Engineering College Students’ perceptions of Success ...



Engineering College Students’ perceptions of Success Factors in an E-Learning CoursesEunBi JeongCalifornia State University, San BernardinoAbstractIn connection with the high growth rate and high dropout rate when E-Learning has started to emerge, the purpose of the research is to figure out engineering students’ perception and perception of success factors in an E-Learning courses. The research design was made using mix-method and the data of the study was conducted through a survey and interview. The result shows that students think positively about E-Learning system. The students think that the instructional design, well-organized contents and self-discipline are important factors to pass the E-Learning classes successfully. Keywords: E-Learning, engineering student, online learning, perception of E-Learning, engineering student’ perception, success factorEngineering College Students’ perceptions of Success Factors in an E-Learning CoursesIntroductionE-Learning has been grown for the last few years. E-learning market’s annual growth rate is almost 9.2% (Pappas, 2015). In view of the growth rate of E-learning, the universities have opened a lot of E-learning courses. As a result, a lot of students have taken the courses. Understandably, the courses are also popular to engineering college students at Dankook University in South Korea regardless of subjects. However, many students who took the courses also didn’t do it very well. According to the study, the rate of online students has dropped out of online classes; 40% ~ 80% (Smith, 2010). The high rate is also applied to the Dankook University. Therefore, this study was purposed to understand why did the engineering college students choose the E-Learning courses and what did the students think about the classes. Therefore, this study figured out perception about how to study at eLearning courses successfully for the students to take the online course successfully in the future. Literature reviewAlhabeeb and Rowley (2016) studied perceptions of eLearning systems in three large universities in Saudi Arabia. The study said that the importance of eLearning has been increased and indicated several success factors for eLearning. First, the knowledge of eLearning system as well as positive attitude were important key to both instructors and students. In addition, the instructional design of the learning program is important. Lee and Choi’s study (2011) pointed out the rapid growth of eLearning technology, and then they said that higher dropout rate is a problem to online instructors. They addressed the reasons of students’ increasing dropout rate as three categories, which are students, course/program and environmental factors. A lot of research has pointed out a rapid growth of eLearning. In addition to that they knew it is highly attractive to the students, but a lot of students also dropped out of it. Following the previous studies, this research was designed to focus on the specific major students of the university; the engineering college students at Dankook University in South KoreaResearch questions and hypothesisThe research questions and null hypotheses for this study were as follows:RQ1: What are the engineering college student’s perceptions in an eLearning courses?RQ1-1: Are there differences in the perceptions in an eLearning courses based on gender and the number of taking E-Learning classes?H01: There will not be a statistically significant difference in the mean results perceptions in an eLearning courses between the male and female groupsH02: There will not be a statistically significant difference in the mean results perceptions in an eLearning courses between the under 4 and 4 or more groupsRQ2: Why the eLearning courses are popular to the engineering college students?RQ3: What are the engineering college students’ perceptions of success factors in an eLearning courses?MethodologyResearch designThe method of this research was a mix-method. Using mix-method provides both quantitative and qualitative method’s advantages, in particular convergent?mixed methods?design was chosen. ParticipantsThe target population of this research was the engineering college students at Dankook University in South Korea. To finish this project within a short period, this research chose a convenience sampling due to easy accessibility. Therefore, this study’s sample was the engineering students who graduated within 3 years or were still attending at Dankook University in South Korea.Date collectionThe researcher gave an online survey and interview questions to participants. The survey title was Engineering College Students’ Perceptions of an E-Learning Courses and it was composed of 3 parts. Also, the questions used Likert scale, Likert-type scale and a checklist. The followings were the three parts of the survey:Part1: Perceived Usefulness of E-LearningPart2: Attitude toward Using E-LearningPart3: Personal InformationThe interview was a structured interview and it was composed of four questions. The researcher usually used Skype to interview, but also, email was used due to the time difference. The following were the three part of the survey:Why did you choose to take the E-Learning classes?Have you ever dropped the E-Learning classes? If so, how did it come about?Have you passed the E-Learning classes successfully? If so, how did it come about?What do you think the successful factors are of taking an E-Learning course?Reliability and ValidityThis research was about perception and doesn’t have any experiment, which means this research was no cognitive traits. Thus, the research had lower validity and reliability than cognitive measures. However, there were still having several evidences to establish the validity and reliability. To establish validity, the questionnaire should be entirely measured to the topic. In this case, the evidence could based on content. According to McMillan (2015), it should be examined by experts. The survey questions were retrieved from the previous studies related to this research. That means the questions were confirmed by the experts. It was not directly point out the McMillan’s definition of content validity, but it could help to establish the questionnaires’ validity. To establish validity in the interview, the researcher did a member checking to each interviewee. After gathering answers, the researcher gave the transcript of him/her interview and asked whether there were in error or concerned about that and then received a feedback. In reliability’s case, this study satisfied a triangulation. To keep the consistency. The researcher tried to collect data from several sources. The different statements were measured to the same characteristic. It was solved by using a different rating scale and asking several questions which have a same meaning but different vocabularies. Furthermore, the data was collected “from different individuals at different times or in different place” (McMillan, 2015, p. 357). Data analysis To analyze the quantitative data, the researcher used excel to gain the results. First, the researcher gained the central tendency, frequency, standard deviation and charts value and did a t-Test: paired two sample for means. And for the qualitative data, this study used coding scheme. The researcher made codes for each answer at first, and made sub codes and main categories. The data were analyzed by main categories. ResultsThe number of the participants was 23 for the survey and 22 for the interview. The gender ratio was 54% male and 46% female. The following figures and tables have shown the result:Figure 1. [Survey] Part1: Question1: In your opinion, what do you think which best describes about what E-Learning means? Choose as many that applies.Table1[Survey] Part1: Perceived Usefulness of E-Learning (n=23)Statementslevel of agreementMN/%SAANDSDStudying through E-Learning mode provides the flexibility to study at the time convenient to the learnern1093101.78Agree%43%39%13%4%0%There are electronic tools available to enable interactive communication between instructor and student without meeting face-to-facen983302.00Agree%39%35%13%13%0%There can be interactive communication among students when participating in E-learningn6310402.52Agree%26%13%43%17%0%Studying through E-Learning mode can increase my learning effectively, as I will have easy access to learning materialsn1073301.96Agree%43%30%13%13%0%Learning electronically can improve my course performance as I will not need to travel to campus but study at the comfort my homen1292001.57Agree%52%39%9%0%0%Using E-Learning system can enable me to accomplish tasks more quickly, since I will move at my own pacen1265001.70Agree%52%26%22%0%0%The use of E-Learning content and materials is time consuming and a waste of effortsn0256104.04Disagree%0%9%22%26%43%E-Learning environment is easy to integrate with learning and teaching processn7124001.87Agree%30%52%17%0%0% Overall, E-Learning environment improves the quality of content, learning and teaching processn795202.09Agree%30%39%22%9%0% It would be easy for me to find necessary information when using an E-Learning platformn1073301.96Agree%43%30%13%13%0%Note. SD: Strong Agree, A: Agree, N: Neutral, D: Disagree, SD: Strong Disagree and M: MeanTable2[Survey] Part2: Attitude toward Using E-Learning (n=23)Statementslevel of agreementMN/%SAANDSDI believe E-Learning platforms are user friendlyn2136201.78Agree%9%57%26%9%0%I think E-Learning is an innovative concept and must be encouragedn5107102.00Agree%22%43%30%4%0%I think E-Learning platform will be fun to usen3124402.52Agree%13%52%17%17%0%Note. SD: Strong Agree, A: Agree, N: Neutral, D: Disagree, SD: Strong Disagree and M: MeanTable 3[Survey] Part3: Question2: How many E-Learning courses you took?Statements01~34~67~810 or more%4.5%31.8%40.9%22.7%0%To the null hypothesis, t-Test: paired two sample for means was conducted by excel. To analyze table4, the researcher divided the answer categories of question2 of survey part3 into 2 groups; under 4 and 4or more groupsTable 4The result of the male and female groups from surveyFactorsGroupNMSDt statp-valuePart1: Perceived Usefulness of E-LearningMale122.360.603.050.010Female101.940.86Part2: Attitude toward Using E-Learning?Male122.580.224.580.022Female1020.0 0According to the result of p-value, the researcher reject null hypothesis 1. Table 5The result of the male and female groups from surveyFactorsGroupNMSDt statp-valuePart1: Perceived Usefulness of E-Learningunder 482.310.582.590.0154 or more142.090.77Part2: Attitude toward Using E-Learning?under 482.580.144.580.0224 or more1420.11According to the result of p-value, the researcher reject null hypothesis 2.Table 6The codes of the interviewStatementsMain categoriesWhy did you choose to take the E-Learning classes?RequirementConvenienceHave you ever dropped the E-Learning classes? If so, how did it come about?E-learning settingPersonal Have you passed the E-Learning classes successfully? If so, how did it come about?Self-disciplineWhat do you think are the factors of taking an E-Learning course successfully?E-learning contents Self-disciplineDiscussionResearch Question 1 Based on the survey, they think the E-Learning is a learning on my own at my own pace.In addition, the participants felt that the E-Learning is flexible, effective, comfortable, friendly and fun and the existence of the system has been improved the quality of the learning contents. It is a innovate concept to them. Null hypothesisA significant difference was found in Part1 and Part2 factors between male and female groups and between under 4 and 4 or more groups.Research Question 2It was answered based on finding of the research question 1 and first interview questions’ answer. The one of the reasons why they chose this class was they have to graduate. Some E-learning class were the requirement at Dankook University. But also, another reason was convenience. Research Question 3The success factors section was separated into 2 parts based on the answers. First, participants thought making the class interesting and improving accessibility will help. Second is about self-discipline, and they believe pushing themselves will make the better results. InterpretationsThe first question of survey part1 was retrieved from Mamattah dissertation (2016). According to the questions result of the dissertation, there were 12% have no idea. However, there was no response to the statement, which means all of the participants of this research understood or had some idea about the E-Learning. In addition, the Mamattah study agreed with easy usage of E-Learning like as this research.According to study of Alhabeeb and Rowley (2016), the one of critical success factors were a relationship between the students and instructor characteristics in common with several previous studies. Whereas this study didn’t figure out the relationship between students and instructor about the success factors. In addition, this study implied the participants focused on themselves. Any participants mentioned about instructors. However, both of study figured out the instructional design factors and a well-organized contents are important. ConclusionImplicationsThe engineering college student’s perspective of the E-Learning courses included the following ideas:The engineering students are truly positive about the E-learning class.Making the E-learning classes interesting can help the students pass the class successfully.Making a guide how to manage the E-learning classes can help the students pass the class successfully.LimitationsThere were several limitations. The first limitation was time limit. This research was conducted during the period of ten weeks. The next thing is about sampling. The sampling counts were 23, whereas the target population was several hundreds. In addition, the sampling method is a convenience sampling According to McMillan (2015), “the nature of the convenience sample may bias the results” (p. 123). Last limitation was the interview. This research used a structured interview. The method may not gather in-depth answers from the interviewee. In additions, the research conducted several participants to interview via email due to the time difference. It cannot observe nonverbal responses and behaviors.RecommendationsBy covering limitation, next study will be more precise. The research needs to have enough time and the number of participants to conduct the study. Moreover, changing interview method will be helpful. The research can observe their nonverbal responses and behaviors by conducting the face-to-face interview, and semi-structured or unstructured interview should be used to gather in-depth answers. Next, a correlation analysis is recommended to analysis gender and the number of taking the classes or more factors together. This analyze would imply the finding in detail. Lastly, following one of the interpretation, the relationship between students and instructor should be conducted to figure out the success factors. ReferencesAlhabeeb, A., & Rowley, J. (2016). Critical Success Factors for eLearning in Saudi Arabian Universities.?International Journal of Educational Management,?31(2), 131-148. , J. (2005). Development of a scale to assess participation motivation related to dropout of adult learners in e-learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Adult & Continuing Education, 8(4), 123-146. Lee, Y., & Choi, J. (2011). A review of online course dropout research: Implications for practice and future research.?Educational Technology Research & Development,?59(5), 593-619. , R. S. (2016). Students’ perceptions of E-Learning (Dissertation). Retrieved from , J. H. (2015). Fundamentals of Educational Research (7th ed.) Pearson. Pappas, C. (2015). The Top eLearning Statistics and Facts for 2015 You Need to Know. eLearning Industry. Retrieved from?, P, C., Jhangiani R, S., & Chiang I, A. (2015). Research methods in psychology (2nd ed.) Retrieved from , B. (2010). E-learning technologies: A comparative study of adult learners enrolled on blended and online campuses engaging in a virtual classroom (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses databaseTaha, M. (2014). Investigating the success of E-Learning in secondary schools: The case of the Kingdom of Bahrain.UK: Brunel UniversityAppendix A: The link of instrumentsSurvey: : B: The codes of interview answers Why did you choose to take the E-Learning classes?2. Have you ever dropped the E-Learning classes? If so, how did it come about?Have you passed the E-Learning classes successfully? If so, how did it come about?4. What do you think are the factors of taking an E-Learning course successfully? ................
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