Student U Of and Attitudes about On-Campus ALN
John C. Ory
Cheryl Bullock
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Purpo of the Study
In March of 1995, the Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments (SCALE) was established at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). SCALE is charged with organizing and directing a three-year project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to promote the u of asynchronous learning networks (ALN) at UIUC. Faculty involved in the Sloan Center are restructuring their undergraduate cours to incorporate various computer techniques associated with ALN. The ALN techniques include network-bad access both to learning materials (e.g., multimedia tutorials, information on the World Wide Web) and to people (via conferencing software such as FirstClass or PacerForum). Computer conferencing was the primary ALN method ud by faculty in the first mester of the Sloan-funded project.
In Fall 1995 instructors and teaching assistants began using computer conferencing to communicate with their students outside of regular class hours and to encourage student-to-student interaction. However, since that fall mester a growing number of instructors have started using Web-bad tools such as CyberProf (cours.physics.uiuc.edu/cyberprof/) and Mallard (uiuc.edu/Mallard/) to help manage their cours, administer and grade quizzes, direct students to uful resources, and assign homework. Many instructors also began developing cour Web pages to provide anytime and anyplace resources and materials to their students.
At the prent time a comprehensive evaluation is being conducted of all SCALE activities (See w3.scale.uiuc.edu/scale/f95eval/index.html and w3.scale.uiuc.edu/scale/s96eval/index.html for the evaluation reports). One aspect of the evaluation has been a survey of student u of and attitudes about ALN activities. In Fall 1995 the survey administered in SCALE cours focud on the most often ud ALN application at the time - computer conferencing. In subquent mesters two different surveys were ud, one for cours using computer conferencing, and a cond survey for cours incorporating Web-bad activities. The purpo of this paper is to prent results of the student surveys for the first three mesters of the Sloan-funded project.
The Survey Both the computer conferencing and Web surveys included items that addresd the following questions regarding student u and attitudes about ALN activities.
U of ALN Activities
How often did students participate in ALN activities? Where did students most frequently u a computer to do ALN activities?
How did students u computer conferencing?
How easy did students find using ALN activities?
What types of difficulties did students experience participating in ALN activities?
Attitudes about ALN Activities
How did students rate their overall experience using ALN activities?
Would students like to take another cour using ALN activities?
Impact of ALN Activities
中学生国旗下演讲稿
How did ALN activities affect:
- amount of interaction between faculty and students?
- quality of interaction between faculty and students?
- amount of student learning?
- amount of student motivation to learn?
- student familiarity with computers?
- the way students learned in the cours?
Survey Administration
End-of-cour surveys have been administered in 77 SCALE cours beginning in Fall 1995. One survey (“Conferencing”) was administered to 2,727 students in 59 cours using computer conferencing and another survey (“Web”) to 1,216 students in 18 cours primarily using the Web to access cour materials, take on-line quizzes, or explore computer resources. Each mester the li
sting of cours surveyed reprents a variety of colleges and departments, including the humanities, sciences, and fine arts.
Survey Respondents
The grade level, ethnicity, and gender of the student respondents for three mesters are prented in Tables 1 and 2. The respondents came from all grade levels, were predominantly Caucasian, and there were slightly more females than males. Separate analys of male and female survey respons are not reported in this paper but are available in “Gender similarity in the u of and attitudes about ALN in a university tting,” by Ory, Bullock, and Burnaska (1997). This investigation of gender similarity revealed that both male and female students made similar u of ALN, had similar (positive) attitudes about their “computer experience,” and shared a common desire to take more cours using computers. The one consistently significant difference found revealed that females reported greater gains in computer familiarity than did males.
Table 1. Academic Standing and Genderof Respondents by Semester Fall 1995Spring 1996Fall 1996
Female Male Female Male Female Male
n% n%n%n% n%n% Freshman280271891823625169182471529918 Sophomore133139910117131221322513150 9 Junior99984862 757 6147916910 Senior89 974792107681691020012 Other--------53 3 292 Total601574464350755424468415084750
Table 2. Ethnic Origin and Gender of Respondents by Semester
Fall 1995Spring 1996Fall 1996
Female Male Female Male Female Male
n%n%n%n%n%n% African-Amer273232344182574382 Asian-Amer454283536536765855 Caucasian501493453437540336366133863839 Latino/a12191172111242342 Native-Amer203000201020 Other111141162152332191 Total598584224149554435478045181649
Results
Survey results for the first three mesters of the SCALE project are summarized and prented by survey question. For most questions results are prented parately for computer conferencing and Web-bad activities.
U of ALN Activities
How often did students participate in ALN activities?
In the first three mesters of SCALE approximately two-thirds of the students reported a minimum level of “weekly” computer conferencing. Figure 1 shows that approximately thirty percent of the students report conferencing daily or
“about a few days a week.” Figures 2-3 show that students in cours using the Web most often ud it to complete electronic homework and locate cour materials. Figure 4 reveals that approximately 70% of the students reported doing the two activities weekly at a minimum. About one-half of the students reported weekly u or more of the Web to communicate with other students while approximately one-third of the students completed on-line quizzes at least weekly.
• How often did you participate in computer conferencing (e.g., FirstClass, PacerForum)?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Not at all
情人节英语
A few times/mester
About once a week About a few times/week
About everyday
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96Fall 95
brazil
Figure 1. Frequency of Computer Conferencing by Semester
• How often, this mester, did you u the Web to complete electronic homework?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
zodiac
80
90
100
Not at all
About once a week
About everyday Percentage
Fall 95
挽回丈夫Figure 2. Completion of Electronic Homework by Semester
• How often, this mester, did you u the Web to locate cour materials?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
推荐好听的英文歌
80
90
100
Not at allkidding
A few times/mester
About once a week About a few times/week About everyday
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96
Figure 3. U of Cour Materials on the Web by Semester
• How often, this mester, did you u the Web to take on-line quizzes/tests?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
努力学习演讲稿
90
100
Not at all
A few times/mester
About once a week About a few times/week About everyday
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96
Figure 4. U of On-line Quizzes on the Web by Semester
Where did students most frequently u a computer to do ALN activities?
Figures 5 and 6 show that students differed somewhat in their choice of location for computer conferencing and Web-usage. About one-fourth of the students did their
conferencing in their residence or apartment room, whereas about one-half of the students ud computers in their room to access the Web. About one-half of the students doing computer conferencing ud public lab sites in their residence hall.
• Where did you most frequently u a computer to do computer conferencing?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
8090100
Residence hall room/apartment
Res. hall computer site
Public computer site Other
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96Fall 95
Figure 5. Location of Student U of Computer Conferencing by Semester
• Where did you most frequently u a computer to access the Web?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90100
Residence hall room/apartment
Res. hall computer site
Public computer site Other
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96
Figure 6. Location of Student U of the Web by Semester
How did students u computer conferencing?Figure 7 show that students consistently reported using computer conferencing for the same purpos all three mesters. In descending order of u, students conferenced for instructional interaction with the
郑州留学中介排名instructor, for instructional interaction with other students, for social interaction with other students, and for social interaction with the instructor. The students primarily ud computer conferencing for instructional interactions; 70% reported instructional conferencing with the instructor and about 40% with other students.
10
20
30
40
50
60708090
Social interactions
w/students
Social interactions with
prof/TA
Instr interactions
w/students Instr interactions with
prof/TA
Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96Fall 95
Figure 7. Type of Student Computer Conferencing by Semester
How easy did students find using ALN activities?Students found both computer conferencing and W
eb-u easy activities to conduct. Figures 8 and 9 show that approximately 90% of the students found their ALN activities to be "easy" or "somewhat easy to u."
• How easy did you find using the computer conferencing?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
8090100
Easy to u
Somewhat easy
Somewhat difficult
Difficult to u Percentage
Fall 96Spring 96Fall 95
Figure 8. Ea in Computer Conferencing by Semester
• How easy did you find using the Web for purpos of this cour?
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90100
Easy to u
Somewhat easy
Somewhat difficult
Difficult to u Percentagestart up
Fall 96Spring 96
Figure 9. Ea in Using the Web by Semester
Students were asked on both the Web and conference surveys to describe problems they had encou
ntered while using ALN in their cours. Results from both surveys are prented in Table 3. Although students did prent a variety of respons to this open-ended item, two themes consistently emerged for both surveys; computer
accessibility and technical problems. A third theme, lack of
training, was evident for the conferencing survey, while the
Web had a third theme of problems with on-line
homework/quizzes. For the conferencing survey, problems with computer and/or computer program accessibility sharply declined after the first fall mester. A fourth category, “other,” was added to account for the remaining and varied respons.Table 3. Student Difficulties with Computer Conferencing by Semester
Fall 1995Spring 1996Fall 1996n %
n %n %Conferencing Survey
Technical and/or software problems --1113112233Computer and/or computer program accessibility 1383056167119Training deficiency 5512100286116Other
26858862411832Web Survey
Technical problems --876313643Computer accessibility --966721On-line homework/quizzes --27195718Other
--16
12
55
18
What types of difficulties did students experience while
using ALN in their cours?
