Torstein Rekkedal:
Courses on the WWW - Student Experiences and Attitudes Towards WWW Courses - II (1999)

Evaluation Report Written for the Leonardo Online Training Project, MMWWW. http://www.nki.no/eeileo/

Introduction

Background to the research

This report is the third official NKI evaluation report written for the Leonardo Project, 'Multi Media World Wide Web Kernel for Distance Education'. The project partners are Ericsson Systems Expertise, Ireland, University of Rome III, Italy and NKI Distance Education, Norway.

The project incrementally develops a WWW kernel for distance education, a series of courses to be distributed and taught on the WWW and evaluates these courses with the aim both of developing the kernel itself, developing general didactics for teaching on the WWW and increasing the quality of the individual courses.

The second NKI evaluation report (here called the '1997 survey') was published on the Leonardo Project home page early in 1998 based on the first run of courses on the Kernel. The title of that report was identical to the title of this report except for the affix 'II' (Rekkedal, 1998a). This third survey (here called the '1998 survey') of the project is nearly identical in content to the second survey (as indicated by the similarities in titles).

This report contains also most of the information included in the 1997 survey report (Rekkedal 1998a). The general introductory information is updated and revised. When presenting the student answers to the quantitative questions, we have for comparisons and comments included information from both surveys. Open answers are presented only from the 1998 survey.

The main differences between these two final surveys of the project (project evaluation reports 2 (1997 survey) and 3 (1998 survey)) are:

• The 1997 survey was originally meant to include evaluation of one single course only, namely "The Tutor in Distance Education" (Norwegian version). However, as the number of students who had finished the course in time for the interim deliverables to go to the Leonardo administration office in Brussels was quite low, we decided to include completers from some other courses which had been distributed and taught on the Kernel developed by the partnership. Consequently, the respondents included students from 8 different courses in two different study programmes and two stand alone courses. The evaluation report presented here (1998 survey) concerns students who were registered in one or more courses within three IT Study Programmes taught on the Kernel in autumn 1998.
• The 1997 survey included only completers. We found that surveying completers only could result in a more favourable picture than would the total student body. Thus, in this 1998 survey all students registered in the programmes were invited to answer the questionnaire.
• · The 1997 questionnaire was distributed by ordinary 'snail' mail. A reminder was sent after approximately 2 weeks. This procedure produced 34 usable questionnaires (response rate 61 percent). The 1998 questionnaire was distributed as a web page. An e-mail was sent to all students registered on the relevant Listserv lists referring to the web questionnaire. This procedure included one reminder after approximately one month and gave 98 responses.

The 1997 evaluation survey was based on a questionnaire distributed to all students at NKI Distance Education who completed at least one of the defined WWW courses taught on the Kernel during 1997. A pilot evaluation report (the first NKI evaluation study of the project) covered active students on Internet courses in summer 1997 has been presented by Rekkedal and Paulsen (1997) (http://www.nettskolen.com/alle/forskning/33/evaluati.htm). See also Rekkedal (1998b).

NKI and Teaching on the Internet

NKI is one of the largest non-governmental educational institutions in Norway. NKI comprises The Polytechnic College, NKI Distance Education, the Business Training Centre (NA) and The NKI Publishing House. A further presentation of NKI is available at URL: http://www.nki.no

NKI Distance Education offers more than 60 distance education programmes and more than 300 courses, mainly in technical and vocational subjects. It has about 15,000 students. An extensive network of local partners around the country is established to offer face-to-face classes to support the distance students. The distance education tutors are part-time employees recruited from business, industry, schools and colleges around the country. 'The Electronic College' (in Norwegian 'Nettskolen') is the metaphor and registered brand name for the Internet based courses and study programmes offered by NKI Distance Education.

The Polytechnic College was established in 1995 as a merger between to two NKI colleges, The NKI College of Engineering and the College of Computer Science. In addition to its ordinary two- and three-year full time programmes, it offers three one-year, part-time programmes in information processing: 'Administrative Computing', 'Programming and system analysis' and 'Information Networks'. These part-time programmes have been offered in three modes: face-to-face classes, correspondence courses and/or as Internet studies by the Electronic College (Nettskolen). From 1999 NKI Distance Education has decided to stop enrolling students for the correspondence study alternative of these programmes. The decision was taken because of evident success in enrolling students for Internet based learning rather than correspondence study based learning and the students' favourable attitudes towards studying on the Internet.

The Electronic College

The Electronic College is designed so that distance students can do all their communication online. In contrast, many of the internationally renowned implementations of 'electronic colleges' are actually using computer conferencing as a supplement to correspondence courses or on-campus teaching. The philosophy of the NKI Electronic College has always been to offer programmes that are independent of time and space through a system that facilitates flexible communication for administrative, social, and teaching purposes.

Since the first courses were delivered in 1987, we have distinguished between three technological generations of the NKI Electronic College. The first generation system, which was based on the 'EKKO computer conferencing' system developed at NKI (Paulsen & Rekkedal 1990), was in operation from 1987 to 1993. The second generation, which was Internet based, started in January 1994. The first and second generation experiences are documented in an OECD report (Paulsen and Rekkedal 1996) and in several articles available at http://www.nettskolen.com/alle/forskning/

The third generation comprises web-based courses introduced in 1996.

The Focus of this Evaluation

It has been a major intention of both the 1997 and the 1998 survey that the evaluation of courses based on the WWW kernel developed in co-operation in the project should include a majority of questions common to the three partners. Thus, some of the questions could perhaps seem to be more relevant for one partner than for another. A few of the questions were adapted from a previous survey, 'Evaluation virtuelle Seminare' (Fritsch 1997). In general we wished to cover questions within these areas:

• the students' attitudes towards WWW-based learning
• their situation concerning use of computers and computer technology
• characteristics of students - who are attracted to WWW courses
• specific viewpoints on learning on the WWW and the actual courses

Methodology

Survey Method

We have, over the years, experienced that it becomes more and more difficult to receive acceptable response rates to postal questionnaire surveys. We chose to construct a questionnaire including mainly fixed answers to tick.

The 1997 survey questionnaire was distributed to 56 students at the end of January 1998. We selected all students who had completed one or more courses presenting the course material on the WWW during 1997. An introductory letter explaining the aims of the survey and a free postage return envelope was enclosed with the questionnaire. The answers were returned anonymously, and we sent out a reminder to everyone after approximately 2 weeks.

The 1998 survey questionnaire was distributed on the home pages of the Electronic College, and an e-mail was sent to all students who were registered in one or more of the three study programmes mentioned above during autumn 1998. The e-mail was sent on 15^th December 1998 and a reminder was distributed on 12^th January 1999.

Response Rate and Representativeness

1997 Survey

After 4 weeks we had received 34 completed questionnaires, i. e. a response rate of 61 percent. As the presentation of results will show, the students' attitudes towards learning efficiency of WWW based courses are generally quite positive. However, it could always be questioned whether the respondents constitute a representative sample of the population. To examine whether there were systematic differences between early and late responders, we tested for differences between the first and second half of the respondents on the attitude questions. The reminder was sent after having received approximately half of the completed questionnaires. We tested the differences in answers between the first 17 respondents, as one group, and the last 17 respondents as another using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test.

The tests showed that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups concerning their answers to the attitude questions (probability values .005**, .008**, .031*, .101, .007** and .007**). The early respondents were more favourable towards their experiences from learning in a WWW based course than were the late respondents. From this one should take into account the possibility that the non-answerers perhaps might be less positive than the average of respondents.

1998 Survey

This questionnaire was presented on the WWW and an e-mail was distributed to make the students aware of the questionnaire. This procedure means that students, who for some reason do not open their e-mails, will not be aware of the questionnaire. As the letter to the students about the questionnaire was distributed around Christmas (just after autumn semester exams), there is reason to believe that many students were not active on the Internet at the time in question. For this reason we do not know how many had read the e-mail and decided not to answer. The ratio between the number of respondents answering that they started their studies in autumn 1998 and the total number of enrolled students during autumn 1998 was 55/232 (24%). This may indicate the rate of responses related to the total number of students. Response rate related to the number of students who actually were aware of the questionnaire is probably much higher. In total we received 98 responses.

Results

The courses

Table 1 gives an overview of the courses and study programmes represented in the two surveys and the number of respondents representing the courses/programmes. All courses involve the following aspects:

• Learning material presented and distributed on the WWW
• E-mail communication with tutor and fellow students
• Conferencing through a Listserv distributed mailing list (academic and social conferences)
• Assignments for submission corrected and commented on by a course tutor.

The courses generally also include ordinary textbooks. The students can enrol in the courses at any time and follow their individual schedule of study progression. This individual flexibility is, according to previous surveys among Internet students (e. g. Rekkedal & Paulsen 1997) and also correspondence and prospective students (Rekkedal & Møystad 1999), seen as a great advantage by the students. On the other hand, this flexibility reduces the possibility of meaningful student-to-student interaction. There is no doubt that it is a great challenge for institutions offering Internet based educational and training programmes to develop didactic designs balancing between the students' needs for individual freedom and flexibility and possible learning support achieved through group communication, discussions and co-operation on the net.

Note that the 1997 survey included completers only, while the 1998 survey included all registered students on the three programmes in autumn 1998. The 5 students in the 'Information Technology for Teachers' participated in a trial run of the course with fixed starting time and fixed progression. The courses 'Java Programming' and 'The Tutor in Distance Education' are stand alone courses. The others are study programmes. Thus, the students in these programmes may have studied more than one course. All the courses in both surveys are related to ICT, except for the 'Tutor in Distance Education Course'.

Some background information related to study experience and activity

As the 1998 survey included all registered students in autumn 1998, we added a few questions to the original questionnaire on the students' experience in the Electronic College measured by the number of semesters they had been enrolled for studies on the Internet, how many single courses they had completed when answering the questionnaire and their study activity during autumn 1998.

Number of courses completed

Approximately 60 percent of the respondents have completed at least 1 course on the Internet. The fact that some students have not completed any courses, does not mean that they have not been active studying. A cross tabulation of answers to the question on courses completed and study activity in autumn 1998 shows that 10 of the 40 students state that they plan to take or have taken at least one course exam in autumn 1998. The exams were arranged at the time of carrying out the survey.

Number of semesters enrolled in the Electronic College

A little more than half of the students had enrolled during the autumn semester 1998. As the students enrol continuously, some students may have been enrolled for quite a short period of time.

Study activity: autumn 1998

The alternatives for study activity was put as:

Inactive:

'I have during the autumn semester been registered on one or more courses, but have not really been active studying'

Active:

'I have during the autumn semester been active studying one or more courses, but not completed any course'

Completed:

'I have during the autumn semester completed at least one course, but not registered for any exams'

Exam:

'I have during the autumn semester taken/registered for examination in one or more courses'

Naturally, few students have completed courses without registering for exams. The majority has registered for or taken at least one exam by autumn 1998 (close to 60%).

Attitudes towards learning at a distance in courses taught on the WWW

One important aim of both surveys in this research was to examine whether offering the courses on the WWW facilitated enrolment, whether the WWW was seen as an efficient way of learning and whether their general experiences had been positive, measured by possible interest in enrolling in another course themselves or if they would consider recommending others to take courses offered on the WWW. To approach these problems from different angles we asked six different questions measured by a 5-graded 'Likert scale'. The questions are presented both in English and Norwegian below. The results are presented as percentages of respondents who have ticked the alternatives and the median (Md) of the answers, where the extreme positive end of the scale counts 5 and the negative end counts 1 (Note that in Table 4 were the question is put in the negative form the values of the scale are changed.)

Learning effects

Courses can be presented in many ways, such as full-time or part-time classes, distance education based on printed material and other types of pre-produced material, correspondence education or e-mail communication with or without conferencing facilities. We have e.g. previously showed that CMC students have achieved better at examinations than both part-time students taught in classes and correspondence students (see Paulsen 1992).

We can clearly conclude that the students in both surveys agreed and agreed strongly that efficient learning can result from distance courses based on the WWW. Only 3 out of 34 students in the 1997 survey disagreed, none ticked 'strongly disagree'. In the 1998 survey the students' attitudes are at least as favourable. Only 2 out of 98 students disagreed.

As this question was given in a negative form, the value assigned to the alternatives when calculating the median is opposite to the other questions. In both surveys very few students agree to the statement that learning was damaged because the course was presented and taught on the WWW. On the other hand, some very few students in both surveys actually indicate that teaching the course on the WWW has influenced their learning negatively.

For obvious reasons the students have difficulties in comparing learning results from courses on the WWW with possible results from learning by other forms or methods of study. This is probably due to the fact that they have studied this (these) specific course(s) only as distance learning based on the WWW. Still, we may note that in both surveys there are more students who agree with the statement than disagree. Quite a lot of the students are uncertain concerning whether course results in Internet studies are 'as good as face-to-face'.

From the answers in both surveys we may conclude with quite certainty that the students find learning on the WWW as an efficient form of learning. The differences between the surveys that the 1998 survey included all registered students and not only completers, as in the 1997 survey, have not influenced the results significantly. We would expect that the 1998 survey included some students who had not found WWW study satisfactory, as many of them (41%) have not completed any courses, and many (15%) state that they have not actually been actively studying during the semester when the survey was carried out.

Enrolment facilitated

It is difficult to say what form of learning the students actually are comparing with. In a previous NKI survey among Internet students (Rekkedal & Paulsen 1997) we asked the students about the probability of enrolling in full time, part time or correspondence courses. It was clear that few of the students would consider taking part time or full time studies. The probability of enrolling in correspondence study (having similar flexibility as WWW courses) was higher (41% on the positive side of the scale compared to 23% for part time study and only 3% for full time).

Thus, it is not surprising that more than 80 percent of the respondents in the 1997 survey and more than 94 percent in the 1998 survey confirmed that enrolment was facilitated because the course was offered on the Internet/WWW. The few negative answers are probably due to the fact that some students do not have access to the necessary technology when they were planning their studies.

Attitudes

Positive and negative attitudes towards an activity can be measured in many ways. We decided that whether the student would participate in the activity again or recommend the activity to a colleague or friend would constitute reasonably valid indicators of how the activity is valued. (See e.g. Boshier et al. (1997) who used the variable "Recommend this course to friends interested in the subject" as an indicator for the researchers' subjective view of WWW courses.)

Concerning the possibility of enrolling again in a WWW based course an overwhelming majority in both surveys is very positive. Only one student in the 1997 survey disagrees with the statement. There should be little doubt that this feedback from the students must be understood as very favourable towards distance learning based on the WWW.

This fact is largely supported also by the even more positive responses to the statement of encouraging friends or colleagues to enrol in a WWW based course. 84 percent and 88 percent of the respondents in the two surveys agreed with the statement (Table 10).

It is quite promising for the future of attracting students to learning on the WWW that a great majority of the students agree to the statement of encouraging a colleague or friend to enrol in a distance learning course presented and taught on the WWW.

Access to computers and technology and use of computers

Part two of the questionnaires surveyed the students' access to computers and the Internet, their actual use of computers measured by 'hours spent at a computer screen' and 'computer literacy' (here measured only by knowledge of HTML). These questions, together with a question on who is paying for the course, are supposed to give some information about the market for distance courses on the WWW at present (i.e. more correctly in 1997-1999).

As mentioned, the questionnaire of the 1997 survey was distributed to students who had completed at least one WWW course. This means that some of the students, taking more than one course, might still be studying with NKI Distance Education while others might not. The same could be the case concerning the 1998 survey students. Without actually having much comparable data so far, we at least would conclude that the students in both surveys, on an average, spend a considerable amount of hours in front of a computer screen every week, the median time being 13.3 and 17.3 hours respectively. However, in the above-mentioned German study the students spent even more time before the computer screen (Md =20.1 (calculated by the author of this report from Fritsch's (1997) tables)).

What type of computer did you use for the course?

Nearly all the students (85% in the 1997 and 92% in the 1998 survey) used a Pentium computer. 486 PC was used by three students in the 1997 survey and 6 students in the 1998 survey, while other alternatives such as below 486 PC, Unix or MacIntosh were practically non-existent in both surveys. Consequently, it seems that concerning capacity and speed we may assume that most students in our WWW courses are using Pentium computers.

NKI Distance Education has chosen to construct course pages in the WWW courses with text, graphics and presentation forms to minimise the amount of data to be transferred, to reduce waiting time as much as possible. The alternative answers were given as subjective judgements and not as objective measures in minutes and seconds. Not surprisingly, as the questionnaire in the 1997 survey was distributed to course completers only, the last alternative 'too slow' was not ticked by anyone. If these answers are representative for waiting time in general for the web pages in the courses, we would conclude that, as the courses are constructed, the capacity of communication lines are satisfactory for the majority of the students. It seems that our strategy of minimising the load of information in the web pages has been successful so far. It is also clear that most of the students connect through modems from home.

Access to Internet and e-mail before course start

NKI Distance Education started its first pilot courses based on computer conferencing and the internally constructed conferencing system, EKKO, in 1987. Since 1994 we started using the Internet for e-mail and Listserv for group distribution and student interaction. Since the early pilot courses, it has been one important element in the total course package to offer user access and e-mail address at the NKI server. During the last few years we have seen that more and more new enrolees have Internet access and e-mail addresses before they start their courses. Among the respondents in the 1997 survey there were 26 (79%) of 33 students who answered that they had an e-mail address before they started their study. In the 1998 survey the percentage of students who had an e-mail address before registering had risen to 84 (82% of the 98 students). NKI does not look upon Internet access provision as a primary service. Thus, while previously access to the Internet through the Electronic College was necessary for attracting students, now the College does not generally offer connections and an e-mail address but expects students to have their private subscription to the Internet.

Can you construct or change a page in HTML?

As one measure of 'computer literacy' we included in the common questionnaire whether the students were able to construct or change a page in HTML. It is not surprising that the majority of respondents in the NKI sample confirm that they can use HTML - as they have completed courses related to the Internet, WWW, C++ and Java programming languages. It is only the course for 'Tutors in Distance Education' that has no direct relation to computer science or the application of Internet tools. 26 of the respondents (76%) of the 1997 survey answer that they can construct or change a page in HTML. In the 1998 survey this percentage was 57 (55 of 98 students). The reason for this difference is to be found in the fact that the 1997 survey had an over-representation of students in programmes where application of HTML was part of the course content, and that the 1997 survey also included completers only.

The alternative 3 was included in the questionnaire to make it similar to the questionnaires used by the other partners in the Leonardo project. Who is paying for the course and whether in-company students are allowed to spend their paid working hours for study, would perhaps be better covered by two separate questions, as it seems clear that for most respondents the alternative number 5 means the course is paid for by their employer, but that they at least spend some of their leisure time for study. It seems that more than 50 percent of the 1997 survey respondents have their courses paid by their employer. The figures are comparable to previous results from NKI surveys (both among Internet students (Rekkedal & Paulsen 1997) and among Technical College students (Rekkedal 1997) with a tendency of a larger proportion of Internet/WWW courses paid by the employer than other types traditional correspondence study based distance education courses). These figures are not confirmed in the 1998 survey where 60 percent answer that they pay their studies themselves.

Student characteristics

There are only small differences between these students and distance students at NKI and in general. For instance in a survey among distance students at the NKI Technical college in 1994 (unpublished internal evaluation paper) and in 1997 (Rekkedal 1997) the median age was 32 and 31 years respectively. There is no sign that the NKI WWW courses recruit especially young persons as could perhaps be expected. The students in the 1998 survey are somewhat younger than the 1997 survey students.

Gender

Out of 33 respondents answering the question on gender in the 1997 survey, 17 (52%) were women and 16 (49%) were men. In the 1998 survey there are 38 (39%) women and 60 (61%) men. As noted the 1998 survey includes only IT courses. Actually, relative to most statistics on recruitment to different types of courses, we find the proportion of women to be quite high. The conclusion here would be that IT courses and technology based distance learning are attractive also for many women. Distance learning through WWW based courses is chosen by and completed by both men and women. The disadvantages of women have been focused in some studies (see e.g. Kirkup & von Prümmer 1997).

'Unemployed' was also given as an alternative, but not ticked by any respondent in any of the two surveys. There are quite a number of students in the 1997 survey. These are probably full time students who take one or more distance course in addition to their ordinary study load, or take a distance course as a personal choice among other subjects credited in their study programme. The 1997 survey included a group of teachers taking the Information Technology for Teachers Programme. It seems strange that so many of the 1998 Information Technology students tick the 'other' occupation alternative.

For obvious reasons, most of the students have completed secondary school with university admission certification (as this is the general basis for admission) and the majority has also completed some years of college or university. E.g. most of the students taking the 'Information Technology Programme for Teachers' have completed 4 or more years of higher education. 'The Information Network Programme' is also a typical further education study for people having completed a college certificate or degree. In principle, students may take single courses involved in college programmes without having earned entrance qualifications for higher education programmes. The higher percentage of students with 4 years or more higher education in the 1997 survey is mainly due to the group of teachers from Oslo constituting a large part of that sample.

It is clearly demonstrated that the reasons for enrolment are mainly job related. The alternative chosen by most respondents in the 1997 survey is that 'they need the competence in their present job'. 'To increase general competence' also seems to be important, and is the most chosen alternative in the 1998 survey. Some students tick 'interest in the subject' as the prime reason for enrolling. We have discussed whether studying on the Internet/WWW, as something new in itself, could stimulate enrolment to distance studies offered on the WWW. This does not seem to be the case. In the 1998 survey this alternative is not chosen by anyone. This is in accordance with previous NKI experiences, e.g. Rekkedal & Paulsen (1997) where also no one ticked the alternative 'interest in this form of study'. In the 1997 survey included in this report two respondents ticked this alternative. Both had completed the 'Tutor in Distance Education' course. Thus, their interest in teaching on the Internet/WWW is not surprising.

Some other viewpoints on the experience of learning on the WWW and the courses

WWW Material in Printed Form

The NKI WWW courses use the web in different ways. In some courses, all the material is distributed on the WWW, in some courses the 'Study guide' on the WWW is supplemented by printed textbooks. In the 'Tutor in Distance Education' course the students received the material also in print, except for the hypertexts with reference to internal and external material. As part of our didactic discussions, the question whether to supply material also in print and which material to distribute in which form, have to some extent been controversial. Thus, at different occasions we have put these questions to students. In the 1997 survey we simply asked the question: 'Would you consider it an advantage if the course material on the WWW was also distributed in printed form?' 26 (79%) answered 'yes', while only 7 (21%) of the respondents who answered the question said 'no'. Of course, both for technical reasons (some material on the WWW is difficult or impossible to present in print), for cost reasons, and for practical reasons such as updating and possible handling different versions, it might not be feasible to supply additional printed material. Recently, we have taken the decision that the Internet students if possible only receive materials, which can be distributed electronically. In the 1998 survey the question was worded differently: 'Do you find it important that the study guides are distributed in print in addition to distribution on the WWW?'. Strangely enough the answers to this question were the same 78 (80%) answered 'yes' and only 20 (20%) answered 'no'. Consequently, it is good reason to conclude that the students in general are in favour of receiving the WWW study guides also in print.

Final open-ended questions

This first of the three open questions completing the questionnaire was answered by 29 persons, the second was answered by 25, and the last question (other comments) was answered by 21 persons in the 1997 survey. The answers had very different lengths and, of course, many of the answers contained viewpoints on different aspects, which made categorisation quite difficult. As the final comments generally covered viewpoints similar to the answers to the two first questions, we have presented these comments as either 'appreciated elements' or 'elements missing or under-exploited'.

Which elements of the WWW course have you most appreciated?

The answers below cover general advantages of individual distance learning, advantages of communicating electronically, to specific advantages connected with presenting courses on the WWW, viewpoints concerned with the specific course(s) they have studied, and general positive comments on experiences of learning in the WWW based course(s).

General viewpoints on distance learning and flexibility:

1997 Survey:

• Freedom to study when I wish.
• Freedom to choose time, place and progression.
• Independence of time.
• The possibility of communicating with tutors and fellow students via e-mail, and taking the courses without being locked to certain hours.
• I study at the University of Oslo, so the main importance was the possibility of taking the course without having to be physically present; quick communication between student and tutor.
• Time saving, can study when I wish, very quick feedback from the tutor.
• The flexibility; quick feedback from the tutor; updated learning materials.

1998 Survey:

• The freedom to study when it suits me best!
• The possibility of studying when it suits you; the use of e-mail for submitting assignments.
• That you can study when your time permits.
• To study when it is suitable and possible for you.
• To be able to study when I wish.
• Autonomy/flexibility.
• To be able to work at home related to the family situation. Communicating with the tutor by e-mail.
• That I may manage my use of time myself; that I can be in contact with fellow students on the class list; feedback from the teacher
• Access whenever I wish, whether I am in Norway or in Denmark.
• Communications via e-mail, which does that I can study when I want to and still, get quick answers.
• The freedom to study when I wish and the discussions groups were I could participate according to own wish and needs.
• Possibility of studying when it suits me; use as long/short time as I wish; no letters to post in ordinary mail boxes; ability to take exams if/when I wish.
• Freedom and flexibility in the teaching system; time independence etc. Very active Forum in Programming.
• The reason I chose to take a course on the WWW is that it can be combined with full-time employment and family responsibilities.
• The possibility of choosing the time when I wish to study. Better that traditional distance education because you quickly can submit your assignments and also receive quick feedback on questions/problems/assignments. The conference, the feeling of being a member of a class, even though you in a sense studies alone.
• I am still at an early stage in my studies, but in my opinion the most positive aspect is that you can study wherever you are. It as also very positive that you can receive supports and helps from fellow students.

Communication with fellow students:

1998 Survey:

• Contact with fellow students, excellent feedback from the tutor on submitted assignments. The teaching/learning system functions very well, the institution has a good reputation, I am very satisfied and I must tell that I already have got a new job.
• The possibility of communicating with fellow students via e-mail.
• Communication with fellow students - via discussion lists.
• The co-operation with fellow students.
• 'The class room'
• 'The common mail box'
• I have had good use of the student conference. I wish that there would be large activity there also for the next semester.
• The discussion forums, quick responses from the teacher, quick feedback on assignments submitted.
• The conference is the most used and most useful aspect of the course for me.
• The conferences/distribution lists, i.e. continuous contact with fellow students and teachers in the courses I study
• The e-mail discussions
• The conference (Forum) with questions, discussions and answers. Guidance from the teacher and the comments to submitted assignments.
• The class conferences function very well. The teachers also give swift feedback on questions and assignments submitted. Very handy to submit assignments by e-mail instead of ordinary mail with paper, envelops, stamps etc.
• The Forum (Class discussion list); because I can see what problems fellow students struggle with, and I can approach everyone if I meet difficulties myself.
• The e-mail lists (probably the same as above - discussion forums).
• E-mail/Listserv (Regrettably there was all too little activity on the part of the students. This is partly due to the fact that not all teachers fell obliged to answer questions/problems that the students do not manage to solve themselves, the possibility of presenting new information of general interest to the students.)
• The possibility of communicating with fellow students and the teacher in the conferences.
• Communication and problem solving with the help of the Forum on the Internet; the freedom to choose how one wish to work.

Exercises and assignments (aspects of individual distance learning):

1997 Survey:

• Exercises and assignments.
• The assignments for submission.
• The exercises and assignments on the WWW gave very good insights - and learning through self-activity and work.
• Practical assignments.
• Project work ('Information technology Programme for Teachers').

Viewpoints concerned with computer mediated communication:

1997 Survey:

• Use of e-mail; easier than visiting the post office.
• The use of information technology and use of e-mail.
• It is clear that Internet, e-mail, PC's etc save time; however with these tools documents may disappear and technical difficulties may arise; the threshold for frustration may be low, apart from this the use of information technology in distance teaching is a great advantage.

1998 Survey:

• I live abroad. Thus, it goes extremely much faster for me to get feedback on assignments than if I should have used ordinary mail.
• Efficient communication via e-mail.
• That you can look at other people's mails and questions from fellow students.

Viewpoints on the quality of tutor work and feedback:

1997 survey:

• High quality and quick tutor responses.
• It is very motivating that the communication with the tutor is so fast.
• Excellent teacher in 'WWW presentations'!
• The contact with the tutors - specifically in the course 'Network Administration'.

1998 survey:

• Quick replies from the teacher and fellow students when you have questions.
• Quick feedback from the teacher, got feedback within one day (theoretically impossible with ordinary mail).
• The possibility of contacting the teacher when needed in a simple way. Discussions on the e-mail lists.
• The possibility of getting immediate practice and experience on the PC related to the theoretical content. The ease of having good tools such as e-mail for submitting assignments, subject-related questions and a large content source, makes this a good method for learning.
• The freedom and the possibility of contacting the teacher and getting 'personal' answers. Also the possibility of saving important messages from the teacher (and others). The study guides have also been to great help for learning, summarising and repetition.
• The possibility of 'talking' direct with the teacher without external disturbances and that I can study in my own pace without having to think about others.
• Quick feedback from the teacher after having submitted assignments.
• I have made little use of the course pages. The aspect I have appreciated most is quick correction and return of submitted assignments, and quick response from the teacher via electronic mail.
• Receiving quick responses on my submissions, which helps me in keeping speed and progression up. Further, it is to great help knowing that all information is on the WWW, when you do not find your papers - or work at other places.
• The communication with the teacher and fellow students, which is quick and efficient, and independent of time and place (i.e. the use of e-mail).
• Quick responses from the teachers, to be able to study at home in one's own pace. One is independent and has only oneself to adapt to. When there is need for "talking", the e-mail is there.
• I have appreciated every aspect of it.

Viewpoints concerning course material on the WWW:

1997 Survey:

• That everything was on the screen and that I could study when I wished at the pace I wished.
• References on course pages to external subject matter.
• Use of search engines/tools, Listserv, News and learning how the Net is built up.
• References to other sources and guidance and support.
• Access to academic articles and extracurricular subject matter.

1998 Survey:

• I have greatly appreciated the study guides describing the most important content. The assignments for submissions have also been important for motivation and to continue studying after have received feedback.
• The study guides
• Course notes - that I may study in my own pace.
• The information received from the school at all times.
• "Test yourself assignments".
• The access to supplementing material and direct links to external pages of interest.
• The possibility of retrieving supplementing information through external links; the possibility of e-mail communication with teacher and fellow students.
• Teaching through examples - demonstration of solutions.

General viewpoints:

1997 Survey:

• The course was very instructive and informative; the responses from the tutor were very good; I have learned a lot and I am well prepared for my next course.
• The reason why I took the course on the web was that it clashed with other courses (at the Polytechnic College); I find this form of teaching very good and wish to take similar courses at a later stage.
• WWW is a very attractive form of study; to me the main difference from correspondence study is that a) I am more comfortable with keyboard than pen and paper, b) I as tutor or student can do without stamps and post offices, c) I as tutor/student can study/teach when I wish and where in the world I am ('Tutor in Distance Education').

1998 Survey:

• Creative teacher comments to assignments; summaries and guidance in the study guides.
• Very good courses and excellent feedback from the teachers.
• A very good and flexible form of study; but it demands self-discipline.
• This is a form of teaching that suits me just fine. More people should have the possibility. As far as I understand there must be many that just do not know the possibilities offered by NKI.
• I am very satisfied with this form of study.
• Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with the course on the Internet. The contact with the teachers has been excellent, and comments to submitted assignments have come quickly. This form of study suits me very well.
• Positive and excellent feedback on assignments in 'datakommunikasjon' (Data Communication) and 'Nettverksadministrasjon' (Administration of Computer Networks).
• I feel that this functions quite well for me. It is important that the students receive immediate information concerning problems related to our use of e-mail services etc. Perhaps you should have a 'stand-in system' in reserve for use when the e-mail system could be down?
• Even though I believe that learning would have been better in a class face-to-face situation, I find this form of study very flexible and have no doubts in recommending this form to others. The studies are more demanding when you have to cover absolutely everything, and, as you do not get much help in deciding what is most important etc. Solving assignments is more demanding when you do not have direct communication with fellow students in the same way as in a class.
• A very good form of teaching, which I greatly recommend.
• As I am working besides studying, I am very satisfied.
• Generally speaking, this form of study suits me excellently!!!
• This is a superb way of studying. You can have full employment and even be able to continue living rural Norway.
• A very good offer.
• I am very satisfied with this form of learning, when I got used to it.

Which elements did you miss or find that could have been better exploited in your WWW course?

Nothing missed:

1998 Survey:

• I have missed nothing!
• Nothing!
• Nothing!
• I do not specifically miss anything.

Aspects concerned with group communication:

1997 Survey:

• The discussion list was used very little - both by myself and others.
• I have been little active myself on the net because of work pressure.

1998 Survey:

• It seems that the students are a little afraid of asking for help online - 'perhaps you are the most stupid student in class?'. It is a good support when the teacher is active online. I would have liked to have access to the Forum in lower level courses in the same subjects, but not necessarily taking part in discussions.
• There was a little too little activity around the subjects.

Dissatisfaction with tutors' activity, the quality and speed of tutor feedback:

1997 Survey:

• The tutors could have been more active, e. g. short "lectures" paced with normal study progression, I miss a class-room teacher's pace and introduction to theory, important points, explanations etc. I feel this would have helped me disciplining and structuring the studies.
• Tutor participation.
• The Unix course, no feedback or help from the tutor.
• Generally bad communication between tutor and student, it takes too long to get answers when having problems.
• Contact with the tutor on the course.
• More activity from the tutors; references to subject matter/software.
• The technical competence on the tutor side could have been better, e. g. how to send diagrams.
• More extensive comments on assignments submitted.
• Some tutors are slow with feedback, even when the students are late, it should not take a week to get feedback especially just before exams.
• Some of the tutors are all too slow with feedback and answers to questions; they could also comment more on what is good and what could be done better; or else textbooks in Norwegian would have been fine.
• The initiative and support could have been better from some of the tutors.
• I would have preferred a more active tutor on the course; the communication should go both ways.

1998 Survey:

• The teachers are too little active and to slow in responding to assignments submitted. As a student you expect to receive quick response on assignments submitted. How quick depends on teacher capacity, number of assignments, possible illness on the side of the teacher etc. Perhaps one should examine the possibility of more teachers taking care of the students at busy times, for instance just before exams.
• Too little activity by the teacher.
• The follow up from the tutors, the possibility of asking questions and getting immediate answers. Some teachers are very good to answer promptly - others take days to answer. It is annoying when you are not able to proceed before you have got the answer.
• I missed quicker response from the teacher in the beginning. This has become better.
• You are often stuck and it is preferable with answers, let's say within 24 hours and not 10 days.
• A more active teacher in some courses. How much we learn is dependent on the activity in the class forum. When there is little activity, the teacher should take initiative to stimulate student activity.
• What I miss most is more active participation from teachers; why not also make up a database of FAQs in the different subjects?
• It seems that there are great differences between the teachers concerning time/interest for answering questions. I wish specifically to point to NN as extremely positive, while others restrict themselves to supply pre-produced solutions and do not respond to questions even when e-mail is sent directly to them. This reduces the quality of this form of teaching. The distance between student and teacher then becomes too large, and the studies seem to be more like self-study.
• You must stress the teachers to be more involved and quicker to respond.
• Some of the teachers are much better than others in giving feedback and supply solutions on assignments. This is an important aspect of this kind of studies. I wish it had been possible to continue further on the Polytechnic College via WWW.
• A little too much standard type answers from the teacher.

Technical difficulties:

1997 Survey:

• I missed ISDN; surfing on the net is slow with ordinary modem
• I missed a central competent person in computing at NKI who could help solve technical problems; I missed a person who had absolute power to instantly change course elements and solve problems in the course; I would have changed everything that forced collaboration with fellow students.
• The tutor should inform students which types of files he is able to receive, the standards must be open; one could have started a news group which could be used also from the University of Oslo Intranet.
• Some difficulties with e-mail format and file transfer.

1998 Survey:

• It is a drawback that technical problems might spring up at critical times such as just before examinations... however, very good support from the school.

Viewpoints on how the WWW was exploited:

1997 Survey:

• More systematic use of resources - too many links here and there
• The interactivity which the WWW opens up; the course was too 'static' with little participation from the tutors; the discussion groups could have been used better; the tutors could have supplied lectures and 'overhead transparencies'.
• There were few differences between ordinary courses and the WWW course; the main difference was the 4 assignments for submission; except this there were only text pages on the WWW which we also have in other subjects with lectures (student at the Polytechnic College taking Data Communication as a selected subject at a distance).
• Some 'links' in the material were not available any more (taken away), which was a problem; I was not prepared to read English texts.
• Concerning the subject matter on home pages where you found material on the WWW, I feel that the course explanations could have been better, apart from this I find this a fine way of studying and hope that more subjects can be offered this way.
• Use tools like CHAT, NETMEETING, NETSHOW etc. Leave the 'correspondence model' and create interaction between students and tutor throughout the course; pay tutors properly, tutor fees restrict their activity - good luck!

1998 Survey:

• Too much English documentation. Teaching material mostly in English.
• Resources, it should be possible to present more resources on the WWW than has been done so far.
• More resources on the course pages, more links, additional assignments etc.
• The use of a "common area".
• Summaries of textbook (learning content).

Viewpoints that traditional ways of learning and direct teaching could be helpful:

1997 Survey:

• The personal contact and help you can have in a classroom ('Information Technology for Teachers').
• The dynamics which can take place in classrooms.
• I missed meeting others taking the same course, it would have been interesting to discuss pedagogy and the course design (The tutor in distance education).
• There should have been more support and help during the course. The examination was different from what we learned it should be like.
• I missed somebody pushing me to keep up pace of study; incentives to complete the course; unused to communicate with fellow students, even when stimulated to do so, I felt it easier to put questions to the tutor.
• Guidance in the form of lectures and examination advice, help to decide what parts are directly exam related, what is necessary and what is just interesting.
• Data communication is too technical to learn exclusively on the net for one with little background as myself, I need lectures as support.
• The promise of support during the course was not kept. Direct teaching would have been better in this course. The exam assignments should have been more similar to the assignments for submission (Student at the Polytechnic College).
• Necessary software should be more easy accessible; lecture based teaching gives better progression and makes it easier to discuss.

1998 Survey:

• Direct contact with tutor and fellow students.
• Discussion groups - and direct answers to specific questions. (or self-help groups/before exams).
• I miss the sorts of things that you cannot get on the WWW, such as closer contact with other students, possibilities for asking stupid questions and discuss to find solutions. I prefer working with others, but I understand that this is impossible now.
• Oral dialogues. Writing everything is not always easy.
• Lack of direct contact with other students on the course; varying degree of involvement from the teachers.
• Two central aspects have been missed:
  Fellow students; in general and in connection with the academic learning, Lectures in theory (e.g. parts of the curriculum in Data Communication), However, both elements are possibly things that you must be without when you choose a WWW course. I think NKI should have put more efforts in getting more activity on the e-mail lists (Forum), and perhaps established a news group/chat facility. In this respect the Internet has an enormous potential.
• I appreciate listening to lectures, as I partly have an auditive learning style, this possibility is, of course, lacking in a WWW course. I have not been too good at reading. But I miss (partly because of laziness, a summary of each unit and the total course of what is focal content.
• Some times I missed the possibility of getting direct help for understanding the subject matter.
• It is difficult to ask for help. I find it difficult to express in writing what is my problem when I am stuck. I take a course in programming, and I miss more solutions to exercises. I spend too much time with minor problems, and I miss someone to discuss with. There should also have been an introduction to 'How to study on the WWW'.

Course and administrative information

1998 Survey:

• Honestly, I have had great problems in finding the information about the study programme on the WWW pages. In fact, I have found little of interest related. The e-mail lists are too general. I feel bothered by 15-25 e-mails coming in every day, of which few are of interest to me.
• Assignments for submission should have been separated from the texts in the study guides, so that I easily could load it into my word processor. Then I could organise assignment texts+my own answers+the teacher's comments in the same document. I prefer receiving comments to each assignments (1a, 1b, etc.) rather than a complete example solution.
• Sometimes administrative information has come a little late to the students.
• Efficient up-dating by e-mail (passwords etc.) More often up-dating of the course pages. I often find minor mistakes on the WWW pages.

Some General Comments and Suggestions

1998 Survey:

• After I enrolled in the course, my job situation has changed. I got too much to do; my spare time for studying disappeared. Now, the situation looks better and I plan to complete the course during spring semester. I have studied a quite a lot, but not submitted assignments.
• What I find most important is that the time it takes from I ask questions till I receive answers is as short as possible. In some courses the teachers have responded very quickly, while teachers in other courses are less efficient. Some do not answer within a week, which I find unacceptable. Else, the NKI net is very good. Some courses could perhaps include more exercises with answers. Exercising is what leads to mastering.
• As in other forms of distance learning, you must have strong self-discipline to follow a flexible programme. A more rigid form, e.g. with lessons distributed on the WWW at fixed intervals and time limits for submitting assignments, could perhaps lead to quicker progression in my case. However, the risk for lagging behind and drop out might increase.
• As I also have taken some other courses in the evenings in addition and also have 2 children below 2 years, I have not been able to give this course as high priority as I wished. Luckily I have two years to finish and wish to go on now that my situation has become easier. If it had not been possible to take the course on the Internet, I could not have enrolled so thank you!
• Distance learning is suitable for people who wish to document competence. However, the Forum and the teacher were to slow in answering questions - specifically in Programming. It is difficult when you try to describe problems that stop the studies completely, and when the teacher does not believe your description. Distance learning is not suited for detail knowledge areas such as programming. Your distance teaching programme in programming and system analysis has a large potential to increase quality if the presenting of content is better planned.
• The possibility of taking decentralised examinations is great!
• The study guides have, with one exception, been very good, corrections and feedback must be quick, which they were, again with one exception. Avoid attachments when possible, as they may cause difficulties of formats and time for down loading.
• I am uncertain about my knowledge of English, thus I will spend a long time to complete. Else, education on the Internet should have a great future for us living in rural areas.
• I have difficulties keeping up to expected progression. My impression is that many students struggle with this problem. Perhaps this aspect should be evaluated, however, it is not a great problem.
• NN (NKI study advisor) has been to a great help when the teacher was less active and available.
• Would it be possible to construct a database with "frequent asked questions" that the individual student could enter and find answers when you needed? It is quite frustrating to have to wait for an answer from the teacher or fellow student if you work at times of the day or night when no one else does. Praise to the teachers: They are very efficient answering questions!
• A face-to-face period in each subject per semester would be good. As a distance student you have only the textbook (?); a lecture and possibilities for asking questions (as was done in object oriented programming with success) and possibilities for meeting with fellow students would have been beneficial.
• A system that tells how far the individual students have reached in their studies to make it easier to find someone to co-operate with - perhaps a kind of subdivided class list?
• A chat channel could have been organised, with the teacher present at specific times, where problems could have been discussed on the spot. The organisation of channels could be one for each subject (single course in the programme).
• It would have been fine if NKI had an 'online classroom' in the sense that other students in the same course were online at the same time; then you could receive instant help.
• Solutions to exercises should have been distributed on the WWW pages. You could be better in linking to external pages with supplementing information.
• I miss a possibility of interactive learning for instance in connection with programming exercises.
• I miss 'electronic tutorials' for example after having read parts of the curriculum and being ready for solving assignments for submission, electronic interactive exercises would have been fine. These could have been built up successively on steps based on correct mastery of preceding assignments.
• Some difficulties concerning HTML how the screen is used. Not all Internet users are sighted persons, or have the latest software, or are connected through ISDN lines etc. People having such difficulties must also be considered.
• Social activities could have been organised by the course administration, e.g. a social evening at a given place, for example in Oslo, Bergen or at other sites with many course participants.

General Complaints

1998 Survey:

• I find the courses very expensive relative to what full-time students pay, as we have no lectures.
• It disappointed me that the students have to be the quality control of the school. Just a week before the examination one student discovered that the final assignment for submission was too difficult. This should have been found out by the school 6 months before.
• I have a feeling that NKI in some instances has been late in finding solutions to problems - perhaps you have spent fewer resources than you should have done in a phase of building up the system?

Some Comments

When asking specifically about positive and negative elements of courses and experiences during a course, the answers cannot be taken as representative for a general attitude of being satisfied or dissatisfied with the course or learning experiences. The answers may give, however, some indication of elements that should be scrutinised for possible changes, revisions and quality improvements.

As far as we can judge from the above viewpoints, quite a number of students express some dissatisfaction with the quality and speed of feedback from the tutor(s). It seems that these complaints relate to tutors in specific courses. The viewpoints confirm earlier findings (see e. g. Rekkedal & Paulsen 1997) that group discussion for different reasons is lacking. The reasons are many, e. g. students say that they do not take the time to write entries to the conferences, some would like the tutors to be more active in the discussion groups, while others specifically stress that they are not interested in group communication or collaboration between students.

Four of the respondents are actually full time students at the NKI Polytechnic College and take the course as a selective subject within their full time studies. These students seem not to be specifically satisfied, either with the tutor or with WWW based learning. One explanation is that they have not deliberately chosen WWW based distance learning themselves. All 4 of these students express directly that face-to-face study would have been a better solution for them.

Summary and Conclusions

The 1997 survey was carried out among 55 students who had completed one or more distance courses based on the WWW at NKI Distance Education during 1997. 34 students answered the questionnaire (65% response rate). The 1998 survey was carried out among all students registered in one of three study programmes on IT autumn 1998. One great difference between the two groups is in addition to differences in time (and consequently incremental developments of the kernel having taken place), and programmes, is that the first survey included completers only. Both surveys were carried out as part of the activities of the EU Leonardo project 'Multi-Media WWW Kernel for Distance Education'. Similar surveys are carried out by the other partners in the project, Ericsson Expert Systems Ltd. in Ireland and University Rome 3 in Italy.

The focal themes of the evaluations were the following:

• the students attitudes towards WWW-based learning
• their situation concerning use of computers and computer technology
• characteristics of students - who are attracted to WWW courses (1997)
• specific viewpoints on learning on the WWW and the actual courses

According to the original project plan this first evaluation was to examine student experiences from the course 'The Tutor in Distance Education' (Norwegian version). However, as so few students had completed this course when the pilot evaluation was to take place, we decided to include all courses on the kernel in the survey.

The students in both surveys seem to be experienced PC users. They spend many hours working at their PC every week, most of them use a Pentium computer, the majority know how to make pages in HTML (not surprisingly, as some of the courses are related to the field, specifically in the first survey), and most of them had an e-mail address before they enrolled for the course.

In the first survey less than 40 percent have paid for the course totally by themselves. Around 30 percent have the course paid totally by their employer or by a grant, while another 30 percent are supported by their employer or other source besides paying by themselves. In the second survey 60 percent of the students had paid the courses totally by themselves.

The 1997 group consists of nearly half men (16) and half women (17) (1 unanswered). (Actually the response rate is higher among women, as the questionnaire was distributed to 29 men and 26 women.) In the 1998 survey there is a higher percentage of men (61%). The median age among the 1997 and 1998 respondents was 34.3 and 31.9 years respectively . Thus, there is no sign that the NKI WWW courses recruit younger persons than distance education courses in general, as could perhaps be expected. In fact, in another NKI survey on barriers towards learning on the Internet, it seems clear that Internet access is lower among younger students (Rekkedal & Møystad 1999) The students represent different kinds of occupations. In the 1997 survey there are may teachers (as one of the programmes included in the survey was specifically further education in information technology for teachers). The others represent both administrative and technical jobs. Their previous education is relatively high, more than 63 and 54 percent have completed 1 year or more of higher education in the two surveys.

Their reasons for enrolling in the course vary. The most frequently mentioned reason in 1997 was that the competence acquired from the course is needed in their present job. To increase general competence is mentioned most often in the 1998 survey.

The general impression is that the students in both surveys are very positive towards learning through distance courses taught on the WWW. Although the 1998 survey includes all registered students (also students who have been relatively inactive and perhaps not succeeded specifically well so far), their attitudes towards learning on the WWW seem to just as positive as amont the completers of the 1997 survey.

A large majority of the students in both surveys agree that:

• it is possible to achieve excellence in courses that are taught on the WWW
• enrolment was facilitated because the course was on the WWW
• they would enrol again in a WWW based course
• they would encourage a colleague or friend to enrol in a WWW based course

The students generally disagree that:

• the learning from the course was damaged because it was on the WWW

Bibligraphy

Boshier, R., Mohapi, M., Moulton, G., Qayyum, A., Sadownik, L. & Wilson, M. (1997): Best and worst dressed web courses: Strutting into the 21^st century in comfort and style. Dist. Ed. 1997, 2, pp. 327-349. Toowoomba, University of Southern Queensland.

Fritsch, H. (1997): Host Contacted, Waiting for Reply. Hagen: FernUniversität. http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/ZIFF/EVIRTXT.htm

Kirkup, J. & von Prümmer, C. (1997): Distance Education for European Women. The Threats and Opportunities of New Educational Forms and Media. The European Journal of Women's Studies Vol 4 Issue 1 (February), pp39-62. ISSN 1350-5068

Paulsen, M. F. (1992): From Bulletin Boards to Electronic Universities: Distance Education, Computer-mediated Communication, and Online Education. 1992. University Park, Pennsylvania: The American Centre for the Study of Distance Education.

Paulsen, M. F. & Rekkedal, T. (1990): The Electronic College. Selected articles from the EKKO Project. NKI, Bekkestua,.

Paulsen, M. F. & Rekkedal, T. (1996): Technology for Adult Learning in Norway Including a Case Study on the NKI Electronic College. In Adult Learning and Technology in OECD Countries.

Rekkedal, T. (1997): 'Fjernstudenter med suksess'. Evalueringsundersøkelse ved NKI Teknisk Fagskole våren 1997. Internal report.

Rekkedal, T. (1998a): Courses on the WWW - Student Experiences and Attitudes Towards WWW Courses. En Evaluation Report Written for the Leonardo Online Training Project.
http://www.nki.no/eeileo/

Rekkedal, T. (1998b): Teaching and learning in the Electronic College. Some didactic considerations based on feedback from students. In: Davis, G. (ed.): Teleteaching '98 - Distance Learning, Training and Education. Proceedings of the XV. IFIP World Computer Congress, 31 Aug.-4 Sept. 1998, pp. 825-834. Vienna: Austrian Computer Society. http://www.nettskolen.com/alle/forskning/40/Teletea3.html

Rekkedal, T. & Paulsen M. F. (1997): The Third Generation NKI Electronic College - A Survey on Student Experiences and Attitudes, Norway.

Rekkedal, T. & Møystad, E. (1999): Recruitment Barriers to Learning on the Internet II. Survey among active correspondence students and prospective students at NKI. Bekkestua, NKI. (in print).

Appendix 1

Bekkestua, januar 1998

Til NKI-studenter som har fullført kurs basert på WWW i annet halvår 1997

NKI Fjernundervisningen deltar i et EU Leonardo-prosjekt i samarbeid med Ericson Expert Systems, Irland og Universitet Roma 3 i Italia. Deltakerne samarbeider om utvikling av WWW-tjenester for fjernundervisning og utprøving av undervisning basert på WWW.

I den forbindelse gjennomfører vi også en spørreundersøkelse med felles spørsmål til studenter ved de tre samarbeidende institusjonene. Fordi disse institusjonene er ulike, er noen av spørsmålene kanskje mer relevante for studenter ved en institusjon enn for studenter ved de andre. Vi håper likevel at du vil ta deg tid til å besvare skjemaet så fullstendig som mulig.

For NKI Fjernundervisningen er det viktig å få tilbakemelding om studentenes erfaringer og synspunkter. Undervisning over Internett og WWW er fremdeles ganske nytt. Studentenes synspunkter er vårt beste grunnlag for kontinuerlige videreutvikling og forbedring av undervisningsopplegg, IT-systemer og teknisk støtte.

Vi ber deg returnere skjemaet så raskt som mulig i vedlagte svarkonvolutt. Hvis du skulle ha besvart spørreskjema om Internett-basert fjernundervisning tidligere, vil vi likevel være glade for å få svar fra deg.

Spørreskjemaet tar opp tre områder:

Verdien av WWW-kurs som én type studietilbud

Markedet for WWW-kurs

Karakteristika ved studenter som velger denne studieformen

På forhånd takk.

Vennlig hilsen
NKI Fjernundervisningen

Spørreundersøkelse om WWW-basert fjernundervisning

Del 1:

Takk for hjelpen! Vær vennlig returner skjemaet så raskt som mulig i den vedlagte svarkonvolutten

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