Communication, Humor, and Personality: Student's Attitudes to Learning Online

Abstract This qualitative study of 400 responses from students enrolled in 72 online courses offered by 15 different institutions examined students' attitudes to online teaching and learning. Results suggest that students emphasized the importance of flexibility, good communication, and interaction. Students tended to differ in their attitudes toward asynchronous communications with some highly appreciative of the time it offers for thoughtful communication and the ability for all to voice opinions; others miss the immediacy of face-to-face communication. Students in the virtual classroom responded positively to active learning, excellent interaction amongst students, and a knowledgeable faculty member who was actively involved with students and provided constructive and timely feedback to their work. The implications of this study involve faculty time management and the cost of delivering online courses. Introduction A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Carr, 2000) entitled, "Psych Students Learn More Through Distance Ed But Are Less Satisfied" became one more entry into the ongoing debate over the quality and efficacy of online learning. This debate escalated in 1999 with the publication of Russell's No Significant Difference and Merisotis and Phipps (1999) critique of Russell's findings. This qualitative study attempts to respond to at least one of Merisotis and Phipps' (1999) critiques of distance education research. It is not based on the analysis of one individual course, but of student evaluations from 72 courses offered by 15 colleges and universities who are members of the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) was founded in 1997 to promote online learning and teaching. Currently 32 of Connecticut's institutions of higher education belong to the Consortium and in fall 2000 offered over 140 online courses to approximately 2,500 students. Twenty-three online programs at the Associate's, Bachelor's, and Master's degree levels are either approved or under construction. Since its first four courses were offered in the Spring of 1998, the CTDLC has asked faculty to have their students complete an online survey instrument which serves as a course evaluation, a means of tracking online student demographics, and an examination of students' reasons for taking and opinions about online classes. The survey also has an open-ended comment section providing a rich additional source of information about students' attitudes toward online teaching and learning. While students comment specifically on one class, when analyzed in the aggregate, these statements cross institutions and courses and paint a more comprehensive picture of attitudes toward online courses, online learning, and online teaching. What these comments demonstrate is that teachers can and do create an online teaching environment which favors thoughtful communication, requires the active participation of teachers and students, and above all promotes learning. Method This study is based on an analysis of 400 responses to the student survey for the Fall 2000 semester. This represents approximately 20% of the students who registered for online courses offered by CTDLC members that semester. As the evaluation is given at the end of the class, those students who withdraw or fail to complete the class generally do not complete it, and therefore the actual return rate may be slightly larger than 20%. In the Fall 2000 survey students were asked to respond to three open-ended questions: 1) "Is there anything about the online classroom that has made it easier for you to learn, achieve your academic goals, or participate in class discussions (as compared to an on-ground classroom)"; 2) "Is there anything that has made it harder?" 3) "We'd appreciate any other comments about your experience with this online course. Any observations, suggestions or criticisms about the strengths or weaknesses of online learning in particular would be welcome? …