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Lewis Critique 5

Page history last edited by Melissa Lewis 7 years, 5 months ago

Factors Affecting Participation in Online Learning: Evidences from Andragogy

 

Kuo, C. & Lin S. Y. Factors Affecting Participation in Online Learning: Evidences from Andragogy. Retrieved http://umsl.edu/~wilmarthp/modla-links-2011/Factors-Affecting-Participation-in-Online-Learning-Evidences-from-Andragogy.pdf

 

Summary

            The goal of this paper was to examine substantial factors that influence performance associated with e-learning based on empirical studies. The authors presume that diversity in adult learners is increasing and that the number of non-traditional students in both degree and non-degree programs is also on the rise.  Nontraditional students are being defined as people with multiple roles in addition to student, like parent and employee, and have at least one year between high school and college. Online and blended learning offers non-traditional students a variety of opportunities to meet learning goals without being limited to time and distance and in a flexible environment.

            The first factor influencing performance that was reviewed in this article was participation. As outlined in the article, the key factors that influence participation in online learning include a sense of community, instructor involvement, prior experiences, interaction, learning styles, and motivation. The article concludes that participation in online learning does affect performance and whether authentic learning does occur. Online participation is much more than the number of postings a learner makes in a discussion forum and instead is defined as taking part and engaging in real dialogue.  It’s essential for learners to be engaged in this way for active learning to occur.

            The second factor that influences performance according to this article is the way adults learn.  Unlike children, adults in higher education have a very unique set of characteristics. Age, life experiences, and even situational characteristics like full or part-time learners impact performance. 

The authors propose that performance in online learning is directly impacted by participation and its influencers as well as adult learning and andragogy. All factors likely have a reciprocal relationship and drill down to a simple model that states quality online learning has four major elements accounted for; the learners themselves, effective facilitators, effective course design, and quality peer support.

 

Evaluation

Because this article was based on other studies, it was a bit muddled as to which study was being referenced in its conclusions. It was a short article so I didn’t expect specific details on the methodology or specific questions being asked however.  The article provided a very clear model of the influencers of online performance which offered an understandable example to summarize the content. It was clearly stated the model was based on literature reviews. Even though the article was concise, I believe it to be a great reference for developing online learning.  It provided a substantial review of the influencers of participation and characteristics of adult learners and how all of these impact active learning and performance. Although high level, the model itself provides a great reference point for future investigation. From that perspective, I would use this article as a launch point for the most impactful topics to research further.

             

Comments (1)

Chip Ingram said

at 10:18 am on Nov 8, 2016

Yes, I appears that this reviews some literature but doesn't report anything new. That's always more difficult to critique, because it is hard to tell whether they found all the relevant literature and so on. You do a reasonable job here, but it is still lacking in much detail.

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