Abstract

Use of the Internet has brought about an alternative education form, the so-called Web-based instruction (WBI). It purports to sweep over current instructional problems and provide a revolutionary educational environment. One thing to be remembered along with the emergence of new educational technology such as the World Wide Web, however, is that diverse innovations throughout educational history did not last very long and resulted in bandwagons. In order not to be another historical bandwagon, the WBI needs to be studied in abundance and in depth. In this vein, this study analyzed WBI learners' adaptation styles and characteristics related with the styles by retrospectively assessing the perceptions of various aspects of WBI. Students participating in various courses at 11 universities nationwide in Korea which had been experimenting with WBI under the auspices of the Ministry of Education since 1998, were surveyed initially and the final analysis consisted of 177 females and 157 males (n=334). The results indicated three findings. First, retrospective post-assessment of learners' perceptions was a viable method for analyzing the adaptation styles in WBI. Second, WBI students were not learning uniformly so that there existed four distinct adaptation styles during WBI process. Third, any efforts to improve the quality of WBI need to consider these adaptation styles of students one way or another. These findings are expected to be used for drawing useful strategies for implementing a more desirable WBI.

Citation

Lee, M.G. (2001). Profiling students' adaptation styles in Web-based learning. Computers & Education, 36(2), 121-132. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved June 7, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/90615/.

Keywords

• academic achievement
• computer literacy
• Distance education and telelearning
• EVALUATION METHODS
• Foreign Countries
• higher education
• interaction
• Participant Satisfaction
• pedagogical issues
• post-secondary education
• Questionnaires
• student attitudes
• Student Characteristics
• Web Based Instruction