L3 2 1

=Support staff provide students with assistance in developing e-learning skills. =

Evidence
Students should be supported in understanding what is expected from them as learners and in gaining the necessary generic and specific learning skills, including attaining competency with the associated technologies.

Ho et al. (2010) found that e-learning system quality and e-learning readiness influence learning outcomes indirectly through e-learners' competency. Therefore, organizations that would like to implement e-learning with their employees should focus on improving individuals' online learning skills such as self-direction, meta-cognitive, and collaborative skills.

Kvavik and Caruso (2005) consider training to be an ongoing requirement as technology advances and changes, ‘[w]e cannot assume that students are prepared to take advantage of these technologies in the absence of planned, systematic, and just-in-time training that is based on a recognized level of required skills’ (p. 19).

Organisational and administrative support system infrastructures must be in place to develop and maintain effective, responsive, and complete online e-learning experiences for students (Ragan, 1999).

Calls for wide ranging support for technology skill development appear to be decreasing as a more technosavvy generation enters higher education and institutional resourcing for e-learning support begins to improve. Results of a survey by Concannon et al. (2005) of 446 campus-based students found only 14 percent of students had very limited computer experience, yet there were no reports of difficulties with online systems. They attribute this user satisfaction to the system’s ‘inherent usability’, which suggests ‘generic computer training is not required…’ (p. 506). However, constraints on students’ home-study circumstances, such as a need to share computer access and low bandwidth connections, need to be considered (Kirkwood and Price, 2005).

Furthermore, there is an identifiable need to continue support for steadily increasing numbers of mature learners, who often lack the necessary technology skills and/or confidence to effectively undertake e-learning. Moreover, Hrabe et al., (2005) have observed that students who regard themselves as technically proficient may have formed habits that could impede their online learning.

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 a 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
The IMS Student Induction to E-learning report (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.

The primary focus for institutions, according to the SIEL report (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.