Abstract:

Technology is increasingly developing and influencing the context and content of distance education. Technology has the capability to transform and alter distance education. These changes lead academicians to essentially reinvent their roles. Indeed, in this new environment instructors are acting as facilitators and it is fair to mention that their role is also to lead the students. On the other hand, students are also faced with a new educational reality. Students are no longer located within a physical classroom but in a virtual one. The goal of the current paper focuses on identifying how the students’ profile influence the interaction with the distance learning environment. In order to understand the relationship between students and distance education a questionnaire survey was designed and implemented. Three hundred and eleven students participated in the survey and provided their profiles and distance learning experience along with their learning preferences. The survey was designed and implemented through google forms. One hundred and twenty – four questions were provided to the participants. The findings of the current research indicate that students’ profiles influence their experience with distance learning environments. One of the attributes associated with the students’ behavior is the marital status. Single students tend to keep their camera closed while the opposite is true for married students. Married students consider distance learning as a method of education which is most efficient, while single students consider distance learning as inefficient to average efficient. Other factors as well influence the experience and performance of the distance learning environment.

Keywords:

University Students’ Characteristics, Student Preferences, Questionnaire Survey, Distance Learning, Correlation Analysis.