learning strategies and academic achievement in a corporate e-learning environment

copyright(c) 2003 Insook Lee All rights reserved

Learning Strategies and Academic Achievement in A Corporate e-Learning

Environment

Insook Lee Sejong University

AECT 2003 Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA. USA

2003. 10.23

2 copyright(c) 2003 Insook Lee All rights reserved

emerging need for e-learning: • learning strategies as a critical variable for success in

e-learning• yet, not paid sufficient attention to learning strategies • tends to presuppose the same learning strategies

identified and discussed in the traditional F2F learning environment

• Corporate companies worldwide: employing e-learning to remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing business environment (Weggen, 2000)

• F2F and real-time educational paradigm: limitations and fails to respond to emerging needs (Lee, 1998)

• e-learning environment: a highly learner-centered and self-regulated environment, where learners must take responsibility for what and how they learn

Study Purposes


The current study • identified self-regulated learning strategies within the e-

learning environment• suggested implications for instructional interventions

1. Which learning strategies can predict academic achievement within the e-learning environment?

2. Which factors have effects on the performance of learning strategies within the e-learning environment?

3. What are the correlations among the 11 learning strategies?

4. How competitive in learning strategies are adult learnerswithin the e-learning environment?

Study Purposes


Summary

• learning strategies help learners to guide their own learning process and make appropriate decisions independently.

• ignoring learning strategies may discourage learners from developing and exploring their own new learning strategies.

• research on learning strategies in the traditional F2F environment: Gagné, 1985; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1986; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986• research on learning strategies in print-based media: Ryan, 1984; Slife et al., 1985; Swanson, 1990; Applegate et al., 1994

Theoretical Background


Recent literature in e-learning

• supports the idea that learner self-regulated issues are critical factors for achievement and satisfaction level

• Burge, 1993; Eastmond, 1993; Hanna, Glowacki-Dudka, & Conceicao-Runlee, 2000; Eom, 1999; Hill & Hannafin, 1997; Lee, 2000, 2002; Joo, Bong, & Choi, 2000

• self-regulated learning as being influential for e-learning environment design and more specifically for instructional strategies in the e-learning environment



Burge(1993) and Eastmond(1993) • many learning strategies from traditional learning • some idiosyncratic learning strategies of its own

Lyman (1998) • six learning strategies called ‘information literacy’, especially in a resource-based learning environment.

Lee(2002a, 2002b)• identified college students’ e-learning strategies • expression, information processing, self-regulation, and the use of human resources

Lee (2002c)• gender differences on learning strategies• interaction, information processing, sincerity, and persistence.



Summary

e-learning: tremendously learner-centered

Learner-centered making decisions by learners a high level of self-regulated learning abilities. for learners who cannot manage effectively the complexity of this environment, a need for explicit modeling or scaffolding support.



Subjects

• 73 adult learners

• taking any of 5 courses offered by CREDU, a leading e-learning company in KOREA

• study participants: varied in terms of course taking, companies on duty, ages, genders, and years of educational experiences

Study Methods and Procedures


• courses: Daily English, Basic Business, Painting Arts, Business Communication Skills, Homepage Design, and Internet for Beginners

• companies on duty: vary

• ages: the 20s (N=19), the 30s (N=40), and the 40s(N=3)

• genders: 79.5% for males and 20.5% for females

• years of educational experiences: 26% for no college degree, 64.4% for undergraduate degree, and 9.6% for graduate degree



Features of courses• offered for a charge• various learning activities were not required• individual learning paces and schedules were basically allowed. • offered Q&A, discussion, audio based lectures and multimedia

materials(mostly lectures) – except Internet for Beginners• no chatting function• basically combination of texts and graphics• learning achievement criteria:

- daily tests and comprehensive tests (Daily English, Homepage Design, and Internet for Beginners)- individual assignments or learning activities (Basic Business, Painting Arts, and Business Communication Skills)



Instruments

• A 48-item survey; 11 categories

• 5-point Likert scales

• conducted through the e-mail

• during the final week of the term



The questionnaire

self-direction α=.73 Expression(in text) α=.78

Multiplicity in discussion

α=.77 Social skills α=.74

information overload

α=80information processing

α=.81

asynchronicity management α=.75 time management

α=.75

information interpretation

α=.84self-efficacy positive attitude

one item



Content validity• small group review by 7 graduate students • 5 experts’ reviews• and pilot test with 80 adults • Revisions were done based on the result of the paired t-test.

• Mean, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation, and Multi-regression were computed for the questionnaires and 5-point Likert items with negative descriptions were reversed for convenient interpretation.



1. Which learning strategies can predict academic achievement within the corporate e-learning environment?

• Multi-regression(step-wise)

• the relative importance of each learning strategy in

predicting academic achievement

• The result: Only ‘time management’ was a significant predictor on academic achievement (p < .01).

strategies of predicting academic achievementstrategy variables

R R² B β t p

time management

.398 .159 5.064 .398 2.78 .008

Major Findings and Results


strategies of predicting academic achievement

• It explained 15.9% of the variance in academic achievement.

• For adult learners within the corporate e-learning environment, the higher time management skill the better the academic achievement.

a positive relationship with learning achievement• the competency level of regular participation in a course• in-time submission of assignments or learning activities,• and learning pace and schedule management

strategy variables

R R² B β t p

time management

.398 .159 5.064 .398 2.78 .008



2.Which factors have effects on the performance of learning strategies within the e-learning environment?

• ANOVA: to examine the effects of three factors (genders, ages, and years of educational experiences) on the eleven learning strategy competence measures

• two groups, below 32 years old and over 33 years old, based on the pattern of distribution

• The effects of years of educational experiences and ages, or years of educational experiences by age interaction were significant within 5 of eleven learning strategies.



1) Years of educational experiences effect was significant in both multiple discussion(p <. 05) and information overload management (p <. 05).

2) Age effect (p <. 05) and years of educational experiences effect(p<. 05) were significant in information processing.

3) Age by years of educational experiences interaction was significant in both self-efficacy(p <. 05) and positive attitude(p <. 05).



4) self-confidence: interaction between ages and years of educational experiences

• no-undergraduate degree holders: below 33 years old(M=4.35):outstandingly higher self-confidence than over 33 years old(M=3.00)

• undergraduate degree holders: Differences between two age groups almost disappeared.

• graduate degree holders: the pattern was reversed.

below 33 years old

over 33 years old

Graduate degree holders

undergraduate degree holders

no-undergraduate degree holders



5) positive attitude: interaction between ages and years of educational experiences

• no-undergraduate degree holders: below 33 years old(M=4.00) outstandingly more positive attitude than over 33 years old (M=3.00)

• undergraduate degree holders: The pattern was reversed & differences almost disappeared

• graduate degree: differences more increased

below 33 years old

over 33 years old

Graduate degree holders

undergraduate degree holders

no-undergraduate degree holders



3. What are the correlations among the 11 e-learning strategies?

<positive and moderately high correlation>• Time management and self-regulation: (r= .657, p <.01)

<slight and positive correlation>(ranging from r = .290 to r =.450)• Information overload management with self-regulation• information processing with self-regulation• asynchronicity management with self-regulation<strong correlation>• multiple discussion management-information processing(r = .789)• multiple discussion management-expression (r = .784)• information processing –expression (r = .774)• information processing- information overload management

(r = .719)



<social skills>• not associated with self-regulation, time management, self-efficacy, a

nd asynchronicity management (p > 0.05)• not closely associated with any other learning strategies in general.

summaryAlthough correlation data cannot address causality1. better in multiple discussion strategy better in information processin

g, information overload management, and expression2. better in information processing better in expression and informatio

n overload management.3. sociability was neither associated with self-regulation, time manageme

nt, self-efficacy, and asynchronicity management(p > 0.05); was nor closely associated with any other learning strategies in general.



4. How competitive in learning strategies are the adult learners within the corporate e-learning environment?

• The 9 strategies: competence level of below 3.5 • The two most competent strategies: self-efficacy (M=4.29) and posi

tive attitude (M=4.06). • Asynchronicity management: the least competent strategy• Expression (M=2.99) and multiple discussion (M=3.07) were among

the other less • time management, with a significant effect on academic achievemen

t: low scores on competence

strategy M SD strategy M SD

self-regulation 3.50 .65 Asynchronicity management 2.71 .79

expression 2.99 .70 time management 3.41 .75

multiple discussion 3.07 .59 information interpretation 3.48 .57

Social skills 3.30 .77 self-efficacy 4.29 .70

information overload management

3.42 .52 positive attitude 4.06 .80

information processing 3.49 .54



1. External supports are especially demanded to enhance time management strategy or to compensate for the weakness of it.

• Higher time management competency facilitated

better learning achievement. Time management• regardless the years of educational experiences, ages and genders, were

low in competence.

• facilitated better learning achievement and as well was highly correlated with self-regulation (r=.657, p <.01). This finding clearly indicated that time management may facilitate not only learning performance but also self-regulated learning participation with the e-learning environment.

Implications and Discussion


2. need for instructional interventions to enhance the learning strategies of adult corporate e-learners

Corporate adult learners appeared not to be competitive in most of the learning strategies in the e-learning environment and time management was not exceptional.

• time management: highly correlated with many other strategies• multiple discussion and information processing: significantly

highly correlated with various other strategies. • expression strategy: not significantly related with e-learning

achievement. These result indicated that expression strategy may facilitate cognitive and behavioral involvement in e-learning rather than learning performance itself. Or, the main trends of e-learning programs may do not design to require expression strategy.



3. needs for additional interventions for no-undergraduate degree holders: to enhance multiple discussion, information overload management, and information processing

4. needs for additional interventions on information processing for over 33 years old

5. special supports on self-efficacy and positive attitude for no-undergraduate degree holders, over 33 years old...



Q & A

[email protected] http://dasan.sejong.ac.kr/~inlee

Sejong UniversitySeoul, KOREA

learning strategies and academic achievement in a corporate e-learning environment

Documents