Factors Affecting Student Participation in the Online Learning Environment at the Open University of Hong Kong.

HONG Kong (China); CHINA

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that affect students' participation in the online learning environment (OLE) for distance learning students of mathematics at the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) and to compile students suggestions to improve their use of the OLE. A questionnaire was designed to survey students' usage pattern of the OLE (called WebCT). The analysis of the results obtained from the open-ended questions in the questionnaire and the interviews revealed that students liked using the OLE for sharing and learning from each other. They also preferred to have tutorial notes and the solutions for the assignments. To improve WebCT, students suggested adding electronic submission for assignments (WebCT Campus Edition 3.6.2 was adopted at the time of doing this study), students' assignment records, Chinese character support and a mathematical science package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le but de cette étude était d'explorer les facteurs qui affectent la participation des étudiants dans un environnement d'apprentissage en ligne (EAL) pour des étudiants à distance en mathématiques à l'Open Learning University of Hong Kong et de déterminer les suggestions des étudiants susceptibles d'améliorer l'utilisation du EAL. Un questionnaire a été réalisé pour sonder les profils d'utilisation des étudiants du EAL (WebCT). L'analyse des résultats obtenus à partir des questions ouvertes du questionnaire indiquent que les étudiants aiment utiliser le EAL pour partager et pour apprendre les uns des autres. Ils préféraient aussi avoir les notes de cours et les solutions des exercices. Pour améliorer WebCT, les étudiants ont suggéré l'ajout de fonctionnalités de soumission électronique des exercices et de suivi des exercices des étudiants, des polices de caractère chinoises et un progiciel de science mathématique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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