Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 59, Issue 2, September 2012, Pages 304-315
Computers & Education

A study on learners’ perceptional typology and relationships among the learner’s types, characteristics, and academic achievement in a blended e-Education environment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.01.010Get rights and content

Abstract

This study explores and describes different viewpoints on blended e-Education by using Q methodology to identify students’ perspectives and classify them into perceptional types. It is also designed to examine possible relationships among learner’s perceptional type, characteristics (i.e., academic self-efficacy, interest in blended e-Education, and extraversion) and academic achievement levels. Fifty undergraduate students taking blended e-Education courses at a Korean university were chosen as participants in this study. As a result of the study, four types of learners were identified and given the following descriptive labels: (I) e-Education Interested Type, (II) Traditional Lecture Friendly Type, (III) Social Interactionist Type, and (IV) Yes-But Mixed Type. Further, it was found that those who have either higher academic self-efficacy or extraversion achieved higher academic achievement. It is also shown that female students in general have less interest in blended e-Education. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of blended e-Education course design.

Highlights

► A Q-method was used to discern learners’ viewpoints on blended e-Education. ► Four types were identified and a type was labeled as e-Education Interested type. ► The others were Traditional Lecture Friendly, Social Interactionist, and Yes-But Type. ► Those who have higher academic self-efficacy achieved higher academic achievement. ► Those who have higher extraversion also achieved higher academic achievement.

Introduction

Due to advancements in knowledge and technology, the ways in which people teach and learn are changing in innovative directions. Blended e-Education (henceforth referred to as “BeE”) is currently being tried as a promising alternative that can improve the learning environment by compensating for defects in the traditional classroom, for instance by providing flexibility and greater opportunity for active learning. There is a widespread belief that BeE is an effective mode of teaching and learning (Garrison and Kanuka, 2004, Masie, 2006). However, in order to implement BeE successfully and efficiently, it is vital to layout a strategic road map (Bonk, Kim, & Zeng, 2006). The essential variables involved in the effective implementation of BeE are learner’s characteristics, instructional elements, and environmental factors (Dennis et al., 2006). Among these variables, the present paper deals with learner’s characteristics, including the learner’s perspective on BeE. It is necessary to consider the learner’s characteristics more systematically in order to develop an effective instructional design for BeE courses. Also, compared to studies that address changes in the teacher’s role and the educator’s perspective in a blended environment, (Humbert, 2007, Ocak, 2011, Whitchurch, 2009, Zhu et al., 2010) studies on students’ subjective awareness and cognitive research are relatively meager.

Clearly, there is need of a more formal approach to understanding learners’ psychological traits and perspectives toward BeE (Lee & Im, 2006). What is of chief concern to both educators and learners is to find a way to implement BeE in an efficacious manner that stabilizes what is now a turbulent environment. To do that, we need to analyze present conditions and users’ needs, and search for a solution. It is important to examine how the users of BeE perceive BeE, and to utilize their perceptions in formulating a more detailed and realistic strategy for fulfilling their educational needs. Also, this study recognizes that learners enter the class with vastly different inherent traits in terms of gender, age, experience, learning style, preference, etc., which results in each student achieving different learning outcomes exiting the class (e.g., Lim & Morris, 2009). Thus it is necessary to adjust class management strategies in accordance with individual learners’ characteristics. Information about learners’ characteristics enhances individualization and personalization in managing the class, and this customized management and efficient delivery can lead to increased student satisfaction and better performance (So & Brush, 2008). So the main purpose of this study is to analyze the learners’ perceptional typology regarding BeE. Then it examines possible relationships among different perceptional types, learners’ demographic features and personal characteristics, and their academic achievement levels. It is hoped that the results of this study will prove instrumental in the pedagogical design of a successful BeE model both at the course level and at the institutional level.

Pursuant to the aim of providing a typological analysis of learners’ perspectives, this study uses Q methodology to identify different viewpoints on BeE. Originally evolving from factor-analytic theory, Q methodology combines aspects of both qualitative and quantitative research traditions as a way to study the subjectivity involved in any situation. The method is ideal for deeply exploring areas of complex perceptions or opinions. Participants are asked to sort and rank a sample of statements concerning the subject of research (i.e., Q sorting). Then, the Q sorts are correlated and factor analyzed, resulting in different types that are qualitatively interpreted, providing accounts of understandings of the subject (Brown, 1980). Next, to examine the factors that influence learners’ academic achievement in BeE classes, the study explores what correlations obtain between learners’ typology, their psychological characteristics (namely, academic self-efficacy, interest in BeE, and extraversion), their demographic features, and their academic achievement levels.

A unique advantage of this study has to do with its study setting. While most studies about BeE have focused on part-time students (e.g., Heinze and Procter, 2010, Lee and Im, 2006), this study was conducted at a national university with full-time students. Participants in the study were undergraduate students from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, who were taking BeE courses that combine face-to-face lectures with online lessons. Also, it targeted students who were currently taking required BeE courses (e.g., in liberal arts, basic math, and IT). Extant studies (e.g., Macgregor, 2000) indicate that students who apply for online classes generally have strong introversion, thus researchers have to be wary of potential bias in results about learners’ cognition of BeE and attitude toward it. However, the advantage of this study is that it minimizes such bias by targeting students with various personalities and preferences, since all the undergraduate students at the university are required to take BeE classes as basic essential courses.

Section snippets

Context

Blended e-Education (BeE) refers to an integrated environment, which combines the advantages of e-Learning and traditional classroom teaching (Graham, 2006). For the effective implementation of this blended approach, educators should address the following desiderata: (1) pedagogical richness (improving student learning), (2) increasing accessibility to information, (3) social interaction, (4) personal agency (offering to students a means for directing their own learning), (5) cost

Research questions

The purpose of this study is firstly to explore the typology of how learners’ recognize and accept BeE in order to explore effective BeE teaching and managing method and to establish teaching strategies; and by finding out and sorting the types, it compares and evaluates the characteristics of each type in relation to the other types. Then it seeks to discover correlations among learners’ cognition type and psychological characteristics (interest, academic self-efficacy, and extraversion) and

Results

As a result of performing QUANL to analyze the Q typology, the 50 respondents in the P sample were discerned into four types (refer to Table 3). In this study, the four groups are given the following descriptive labels: (I) e-Education Interested Type, (II) Traditional Lecture Friendly Type, (III) Social Interactionist Type, and (IV) Yes-But Mixed Type. Overall predictable variation of four types is set to 43.47%; the number of people in each type is: 13 for type I, 22 for type II, 10 for type

Conclusion and discussion

The purpose of this study is to provide help in planning better blended courses by analyzing BeE’s current state of affairs in light of learners’ cognition and typology. As a result of the study, four groups were analyzed and given the following descriptive labels: (I) e-Education Interested Type, (II) Traditional Lecture Friendly Type, (III) Social Interactionist Type, and (IV) Yes-But Mixed Type. The features identifying each of the four perceptional types are mostly supported by earlier

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation in Korea.

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