Over 2000 and 2001 theFlexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG) funded a program of 9 research projects related to the implementation and use of online learning and delivery. This research has been managed by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, the principal research and evaluation organisation for the VET sector in Australia.

Summaries of this research are being published in the LearnScope Virtual Learning Community once a week between 4 September 2002 and 6 November beginning with the article What the FLAG research says about online learning published on September 4.

This week we look at Summary 3 - Quality Features of Online Learning. This research found that what learners particularly value about online learning is its flexibility - learning that is "just in time, just enough and just for me". Whilst flexibility is valued, they prefer to learn in mixed mode as part of course which is delivered using face-to-face and other strategies. Other qualities that learners value include:

• Responsive teaching staff that give frequent, thoughtful and informed feedback, - the secret lies in the teacher.
  
• A well planned and organised program of learning.
  
• Well-designed, interactive and up-to-date learning resources and assessment materials, which use plain, succinct and clear, English.
  
• Opportunities to communicate and interact with teachers and other students using technology (e-mail, newsgroups, bulletin boards, chat rooms)

This research has identified a detailed list of what constitutes a quality online learning experience. Market research by NCVER indicates that tips for good practice are what many teachers and trainers want.

Quality Features of Online Learning

Project title and authors: Quality in online learning: The learner’s view (J Cashion & P Palmieri)

Project outline:  Cashion and Palmieri have investigated what makes online learning and delivery good. They
have examined it from the perspective of both learners and teachers.

The study reviewed the literature, conducted an online survey of both learners (388 respondents) and teachers (63 respondents), conducted interviews, ran a series of 5 focus groups and undertook 8 case studies.

The report is in final draft form.

What the research has found

The key quality features of online learning: Learner views
For learners, the critical features of good online learning are — in priority order:

• Flexibility: to work at the times and places the learner chooses, and at the learners’ own pace. Students valued the convenience and freedom that online learning gave them: just in time, just enough and just for me.
  
• Teachers: who respond promptly, thoughtfully and in an informed way to requests for help and other contacts.
  
• Quality of materials and course design: materials that are up to date, interactive, comprehensive and well designed so that they have clear navigation structures, clear directions to learners and mechanisms to enable students to judge their own progress.

The availability of a delivery model which enables delivery approaches to be mixed and matched is another critical aspect of quality which enables learners to opt for all online, all face-to-face or a mix of modes. Given the choice, many students would prefer mixed mode.

The remaining critical features are as follows:

• Access to resources: links to online resources, including interesting people and updating these resources and links to maintain currency.
  
• Online assessment and feedback: valid reliable, easy to use, responsive and speedy feedback, easy to download and submit online.
  
• Increase in IT skills: the opportunity to use and extend existing IT skills.
  
• Learning style: online resources that cater for varied learning preferences—including synchronous (that is real time) and asynchronous interaction, text, visual and aural media, and others.
  
• Interaction with other learners: online and other technologies and approaches which support and promote interactions between learners as well as between teacher and learners.
  
• Communication: processes which encourage co-operative and self-directed learning by the learners themselves, as well as teacher-directed learning.
  
• Ease of use: processes and design features which avoid problems such as confusion, excessive download time for resources and other information, unclear learning structures and excessive cost to the learner.

Deterrents to quality
The deterrents to quality are:

• Problems with technology and access to the internet: This is the major problem that learners encounter. The technology required can be confusing and learners may have to learn a lot of computer skills in order to study online. There may be access problems to the internet (especially in regional areas) and links may fail. Access to up-to-date computer equipment, software, help and a reliable, fast and affordable internet access may also be an issue.
  
• Self-motivation time etc: students typically comment: "I miss the discipline of having a class to attend and I need to be more disciplined to study online that face-to-face". The study is more time consuming and poor time management can be an issue.
  
• Unsatisfactory assessment: it can be hard to download assignments and submit work using the online mode. Feedback may be slow or non-existent (which jeopardises the quality of subsequent submitted work). There is the possibility of cheating if assessment is solely online.
  
• Lack of teacher responsiveness: poor teacher availability, poor response times to questions.
  
• Confusion: unclear instructions, need for clearer content.
  
• Poor or inadequate resource materials: sometimes resources can take a long time to download or are of poor quality.
  
• Lack of support: students need a lot of support before and during their time when they are learning online. They also need good support from a library or learning resource centre, student counsellors and other staff.
  
• Lack of adequate help desk services: Students remark ‘When I need help I want a real person, not a computer screen’.

Teacher views
Teachers are broadly concerned with the same issues as students. However, in addition they identify a range of other issues too, including:

• Support services for students: which include such issues as induction, pre-enrolment support, academic support for them while they learn and a range of other services such as technical support, help desks and a range of student services
  
• Their own professional development: acknowledging that the approach involves a different way of teaching (the ‘guide on the side’) as well as the development of a range of technical, resource development and other skills which are needed to develop, maintain and improve online programs
  
• Their workload: acknowledging that the traditional approach of counting student contact hours does not adequately reflect the work that goes on. In addition, the organisations do not have systems in place to recognise adequately how and to what levels staff are working

Further information and, as they are published, a full report on this national strategy project is available at: http://www.ncver.edu.au/online.htm

This topic page also allows you to:

• Access other work published by NCVER in relation to on-line learning
  
• Conduct a search on published material in the field using VOCED, the UNESCO/NCVER international database for technical and vocational education and training research
  
• Link to other sites related to on-line learning

NCVER will be running a series of face-to-face forums on this research in all states in November and December 2002. Watch their site for details at http://www.ncver.edu.au