College Student Readiness for Online Learning Environments: The Preliminary Development of an Instrument

• In Event: Roundtable Session 55
  In Roundtable Session: Learning and Engagement in Online Educational Settings

Abstract

Online education has transformed the higher education landscape. As many universities embrace these changes in learning, the problems associated with retention and performance in online environments is becoming increasingly prevalent. We develop a measure that can capture the influence of expectations for learning in an online environment as associated with academic outcomes. Accurate expectations about the flexibility of online courses were the strongest predictor of academic outcomes for students. Accurate expectations about the difficulty of online courses were the second strongest predictor of academic outcomes. Implications regarding the influence of incorrect expectations held by students about online and distance education are discussed.

Authors

• Steven Randall Chesnut, University of Southern Mississippi

• Lucy M. Barnard-Brak, Texas Tech University

• Angela Alejandro, Texas Tech University