Exploring Student Learning Characteristics in the Online Environment: Implications for Instructional Design

Abstract

One of the challenging tasks for instructors and instructional designers is how to support students to learn well in an online environment. It is unclear for instructors how designs can accommodate students in leaning and how students' learning characteristics affect their leaning experiences. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the relationship between students' demographics, learning characteristics and their learning outcomes in online courses. A research study recruited students from several fully online courses/sessions in Education, Psychology, Environmental Science, and Nutrition in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015. An instrument called the "Learning Traits Questionnaire (LTQ)" identified students' learning characteristics, including Group Preference, Instructional Support, Procrastination, Computer Competency, and Learning Confidence. A course survey collected students' feedback on learning satisfaction and experiences.

This presentation shares the findings about the relationships between students' demographics and the five learning characteristics. How students' learning characteristics and the course designs associated with their learning satisfaction was also discussed. The topics of matched design or unmatched design with students' learning characteristics were explored. Furthermore research on instructional design and learning characteristics is expected.