S4.1.1

=Course documentation describes the available student personal and learning support services. =

Evidence
The use of e-learning to remove the constraint that students attend courses face-to-face does not remove the need for institutions to provide as full a range of support services as possible (Sewart, 1993). As well as technical support for e-learning students need support with personal and learning issues. It is important for the student to be welcomed and made sufficiently comfortable with the e-learning environment so that they are able to express and explain their need for and what they require from support.

Student Induction to E-learning (SIEL, draft March 2010) emphasizes that one of the criticisms and weaknesses of e-learning is that its retention rate is demonstrably lower than traditional face to face classes. Online courses have a failed retention rate 10-20% higher than traditional courses. It is argued that total support for new e-learning students is needed to ensure good retention rates. This support necessarily must take many forms in a complete package. ‘A student’s first set of experiences with e-learning can be either a barrier to retention or contribute to the likelihood of persistence’ (p. 7). Consequences of a poor set of first experiences with e-learning include individual and social effects, disruption to a student’s goals, cost to the student, negative testimonials, and loss for future participants in e-learning in general. The SIEL report reviews the literature on best practice for student support and lists many recommendations.

Established distance learning institutions recognise the importance of strong student support. For example, the UK Open University has a tutor to learner ration of 20-25:1 and tutor responsibilities include ‘maintaining personal contact with their students…and mediating the learning experience’ (Daniel and Mackintosh, 2003, p. 819). And, the University of South Africa has a Department of Student Support that arranges face-to-face tutorials, although Daniel and Mackintosh note that resourcing this facility is a challenge.

Student support is not just a formal service to be delivered it is also an on-going informal dynamic process that students must involve themselves in, and it needs to be fostered. As Clarke (Clarke, 2004) advises, ‘support is not limited to the formal support of your tutors but can include: other learners; study circles/groups; family; friends; learning centre staff; workplace instructors; mentors; tutors’ (pp. 16-17). It is important for the student to be welcomed and made sufficiently comfortable with the e-learning environment so that they are able to express and explain their need for and what they require from support. Clarke describes five key elements that the online tutor provides to help to make this happen: welcome/ confidence; support; feedback; facilitation; monitoring.

Valtonen et al. (2009) Study student readiness for e-learning. They discover that students are not all equally ready to undertake e-learning. There are negative, neutral, and positive attitudes and beliefs concerning online learning. Also, their ideas about the possibilities of e-learning are superficial. Students must be shown the point and possibilities of e-learning if it is to be successful. It is simply not true that just because students are digital natives that they have transferable skills and a disposition to work in online environments. Many students lack self-efficacy and hence are likely to avoid difficult tasks in this domain. Although the students utilize ICT tools in daily life efficiently, and the difference in ICT skills across students was small, there were marked differences in beliefs about e-learning. Many students do not know enough about the possibilities for e-learning because of ‘functional fixedness’. They simply aren’t used to using the web to learn. It is important to offer students more information about the characteristics and possibilities for online learning.

Resources
Evidence of capability in the practice is seen in clear documentation, complying with a consistent institutional template, setting out the information necessary for accessing all available student services.

The primary focus for institutions, according to SIEL (SIEL draft March 2010) is to anticipate the needs of the students. Improving post-secondary student e-learning and retention involves putting mechanisms in place to assist with communicating student and institutional expectations prior to the student’s first e-learning experience. Understanding best practice for student induction, undertaking self-assessment to evaluate institutional e-learning induction practices, and preparing first-year students for e-learning all during the early weeks of their first course. The SIEL report details in a matrix how all this can be done.

Supporting E-learning in Higher Education

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERS0303/ecm0303.pdf