This article reports on a large‐scale (n = 1,056), exploratory factor analysis study that determined the underlying constructs that comprise student barriers to online learning. The eight factors f...

Student barriers to online learning: A factor analytic study

This naturally occurring quasi-experiment examined how learning goal orientation (LGO), delivery mode (classroom vs. blended learning), and the perception of barriers and enablers related to motivation to learn and course outcomes. Study participants were 600 students enrolled in either classroom or blended learning courses. As hypothesized, learners in the blended learning condition, high in LGO, and who perceived environmental features as enablers rather than barriers had significantly higher motivation to learn. Motivation to learn, in turn, was significantly related to course outcomes (satisfaction, metacognition, and grades). The mediation hypotheses received partial support. Finally, exploratory analyses revealed 3 significant interactions between delivery mode, LGO, and perceived barriers and enablers on motivation to learn and course satisfaction.

Motivation to learn and course outcomes: the impact of delivery mode, learning goal orientation, and perceived barriers and enablers

This article reports on a large‐scale (n = 2,504), exploratory factor analysis that determined the underlying constructs that comprise barriers to distance education. The ten factors found were (1) administrative structure, (2) organizational change, (3) technical expertise, (4) social interaction and quality, (5) faculty compensation and time, (6) threat of technology, (7) legal issues, (8) evaluation/effectiveness, (9) access, and (10) student‐support services.

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Barriers to distance education: A factor‐analytic study

Globalization has stretched the scope of the online learner population from a homogeneous profile of mostly adult, mostly employed, place-bound, goaloriented, and intrinsically motivated to one that is heterogeneous, younger, dynamic, and responsive to rapid technological innovations. This paper describes the emerging characteristics of the online learner and ensuing pedagogical implications and suggests that exploratory and dialogical online learning pedagogical models are most effective for supporting and promoting these characteristics. The research to date has not converged on an archetypal profile of the online learner. Although some situational, affective, and demographic characteristics may cut across this learner population, what seems to be more prevalent is the changing or emerging nature of the online learner and the multiplicity of learning styles and generational differences represented. This situation carries considerable pedagogical implications for the design of online learning environments and necessitates a review of the research to determine the characteristics and skills of the emerging online learner. Determining the characteristics and educational needs of the online learner may not necessarily guarantee success in a distance education course or program (Galusha, 1997). It could, however, significantly help administrators, teachers, and instructional designers understand (a) who is likely to participate in online learning, (b) what factors or motivators contribute to a successful online learning experience, and (c) the potential barriers detering some students from participating in or successfully completing an online course. In order to better understand the characteristics and perceived skills of the online learner and the underlying motivations and barriers that impact successful online learning experiences, a review of the characteristics of the traditional or classic distance education learner is essential.

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The Online Learner: Characteristics and Pedagogical Implications

Recent technological advances have increased the overall amount of information available and improved accessibility to that information, while at the same time the costs of publishing information have decreased. These general shifts throughout society are true in education and have caused students to be more demanding and more knowledgeable about alternatives for their education. Combined with demographic trends, political forces, economic factors, the need for lifelong learning, and the changing emphases in teaching and learning, there is a resurgence of interest in distance education both at traditional institutions of higher education and in organizations whose sole mission is distance education (Dede, 1990; Knott, 1992; Lewis and Romiszowski, 1996). Can higher education at \"traditional\" universities change to meet the new student demands and the intense competition among education providers that distance education brings?

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Barriers To Online Teaching In Post-Secondary Institutions: Can Policy Changes Fix It?

Ethnography was used to elucidate barriers to completion in natural resource sciences distance education. The aim was to increase understanding of those variables associated with persistence and withdrawal, particularly to discern better the role of disciplinary content in these phenomena. The courses provide exemplars of epistemological stances that are broadly relevant. Both withdrawal and persisting students experienced situational, institutional, dispositional and epistemological problems that posed barriers to completion. Elucidation of the epistemological problems makes it evident that course content itself cannot be ignored in any theoretical or practical consideration of distance education attrition.

Maureen R. Garland

Papers

Student perceptions of the situational, institutional, dispositional and epistemological barriers to persistence