Online Learning Empirical Research on the Learning Process and Its Impact on Learning Outcomes: Review of Literature and a Future Research Direction

Research on e-learning has been conducted over the past several decades. The most common e-learning empirical research streams have been studies that examine potential predictors of course learning outcomes. Building a holistic success model with a system’s view is a critical issue that must be tackled to make progress toward building robust e-learning theories. The purpose of this research is to further investigate the critical issue raised by Eom and Ashill (2018) to guide future empirical research in building robust e-learning theories. The majority of e-learning empirical research studies of critical success factors over the past decade built models of a set of disconnected constructs. We conclude that it is imperative for future e-learning empirical research to focus on building a holistic success model of a set of interconnected constructs with a system’s view

Recent Development in Information Science: Implications for Information Systems Research

Over past several decades, the management information systems (MIS) community has adopted theories, methodologies, philosophical bases, and assumptions from sister disciplines. This paper reports the changing nature of information science (IS) towards multi-disciplinarity and its development over the past decade. It also examines the contribution of informetrics to MIS research in delineating the intellectual structure of information systems, comparing cumulative research traditions, demonstrating theoretical differences between competing approaches, tracing a paradigm shift. Development in IS provides MIS researchers with ample opportunities for cross-disciplinary research, new research tools, new theories to understand information systems phenomena, etc

Effects Of Interaction On Students’ Perceived Learning Satisfaction In University Online Education: An Empirical Investigation

This study examined the antecedents and outcomes of interaction in asynchronous online learning courses. The research model was tested by using a Partial Least Squares analysis on the survey data. A total of 397 valid unduplicated responses from students who have completed at least one online course at a university in the Midwest were used to examine the structural model. All hypotheses except one in this study were supported. We found that all three factors - course structure, self-motivation, and learning styles - influenced students’ interaction with the instructor and classmates. Further, there is a positive relationship between interaction and students’ satisfaction. This is in accordance with the findings of the extant literature on student satisfaction we have discussed. The structural model results also reveal that user satisfaction is a significant predictor of learning outcomes, but the model failed to support the relationship between interaction and the learning outcomes of e-learning classes in relation to face-to-face classes

The Determinants of Web Based Instructional Systems\u27 Outcome: A Step-wise Regression Approach

Technology plays an important role in the everyday life of children born in the ‘digital’ era. The ability to use web technologies in the K-6 educational context opens up new opportunities for teaching and learning. This study investigates the adoption and integration of a web technology into a second grade classroom. The study utilizes a community-based research method to assess the technology adoption decision and the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to effectively utilize this digital medium in the classroom and beyond. The study’s context is a collaborative effort between the academic researchers and an elementary school teacher to develop and implement a classroom web site. This project is a pilot to the school-wide implementation of web sites in grades K-6. Our findings suggest that the factors for web site adoption and integration include the alignment of the site’s purpose with the teacher’s needs, the use of rapid application development strategy for web design, the development of a comprehensive teacher’s training program for web content management, and the use of collaborative tactics for web site implementation. Web technologies have a potential to enrich the students’ educational experience and home-to-school communication. However, there are social and technological challenges for planning, designing, and diffusing web technologies into the elementary schools. The findings of this study have implications for the elementary school educators interested in developing and integrating classroom web sites for teaching, learning, and communicating with their community

Dialogue between Students and the Instructor: A Missing Link in Assessing E-Learning Outcomes

Interaction is one of the controversial topics in e-learning literature. Overall body of knowledge that has accumulated over the past decade seemed inconclusive and needs critical analyses. To find an answer to the perplexing issue, this study presents a path analysis model to investigate the effects of interaction and dialog on e-learning outcomes and satisfaction. The path analysis model we present here differs from all existing studies in that the path model introduced a new variable, dialog. The concept of dialog is suggested by Moore, but it was not empirically test until now. Based on the review of related research, five hypotheses were developed. The structural equations also show that about forty two percent of e-learning satisfaction levels can be explained by three endogenous variables and one exogenous variable (learning outcomes). The level of student satisfaction in e-learning hinges on the facilitating role of the instructor, the interaction among students, and the dialogue between the instructor and students, in the order of the magnitude of path coefficients

Strategies for Enhancing the Learning Outcomes for Web-based Distance Education Students

In our earlier study, we examined the determinants of students\u27 satisfaction and their perceived learning outcomes in the context of university online courses. Independent variables included in the study are course structure, instructor feedback, self-motivation, learning style, interaction, and instructor facilitation as potential determinants of online learning. Using the structural equation modeling software (PLS Graph), we found that course structure, instructor feedback, selfmotivation, learning styles, interaction, and instructor facilitation significantly affect student satisfaction. Nevertheless, of these six antecedent variables, instructor feedback and student learning styles are only two constructs that significantly affect the perceived learning outcomes of e-learning students. We propose a research model of e-learning motivation to answer one of the three disputable research findings: specifying the conditions under which selfmotivation is likely to have positive, negative, or neutral effect on perceived learning outcomes

A CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS MODEL FOR DIGITAL DISTANCE LEARNING

Based on the prior two models of critical success factors (CSF) of online learning, this research presented a new CSF model that includes the use of mobile devices and tightly integrated constructs of self-regulated learning (SRL), intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. This new CSF model reflects the evolving nature of a CSF model in response to changing external environments, including the emergence of connectivism to support online education. Independent variables included in the study are the use of mobile devices, student motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), student self-regulation, dialogue (instructor-student and student-student), instructor, and course design as potential determinants of online learning outcomes and student satisfaction. A total of 323 valid unduplicated responses from students who have completed at least one online course at a university in the Midwest were used to examine the structural model