COMPARING WHAT FACULTY & STUDENTS VALUE IN ONLINE LEARNING

Online learning is now derigeur in tertiary education, where most institutions have invested in at least one Learning Management System. Both faculty and students expect to use some sort of online learning to enhance the educational process. Both faculty and students have clear opinions about the value and best uses of online learning technology. However, it is rare to find these opinions and values compared within one institution.

The Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates provide tertiary education for national men and women. Faculty and management are primarily Western trained; students are raised and educated locally. HCT is consistently in the forefront of using educational technology and online learning tools for course delivery and additional skill development. This paper seeks to compare and contrast HCT’s faculty and students perceive as the benefits of online learning, i.e. why and how online learning is helpful.

A set of proposed benefits for online learning was assembled from previous studies, as well as from HCT staff with expertise in online learning. The set of inputs was edited down to a final list of 10 distinct benefits that was presented to faculty and students at one HCT campus. Each benefit was rated from very important to very unimportant, using a 5-point Likert scale. Respondents were also asked a number of demographic classification questions.

For each group (and demographic subgroup) the average rating on each proposed benefit is compared to that group’s average rating across all benefits. Benefits that rate above average are noted as “preferred uses”. Preferred uses are compared and contrasted across different groups. The results indicate areas of use and value where students and staff agree or disagree. Based on the results of these comparisons, recommendations are made on the most beneficial uses of online learning.