Who is Really Responsible for On-line Students’ Technical Support? James R. Lackey, Ph.D. Oklahoma...
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Transcript of Who is Really Responsible for On-line Students’ Technical Support? James R. Lackey, Ph.D. Oklahoma...
Who is Really
Responsible
for On-line Students’
Technical Support?
James R. Lackey, Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma
…an exploratory attempt
to determine the impact
Oklahoma State
University’s Faculty
Support Center technical
support had on on-line
students.
Assumed Order of Search for Technical
Help Resources Instructor
College technical support
Help Desk
Faculty Support Center
I received adequate technical support from
the ____ on those occasions that I needed
it. Instructor
College technical support
Help Desk
Faculty Support Center
Students’ computer skills
Assessed by using self-reporting to measure self-efficacy for navigating the Internet.
Self-efficacy and ability is strongly correlated even though that correlation is not perfect
Assessment of Students’ Self-Efficacy for
Navigating the Internet
1. I feel confident in my ability to navigate the Internet.
2. I feel confident in my ability to configure an Internet browser.
3. I feel confident in my ability to find the software I need to navigate the Internet. (e.g., browsers, plug-ins, media players, and so on)
Additional Information Collected from
Students Course and instructor evaluations
Willingness to take another on-line course
Comparative perceptions of difficulty between traditional and online courses
Comparative perceptions of workload between traditional and online courses
Data Collection
E-mail Notices to 894 students directed them to URL
Student sample was from four different colleges that had on-line courses within three years previous to survey
Received 95 useable responses
Never requested technical help from
____________
Instructor
College technical support
Help Desk
Faculty Support Center
17.9%
38.9%
53.6%
61.1%
Table 1:
“I received adequate technical support from my instructor on the occasions that I needed it.
38.9
13.7
18.9
13.7
9.55.3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
neverused it
stronglyagree
agree neutral disagree stronglydisagree
Table 2:
"I received adequate technical support from the college support personnel on the occasions I
needed it.
Table 3:
"I received adequate technical support from the Help Desk on the occasions that I needed it."
Table 4:
61.1
4.210.5
14.7
6.33.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
neverused it
stronglyagree
agree neutral disagree stronglydisagree
“I received adequate technical support from Faculty Support Center on the occasions
that I needed it."
Stepwise Regression Analysis:
Independent Variables I received adequate technical
support from the ____ on those occasions that I needed it.
1. Instructor
2. College technical support
3. Help Desk
4. Faculty Support Center
Self Efficacy for Navigating the Internet
Stepwise Regression Analysis:
Statistically Significant Relationships
Course and Instructor Evaluations: Chronbach’s Alpha of .93
Statistically Significant Predictors: I received adequate technical support from the instructor on those occasions that I needed it.
Model
R R Square
R SquareChange
B Standardized
Beta
Probability
1 .627
.394 .394 .387
.627 .000
Stepwise Regression Analysis: I did not encounter many technical difficulties while trying to access this course.
Model 1. I received adequate technical support from the instructor on those occasions that I needed it.
Model 2. Model 1 plus: Self Efficacy for navigating the Internet.
Model 3. Model 2 plus: I received adequate technical support from the college support personnel on those occasions that I needed it.
R Square Standardized
R R Square Change B Beta Probability1 .641 .410 .410 .552 .641 .000
1 .641 .410 .410 .541 .628 .0002 .661 .438 .027 .246 .165 0.038
1 .641 .410 .410 .453 .526 .0002 .661 .438 .027 .267 .179 .0233 .681 .464 .026 .157 .192 .037
Model
Dependent variable:
Stepwise Regression Analysis: I would be interested in taking
another course on-line.
Model 1. I received adequate technical support from the instructor on those occasions that I needed it.
Model 2. Model 1 plus: I received adequate technical support from the Faculty Support Center.
R Square Standardized
Change Beta1 .345 .119 .119 .274 .345 .001
1 .345 .119 .119 .184 .232 .0402 .395 .156 .037 .174 .224 .046
Model R R Square B Probability
Dependent variable:
Mean for colleges with tech support 1.9
Mean for colleges lacking tech support 2.3
Difference of .41
t (94) = 2.26, p < .026
Comparison of means on student and course
evaluations between colleges with technical support and colleges
lacking technical support
Adequate technical support from instructor the only statistically significant factor in course and instructor evaluations.
Adequate technical support from instructor the main factor in students’ perception of technical difficulty in an on-line course.
Adequate technical support from instructor main factor in students’ willingness to take another on-line course.
Colleges with local technical support had better course and instructor evaluations than colleges lacking local technical support.
Discussion
Discussion con’t
No statistically significant relationships among technical issues and students’ perceptions that the course was more difficult than a traditional course.
Students did not feel that their on-line courses were more difficult than traditional courses.
The Help Desk and the Faculty Support Center play a minor roles in students’ perceptions of their on-line courses.
Summary
Faculty need to understand the technology they use to teach on-line.
Colleges and departments need local technical support to assist faculty and students.
Centralized IT support plays minor role in students’ perceptions of their on-line experiences.
The full paper is on-line at
http://go.okstate.edu/~jlackey/EDUCAU~2.DOC
“It’s never about the technology; the tool we use is people.”
Jeffery Schiller, EDUCAUSE Review March/April 2001