An analysis of student perception of implementing e-Learning in the Sri Lankan private higher education sector
Kennedy D Gunawardana
Professor of Accounting
University of Sri Jayawardanapura. Sri Lanka
ABSTRACT
The importance of understanding student perceptions is to enhance student satisfaction which in turn can be used to successfully market private education in Sri Lanka. This study is further important due to increasing demand of education in the country and the increasing number of ‘institutes’ mushrooming in the WesternProvince. Through this research the relationship between the perceptions of students with respect to implementing e-Learning in selected higher educational institutions will be examined. The research methodology was a survey approach where students were questioned from 5 quality institutes. SPSS v.16 was used to analyse the data.
The literature for this study has been drawn mainly from educational management journals however there is also reference to information technology and business management. The factors suggested in the literature review that affect students perception of e-Learning will be viewed in the local context.
The secondary research for this report was mainly obtained from stakeholders of the various institutes’ under analysis as well as their websites and from the research done by the World Economic Forum. Primary data was obtained from questionnaires given to students.
The ultimate goal of identification of student perceptions is so that a proposed e-Learning model can be identified for the private higher education context benefiting students, teachers, the organization and eventually society.
Keywords: perceptions, satisfaction, implementing e-Learning, e-Learning model
1.0 Introduction
The 21st century has been an era of innovations in mass media, telecommunications and information technology growing so rapidly, that it is as if technology has a life of its own. It is recorded that 25.6% of the world’s population use the internet in some sort and 42.6% of this population are users in Asia itself (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2009). Therefore even though many of Asia’s countries are still developing their technological growth is just as important as the West’s.
In Sri Lanka the gap between the rich and poor is growing considerably, even though some may have connections to ICT, there are many others who have not even used a computer. The digital divide is also wide. According to the Department of Census and Statistics (2009) in Sri Lanka the literacy rate of urban sector households is 31.1% as compared to the estate sector which has a literacy rate of 8.4%.
One noteworthy point of this census however sets the WesternProvince apart with a computer literacy rate of 27.7% which is much higher than all other districts. By looking at this evidence and from practical observation of the Sri Lankan environment it can be concluded that there is a subculture of Sri Lankans that are IT literate. The research done in this paper focuses on this ‘net generation’ (who spend at least one hour watching television, playing computer games or surfing the net) and how technology can be used to teach them. There may be a digital divide in Sri Lanka but when we consider private higher education students it is observed that all students know how to use a computer and most students have internet access at home as well as access to a personal mobile phone. This sub-culture of students are in the most part tech savvy and receptive to information, they are a generation who’s questions are answered by Google search engines.
With keeping all of this in mind the question to be answered is why e-Learning is not introduced to their curriculum more readily. Is it due to cultural barriers or is it the fact that the right infrastructure and teachers are not available? This study will explore these factors by looking at student perceptions of e-Learning implementation.
There are many barriers to undergraduate education. In the academic year of 2008/2009 130,236 students satisfied the minimum entry level for state university however only 20,270 got selected for a place in university. Only 44% of those who applied got into university even though they qualified. (University Grants Commision, 2009) The local situation is extremely competitive; the universities admissions policy can be very complex and hard to comply with as compared to private universities thus quality private universities are important.
Implementation of e-Learning can take place with minimal training due to the technologically savvy generation who already know how to use the internet, computers and mobile phones. They do not have to be taught. This means that students can learn more flexibly.
The rapid development of technological features such as visual aids, video, audio, interactive multimedia and the internet increases the efficiency of the teaching process and allows students to more readily remember information. The rate of use of e-Learning nevertheless is very minimal; students mainly use technology for entertainment. The reasons for this should be explored. Why don’t students perceive technology as supportive for their curriculum? The objectives of the paper as follows.
- To find out the existing level of e-Learning in Sri Lankan higher education sector and existing challenges of implementing e-Learning.
- To find out the factors affecting the students’ perception of implementing e-Learning in the private higher educational sector.
- To identify critical success factors that will have an effect on the use e-Learning.
- To find out a mechanism to develop a proposed e-Learning model.
This study is limited to selected private higher education institutes in the WesternProvince. Within this framework offshore institutes will be taken who have a student population higher than 1000.The target age group will be from 0-24 doing their final year of an undergraduate degree.
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 History of e-learning
In 1993 William D. Graziadei officially recorded the first online lecture through the Virtual Instructional Classroom Environment in Science (Jay Cross, 2004). The specific term ‘e-Learning’ however was created by Jay Cross in 1998, a veteran of the software industry. Since then many have used the term differently according to the context of their environment however the general idea that e-Learning is the use of information technology adopted in the learning process can be derived from the name ‘e-Learning’ itself. Abel (2005) described that e-Learning can have different meanings to different people and that we can not specify a generalized definition. This factor demonstrates the dynamic nature of e-Learning. Jay Cross (2004) described the world as an e-World where technology was used in our day to day lives thus is 2010 we can predict with no hesitation that technology is even more important for the development of society. In 2004 the Web 2.0 term was created to describe how visitors interact with the internet through learning methods such as wikis, blogs, Google Docs and many other technologies. (Hannon & D’Netto, 2007)
2.2 Definitions
In 1999 Cisco stated that e-Learning was ‘internet enabled learning which included content delivery, management of the learning experience and a networked community of learners, content developers and experts.’ (Cross, 2004) Bhattacharya and Sharma in their research paper (2007,p.553) described that Urdan and Wegans defined e-Learning as the delivery of course content through electronic means as follows- ‘internet, intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, audio/ video tape, interactive TV and CD-ROM.’
Computer based training (CBT) was also a popular in 2001 to describe training over networks such as the internet and intranets. According to research by Bhattacharya and Sharma (2007) other terms used synonym to e-Learning are Computer-based learning, online learning and the popular term in our globalised environment which is distance education. These relationships are shown below.
Figure 1: Relations between learning technologies
Source: (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007)
2.3 Local context
Sri Lanka maintains high educational standards as compared to the rest of Asia (Gamage and Halpin, 2006) however when we look at research papers with regard to the local context it is quite clear that even though there is potential for e-Learning it is not implemented on a broad scale. Research done by Thowfeek and Hussein through an investigation of South Eastern UniversitySri Lanka found out that lecturers here are optimistic towards accepting e-Learning methods (2008). Even though we can see a positive outlook here it should be noted that research done in Sri Lanka with regard to e-Learning includes simpler technologies such as casual browsing of the internet, use of SMS facilities and telephones. Most of the research done with regard to ICT focuses on developing the computer literacy of the country and talks about issues such as the digital divide, distance education centres and growth of telecommunications due to the recent increase in competition in this market, deregulation of ICT policies, e-Readiness and computer literacy (Thowfeek & Hussin, 2008) Literature written by Gunawardena (2007) did however include some new topics such as incorporation of virtual private networks, ADSL, implementation of WAP and e-government.
Some areas local researchers have missed is the use of e-Learning to cater to mass students efficiently due to the trend of limited resources such as class room space, time and specially qualified teachers (Engelbrecht, 2003). Another area left untouched is the use of e-Learning to strategically differentiate courses offered. This is increasingly important due to the trend of small institutes mushrooming all over Sri Lanka. Another cash cow that educational institutes should look into is the growth of the net generation; this consists mainly of tech savvy youth who spend much of their time on the internet for entertainment. Education is for social development however we must not forget the business aspect to it. This is further stressed in the research paper by Hannon and D’Netto (2007) where Doherty describes online delivery of course material as a strategy to ‘extend markets, maximize profits, lower costs and position institutions competitively.’
2.4 Analysis of Objectives with Respect to Previous Literature
Existing level of e-Learning in private institutes
A study done by Gunawardana (2005) found that existing e-Learning awareness in selected Sri Lankan educational institutions was high however it is organizational willingness to develop that is the main challenge. Technology has advanced however the use of these technology in the education sector is lagging far behind (Tucker & Gentry, 2009) compared to other industries. This means that the use of e-Learning in education sector is limited. The local research papers will be a guideline to help solve the first objective however further primary research will be needed as the population sample in this research is expected to be ‘the Net Generation’ who are much more technology friendly as compared to the sample population of SEUSL.
Factors affecting student’s perceptions
In a local context Thowfeek and Hussein (2008) found several factors that influence student acceptance. These are shown below.
Figure 2: Factors that influence student acceptance of e-Learning in Sri Lanka
Source: (Thowfeek and Hussein, 2008)
From all these factors the critical factors with regard to student perception need to be identified. Similar findings for the present research will be found however without doing this primary research we cannot conclude this as facts.
In a global context McPherson and Nunes (2006) divided the e-Learning success factors as leadership, cultural issues, structural issues, design and technology issues as well as delivery management. By identifying these common success factors the best practices of e-Learning can be identified so as to increase the success rate of e-Learning implementation and regular use.
The most critical factors for successful implementation
The previous objective is further analyzed through the third objective of identifying critical success factors that have an effect on the use of e-Learning. The most important of these factors need to be highlighted so that the e-Learning process can aim to solve these barriers. Thus saving resources and time and increasing the likely success of the e-Learning program. Many researchers have identified various success factors. According Laudon and Laudon as specified by Keller and Cernerund (2002) management support, user participation and degree of complexity and risk according to the new technology were identified as crucial. Hannon and D’Netto (2007) research showed that user satisfaction with technology was the largest barrier to positive acceptance of e-Learning. Another analysis stated that (Chi-Ng, 2007) student-teacher, student-student, or student-content interaction should he high for quality learning. In the Sri Lankan context Gunawardana (2005) described four basic elements for successful e-Learning which are supportive instructional material, motivational tutorial support, communication between the stakeholders and collaboration.
Hannon and D’Netto (2007) found that e-learning success is a complex ‘interaction of technological and organizational factors.’ This is further enforced through Mitchell’s and Honore’s (2007) structure where an essential foundation is set before people factors
Figure 3: Criteria for successful blended learning
Source: (Mitchell & Honore, 2007)
For the purpose of this present research a questionnaire survey is the method that should be used. Downe-Wambadt (1992) as explained by Keller and Cernerund (2002) described the process of questionnaires and ‘content analysis’ so that answers could be categorized to find out the most weighted factors as perceived by students.
Developing a successful e-Learning mechanism
According to Stephen (2007) 16.6% of students in Sri Lanka believe that the ‘image of foreign universities’ is a reason for their popularity. Implementing a successful e-Learning model is thus important to further increase the value of this image. In Keller and Cernerund’s (2002) study the most important factor of influencing student perceptions was the university e-Learning implementation strategy rather than individual background variables. This means that developing a suitable e-Learning mechanism is vital for successful implementation. Some Web platforms offered by Swedish universities were online lectures supported by chat and messaging, discussion forums and e-Libraries (Keller and Cernerund, 2002). As students become more demanding synchronous technologies should be implemented (Chi-Ng, 2007) as it results in good communication, motivation and fun. As well as new technology the implementation needed to be systematically monitored by management (Keller and Cernerund, 2002). On a local level Gunawardana (2005) found that technology is used casually but not for online learning thus it would be fallacious to assume (Hannon and D’Netto, 2007), that merely providing advanced technology would automatically lead to high collaborative learning. Technology needs to be carefully integrated with the course.
Blended e-learning models which include face-to-face contact can prove to be extremely beneficial (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Engelbrecht’s study, (2003) summarizes most of the previous research though the concept of e-Learning models which are ‘content, service and technology model’, ‘instructional design model’ and ‘learning communities’. Through primary research the most appropriate model or a mix of the different models should be identified specific to private higher educational institutions.
3.0 Methodology and Secondary Data Analysis
3.1 Population & Sample
This study focuses on students studying business or IT related courses in private higher educational institutions registered under the Board of Investment (BOI) under the heading ‘Business and IT Training Institutes’. BOI registered companies have been chosen to further specialize in this one segment.
Stratified sampling was used for the case of practicality on the basis of number of degree programs offered. Universities offering more than 3 offshore university undergraduate qualifications will be taken for the purpose of this study. These institutes are more likely to offer e-Learning in the future. Students were questioned on a random basis. Equal numbers of male and female participants will be questioned.
Figure 4: Population and Sample
Source: University Grants Commission, BOI register
The selected institutions according to stratified sampling are (in alphabetical order)
- Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology
- Australian College of Business And Technology
- ImperialCollege of Higher Education
- Informatics Institute of Technology
- International College of Business and Technology
3.2 Secondary Data
The data for this section is mainly from the World Economic Forum’s analysis of Sri Lanka and from private sources within the respective institutes.
3.3 Analysis of Secondary Data
The secondary data in this section is analysed while keeping in mind the various objectives.
3.3.1 Analysing the existing level of e-Learning
3.3.1.1 Country Context
According to the World Economic Forum (2010), in a country context Sri Lanka is in a reasonably tolerable position compared to its South Asian neighbours in terms of information technology.
Figure 5:Sri Lanka’s IT Readiness and Infrastructure
Source: (World Economic Forum and INSEAD, 2010)
The above figure shows Sri Lanka’s IT readiness component and infrastructure component. These two factors will compliment the e-Learning process. There is however much room for improvements when Sri Lanka is benchmarked with Korea.
The graph below shows IT usage according to research done by the World Economic Forum.
Figure 6: IT Usage
Source: (World Economic Forum and INSEAD, 2010)
Individual usage of IT is growing thus it can be assumed that there will be some increase in the level of e-Learning because the internet is a large part of IT and a lot of learning can be done through the internet. Business usage since 2002 has been decreasing however since 2008 there was an increasing trend.