expectations and experiences with regards to each theme were compared by means of electronic coding through ATLASti™. The findings show a strong correlation between expectations for and experiences of the way the practical component supports the elements of applied competence. Since DL is viewed as a viable and cost effective way to improve teacher competence in developing countries, these findings serve as impetus for further investigation and refining ways to support applied competence in a distance learning professional development programme (DL PDP).

EN:

The aim of the present study was to explore what types of difficulties student teachers enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English Language Teacher Education program offered in a blended format and their cooperating teachers encountered during the student teacher practicum. The participants were 21 fourth grade student teachers and 12 cooperating teachers. Semi-structured interview questions were used to collect data. The interviews were tape-recorded and then transcribed to be analyzed. According to the findings, the problems student teachers faced were grouped into four areas: assessment systems, computer–assisted communication, challenges with mentors, and psychological issues. Cooperating teachers’ problems were categorized as problems associated with the program and problems associated with the student teachers. The results of this study contribute to an increased understanding of the problems that student teachers and their cooperating teachers face during field experience at an English language teacher education program offered in a distance format. This study provides suggestions for establishing more effective mentorship during the field experience.

EN:

As online learning continues to grow significantly, various efforts have been explored and implemented in order to improve the instructional experiences of students. Specifically, research indicates that how an instructor establishes his or her presence in an online environment can have important implications for the students’ overall learning experience. While instructor presence appears to be an important aspect of online learning, more research is needed to fully understand this construct. The purpose of this study was to consider online instructors’ perceptions related to presence, beliefs about actions, and the perceived impact of instructional presence. Using an explanatory multiple-case study approach, this research considered the perspectives of 13 instructors teaching in an online master’s program at a large Midwestern public university. Results indicate instructors viewed instructor presence as an important component in online courses but their reasons varied. Furthermore, the instructors discussed a number of communication strategies they used, the importance of using such strategies to connect to students, and the potential impact of these strategies on student participation and learning. Additional themes from the interview data are discussed, and implications for online teaching and learning are suggested.

EN:

Incorporation of practical experience in learning design and technology education has long been accepted as an important step in the developmental process of future learning designers. The proliferation of adult online education has increased the number of graduate students who are in need of a practical internship placement but have limited options due to work and family obligations. An international virtual internship program provides opportunity for non-traditional students to participate in a practical experience regardless of their physical location and other obstacles.

EN:

This case study explores the opportunities for students of Industrial Design Engineering to engage with direct and indirect stakeholders by making their design process and results into open-ended designed solutions. The reported case study involved 47 students during a two-weeks intensive course on the topic of urban gardening. Observations were collected during three distinctive phases: the co-design phase, the creation of an open design, and the sharing of these design solutions on the online platform Instructables.com. The open sharing of local solutions triggered more global discussions, based on several types of feedback: from simple questions to reference to existing works and from suggestions to critiques. Also, some examples of re-appropriation of the designed solutions were reported. These feedbacks show the possibilities for students to have a global vision on their local solutions, confronting them with a wider and more diverse audience. The case study shows, on the other hand, the difficulty in keeping students engaged in this global discussion, considering how after a few weeks the online discussions dropped to an almost complete silence. It is also very difficult with such online platforms to follow the re-appropriation cycles, losing the possibility of exploring the new local context where the replication/modification of the designed product occurred. The course’s focus on open design is interesting from both the design and educational points of view. It implies a deep change in the teaching approach and learning attitude of students, allowing unknown peers to take part in the design process and fostering a global discussion starting from unique and local solutions.

EN:

This study shared unique design experiences by examining the process of transferring residential courses to the Web, and proposed a design model for individuals who want to transfer their courses into this environment. The formative research method was used in the study, and two project teams’ processes of putting courses, which were being taught in classrooms at the time, on the Web were examined in depth to reveal and confirm the components of the design model. The participants were 13 instructional designers. In addition to the logbooks kept by the designers, individual and focus group interview techniques were employed in the data-gathering process. Two researchers analyzed the data concurrently using content analysis. The logbooks and the focus-group interviews were used for model formation, and the individual interviews to confirm the components of the model. Based on the findings from the two design cases, the experience-based e-course design model consisting of seven basic stages including forming design team, preliminary search, analysis, instructional and technical design, integration, tests, and improvements was proposed. It is considered that sustaining Web-based course design efforts within this model will enable both implementing the design process more effectively, and the Web-based course obtained at the end of the process to have higher quality.

EN:

E-learning is a rapidly developing form of education. One of the key characteristics of e-learning is flexibility, which enables easier access to knowledge for everyone. Information and communications technology (ICT), which is e-learning’s main component, enables alternative means of accessing the web-based learning materials that comprise the content of e-learning. However, these materials can help provide a good educational experience only if they are designed carefully, which is especially true for people that have difficulties with learning from text or those with other learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia). The main obstacle to learning for such people is usually posed by the form in which web-based learning materials are provided. Using guidelines from relevant literature, this article provides a checklist that assesses the degree to which web-based learning materials take account of the needs of people with disabilities, especially those with dyslexia. The article focuses more on the technical aspects of web-based learning materials, as they are a crucial factor that can influence the accessibility of web-based learning materials.

EN:

The Kingdom of Tonga is an isolated least developing country located on the northeast of New Zealand with a population of 103,252 (2011 census) and with a gross domestic product per capita of USD $2,545.20. Before educational systems in a least developing country like the Kingdom of Tonga begin employing e-learning, an assessment of the current situation of students and learning institutions may contribute to its success. Using an appropriate assessment tool is important for accurately measuring the degree of e-readiness. In this study, we administered a survey to 186 students randomly selected from five secondary schools in the Kingdom of Tonga to measure Facebook usage as an index of e-readiness for e-learning. We found that a large percentage (81%) of secondary students use Facebook, and most (74%) of these students have used Facebook for two or more years. All (100%) students use a computer to access Facebook, and most also access Facebook through mobile phones (62%) or tablets (46%). We also found correlations between duration of having a Facebook account and other indicators of e-readiness. Our findings suggest that secondary students in the Kingdom of Tonga have developed e-readiness for e-learning through their use of Facebook.

EN:

Group awareness can affect student online learning while self-regulation also can substantially influence student online learning. Although some studies identify that these two variables may partially determine learning behavior, few empirical studies or thorough analyses elucidate the simultaneous impact of these two variables (group awareness and self-regulation) on online learning behavior. This paper compared one online collaboration environments with GA support with one without group awareness (NA) support and further investigated how these two variables, different system types (i.e., GA and NA) and different self-regulation levels (i.e., high and low), influence learning task (i.e., assessment) participation, and peer interaction (i.e., asking for help and willing to help) using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Analytical results first showed that both variables have significant interaction on assessment participation and requesting rate. GA can particularly stimulate students with high-level self-regulation to engage more learning task (assessment) participation and ask for help more, compared with students with low-level self-regulation. Second, both variables have no significant interaction on willingness to help. The GA class can enhance a student’s willingness to help regardless of his/her self-regulation level.

EN:

This study investigated the relationship between self-directedness (as measured by the Adult Learner Self-Directedness Scale) and biographical factors such as age, race, and gender of adult learners enrolled at a South African open distance learning (ODL) higher education institution. Correlational and inferential statistical analyses were used. A stratified random sample of 1,102 mainly black and female learners participated in the study. The Adult Learner Self-Directedness Scale (ALSDS) identified four constructs of adult learner self-directedness in an Open Distance Learning Higher Education (ODLHE) milieu, namely the strategic utilisation of officially provided resources, engaged academic activity, success orientation for ODLHE, and academically motivated behaviour. The research indicated that significant differences exist between the gender, race and age groups with regard to self-directedness. With regard to gender, males scored significantly higher than females on success orientation for ODLHE and engaged academic activity. With regard to race, Indian participants scored significantly higher than the other race groups on strategic utilisation of officially provided resources and engaged academic activity. The white participants scored significantly higher than the other race groups on success orientation for ODLHE. In terms of age, the age group >50 scored significantly higher than the other age groups on success orientation for ODLHE and self-efficacy. In terms of success orientation, the means for the age groups seem to increase as the ages of participants increase. The age group 18-25 scored significantly higher than the other age groups on engaged academic activity.

EN:

This paper examines the influence that student perceived quality of service (PSQ) has on continuance intention and willingness to recommend a course in a fully online university. A holistic view of the service provided by the university is taken. It is not only the effect of the teaching which is examined, but also that of the administrative services, the additional services, and the virtual learning environment (user interface). Through a survey completed by 1,870 students and the subsequent analysis using structural equations, we found that each of these services has a significant impact on the students' PSQ, their level of satisfaction, and, as a result, their loyalty and willingness to recommend the university. The study found that the perceived quality of the administrative services can have a comparatively higher impact on student satisfaction than the other services. PSQ is shown to have also a direct impact on student loyalty and recommendations. Moreover, as a whole, non-teaching services have a greater impact on loyalty and willingness to recommend than teaching service. The peculiarities of the process of providing educational services in a virtual environment (such as the absence of face-to-face interaction between student and teacher and the lack of conventional tangible elements which act as benchmarks for quality of service) are well-known. The relationship established in the literature between the constructs of service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to recommend the service in an offline environment can also be seen in this context. The interconnection of factors proves to be more complex and interrelated than has been accounted for as yet in the scholarly literature. The findings of the survey are relevant to system concerns related to quality management and sustainability, both of which are increasingly important in today’s competitive educational postsecondary environment.

EN:

A new approach for overcoming the language and culture barriers to participation in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is reported. It is hypothesised that the juxtaposition of English as the language of instruction, used for interacting with course materials, and one’s preferred language as the language of participation, used for interaction with peers and facilitators, is preferable to “English only” for participation in a MOOC. The Hands-On ICT (HANDSON) MOOC included seven teams of facilitators, each catering for a different language community. Facilitators were responsible for promoting active participation and peer tutoring. Comparing language groups revealed a series of predictors of intention to learn, some of which became apparent in the first days of the MOOC already. The comparison also uncovered four critical factors that influence participation: facilitation, language of participation, group size, and a pre-existing sense of community. Especially crucial was reaching a sufficient number of active participants during the first week. We conclude that multilingual facilitation activates participation in MOOCs in various ways, and that synergy between the four aforementioned factors is critical for the formation of the learning network that supports a social dynamic of active participation. Our approach suggests future targets for the development of the multilingual and community potential of MOOCs.

EN:

This study examines relationships of instructional environments, learner traits, and learning outcomes in the context of an online university course in Korea which has an advanced information technology background and rich e-learning experiences. However, the educational heritage of the country adheres to directive instruction with little interaction in the classroom. Based on the literature review, specific research variables are as follows: the environmental variables include learner-learner interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and content/system quality. Regarding learner traits, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and computer/academic self-efficacy were investigated. Academic achievement and class satisfaction were identified as potential determinants of online learning outcomes. A total of 937 valid responses from online university students were used to establish structural relationships among the variables. Most of the structural associations among the factors were significantly positive, although some variables reflected Korean cultural and educational contexts specifically. The findings suggest a need for a synthetic approach towards e-learning and that further research should be conducted concerning context-specific variables.

EN:

Mobile learning (M-learning) provides a new learning channel in which learners can access content and just in time information as required irrespective of the time and location. Even though M-learning is fast evolving in many regions of the world, research addressing the driving factors of M-learning adoption is in short supply. This article focuses on the driving factors in adoption of M-learning and the learner’s perceptions and willingness towards M-learning adoption. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been shown to be a valid and powerful model in mobile and other learning technologies research. Based on Technology Acceptance Model theory, this paper analyzes the influencing factors on M-learning adoption and measure the acceptance of M-learning in Oman. The data collected from 806 participants in 17 different Omani higher education institutions using a survey questionnaire. Some factors of perceived innovative characteristics, such as ease of use, usefulness, enjoyment, suitability, social, and economic were found to have more influence on learners’ adoption of M-learning which help to facilitate and promote future empirical research. This effort is part of funded research project that investigate the development, adoption, and dissemination of M-learning in Oman.

EN:

The impact of targeted professional development activities on teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy with mobile learning remains understudied. Power (2015a) used the Mobile Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (mTSES) survey instrument to measure the effects of a mobile learning themed professional development course on teachers’ confidence with and interest in mobile learning. The current study looks at changes in perceptions of self-efficacy amongst participants in another open course about mobile learning called Instructional Design for Mobile Learning (ID4ML), which took place from May 4 – June 6, 2015 (Power, Bartoletti & Kilgore, 2015). The purpose of this study is to verify the reliability and construct validity of the mTSES instrument developed by Power (2015a, 2015b) and Power, Cristol and Gimbert (2014), and to explore trends in self-efficacy changes amongst a more diversified participant population. This paper reports on the findings from the analysis of data collected using the mTSES tool. The findings provide useful feedback on the impacts of participating in the ID4ML course. They also provide further support for the utility of the mTSES instrument as a measure of perceptions of self-efficacy with mobile learning. These findings point to the potential utility of the mTSES as a tool for both planning and evaluating mLearning professional development training for teachers.