An Exploratory Analysis Of Factors Influencing Students Decisions To Take Online Courses

Clara Dorado, Juanita Hernandez, Balkissa SaniChristopher Griffin, Ph.D. And William Barnett, Ph.D

Background

Nationally Majority of academic institutions offer online

courses Increased spending for CBT Increased penetration of high speed internet

Louisiana Significant spending on distance and online

education Widely dispersed rural population Often must run for our lives!!!

Research Goal

ULM is working towards a specific profile for online students Capability Probability of Success

Question – When choosing course delivery method (online/hybrid vs. traditional): What factors influence student decision

making? What is the nature of this influence?

Literature

Perception-based Influences Scheduling Issues Interaction with others Course quality Difficulty Acceptance by employers

Influences based on Student Maturity Level of independence

Research Model

Convenience

H1 (+)

Convenience

H1 (+)

Level of Difficulty

H2 (-)

Level of Difficulty

H2 (-)

Effectiveness

H3 (+)

Effectiveness

H3 (+)

Social Interaction

H4 (+)

Social Interaction

H4 (+)

Decision to take

online/hybrid course

Decision to take

online/hybrid course

Data Collection

Survey developed using items from literature

Questionnaire items perception-based General demographic data also collected Sample

Students choosing course delivery method Multiple disciplines represented N=146

Results

Factor Analysis supported convergent validity of survey items

Multiple Regression Four factor model significant at p=.000 Direction of coefficients support research model

Hypothesis H1 (CONV) p=.003 H2 (LOD) p=.136 H3 (EFF) p=.000 H4 (SCL) p=.604

Conclusions

Interesting Points Most significant influence was Course

Effectiveness Insignificant influence of Social Interaction not

wholly unexpected Future Directions

Explore impact of learning management system

Expand study to include detailed analysis of demographic data

Expand diversity of sample

Questions?