Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE October 2005 ISSN 1302-6488 Volume: 6 Number: 4 Article: 11
The
Support System in Distance Education:
Factors
Affecting Achievements Among Women Learners
Hanafi
ATAN
Zuraidah
A. RAHMAN
Omar
MAJID
Noraida A. GHANI
Rozhan M IDRUS
Universiti
Sains
11800
INTRODUCTION
In
general, women have various constraints and disabilities compared to men in
terms of time, space and resources. The
advent of open and distance learning (ODL), however, has widened the
opportunities for women and has helped to make education and training more
accessible to them as they can now study within their homes. It allows them to
study at their individual pace and seek and acquire skills for individual
development while at the same time, it enables them to fulfill family
responsibilities (Brunner, 1991).
Open and distance learning involves
the provision of a support system by the institution to fulfill the possible range of needs presented by distance education
learners and ensures the ready access to adequate learning resources and
services that can stimulate the mind as well as encourage the total growth and
development of the students (Sewart,
1993; Simpson, 2000; Tait 2000). Simpson (2000) defined a learner
support system as all activities beyond the production and delivery of course
materials that assist in the progress of students in their studies. These
include the academic support which deals with supporting students with the
cognitive, intellectual and knowledge issues of specific courses or sets of
courses. There is also the support of
students in the effective and organisational aspects of their studies. A vital
ingredient in the support system is that the students have ready access to
learning resources and means of communication that not only facilitate the
array of educational activities but also provide the broad exposure to various
other guidance and advisories (Phillips et al., 1998).
The support system is imperative in
order to facilitate the learning needs of women distance learners, more so because of their distinct characteristics. The majority of them spend most of their time
at home and are isolated. They also come
from diverse backgrounds, economically, socially and educationally and
inevitably, possess a multitude of family and household responsibilities. The
support system provided must therefore take into account women’s requirements
that can minimise the negative effects of isolation and the lack of regular
personal contact. Besides that, the support
system must enable them to resolve any gender-related learning and
administrative problems that may arise. The support system must also be
accessible to all students once the access is gained to ensure equalities in
the learning outcomes regardless of gender (Hipp, 1997).
The importance of the support system in relation to the achievement
among women distance learners has been of considerable interest (Hipp, 1997;
Burge, 1988; Faith, 1988; Kirkup & Von Prummer, 1990; Burge & Lenskyi,
1990, Taplin & Jegede, 2001). Kirkup & Prummer (1990) revealed that
women distance learners demonstrate a much stronger desire for connection with
others during the course of their studies. They overcome a variety of practical
difficulties in order to spend time with other students and engage in shared
learning. This finding is supported by Hipp (1997) who found that women
learners are most satisfied with their learning when a high degree of connected
teaching is apparent and when there is an opportunity for reflection and
critical thinking. The women learners also achieve meaningful learning when
they can overcome the isolation and share their learning experiences through
interaction and collaboration with peers and faculty. The communication between
peers and faculty enables them to establish a strong identity within the
university culture and helps them to acknowledge their role as a student (Hipp,
1977). Hipp (1997) further added
that for a variety of reasons including schooling and personal experiences and
societal mores, many women distance learners exhibit an extreme lack of
confidence when returning to tertiary studies. The faculty was found to be
effective in establishing and enhancing these students’ confidence by providing
positive encouragement and constructive feedback on their work (Hipp, 1997).
The study by Taplin & Jegede (2001)
revealed gender differences in factors that contribute to successful
achievements in distance education and these include the areas of organisation and the use of
study materials, confidence about studies and independent versus collaborative
studies. They suggested the provision of different but appropriate support
systems for women and men distance learners.
The focus
of this study is on the academic support services, which are basically a
cognitive function of the support system, and their effects on the achievements
of women distance education learners. These services include the annual residential
intensive course (a three-week compulsory on-campus residential school), the
video conferencing sessions, the access to information and communications
technology (ICT) usage for computer mediated communication and linkage to Web
resources, and the academic services provided by the 12 regional centres
located throughout Malaysia (which include
facilities for group studies and a mini-library) and the role of the
lecturer/course manager in course
facilitation.
Many
studies have been conducted to investigate how these support services benefit
the students academically. Studies on the effects of tutorial services
(Amundsen & Bernard, 1989; Naylor et al., 1990; Morgan & Morris, 1994;
Stevenson & Sander, 1998), video conferencing sessions (Robson, 1996; Konx,
1997; Daud et al., 2000) and the use of ICT (Zhang 1998; Navarro &
Shoemaker, 2000) vis-a-vis the students’ achievements have shown that such
services result in positive learning outcomes. However, how and to what extent
these services affect women distance education learners are not fully
understood.
The
importance of the regional centres (Kember & Dekkers, 1987; Cole &
Coats, 1989) and the role of the faculty members (Olcott & Wright, 1995) in
the students’ academic achievements have also been investigated. Kember & Dekker (1987), for instance,
suggested that the regional centres are a valuable academic support which
facilitates remediation problems with study materials through the provision of
tutorials by lecturers, study group meetings and resources such as the library,
the computer centre and the accessibility to audio-visual materials and
equipment. Kirkup & Prummer (1990) revealed that women distance education
learners register a higher attending rate to the regional centres than men
despite various obstacles such as transport-related difficulties, work pressure
and commitments faced by them.
The role
of the faculty as an academic support is also essential as it plays a key role
in interpreting the meaning of a course and resolving difficulties through
collaborative activities. The faculty has the expertise that provides the access
to quality instructional materials, thus ensuring a high level of learnability
that leads to the improvement of learning among distance education learners
(Olcott & Wright, 1995). Hipp (1997)
and Kirkup & Prummer (1990) stressed the importance of the faculty in
facilitating learning among women distance education learners. The faculty has
a role to play in enhancing
self-confidence, overcoming the sense of isolation and helping the
students to establish a sense of belonging to the university.
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Resources |
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ICT |
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Video
Conferencing |
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Annual
Residential Course |
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Achievement |
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Faculty |
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Regional
Centres |
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Figure: 1
The
proposed model of the learner support system that
influences
women students’ achievements
Based on
the above literature review, this study proposes six contributing factors,
namely, the resources, ICT, video conferencing, the annual residential
intensive course and faculty and regional centres as factors that contribute to
the academic achievement of the women learners in distance education. The
proposed model of the learner support system that influences achievements is
depicted in Figure: 1.
This study
investigates the extent of the contribution of each of the proposed factors in
affecting the achievements of women learners. The degree of contribution of
each factor will provide useful information to institutions offering distance
education and these institutions would accordingly be able to take the
appropriate steps to ensure that such factors are given emphasis and priority
during the process of planning and development. The institutions could also ensure
the necessary improvement of the academic support services to appropriately
meet the important needs of women learners. Enhancing and improving these vital services would not only help to
improve the women learners’ academic achievements but at the same time, also
help to increase their knowledge
retention, reduce the attrition rate and the sense of isolation as well as
improve the sense of institutional belonging among them.
METHODOLOGY
Based on
the above model, structured research was designed to look into factors
influencing or affecting the women learners’ achievements. The operation
towards this model involved developing the relevant statements under each of
the six categories proposed by the model. The category and the corresponding
number of the statements under each category are depicted in Table: 1. All the
expected six factors consisted of a total of 40 items and these items were
randomly built into the questionnaire with no obvious separation between
categories.
Table: 1
Categories
of the support system and number of items
|
Category |
Number of Items |
|
Resources |
5 |
|
ICT |
5 |
|
Video Conferencing |
11 |
|
Annual Residential Course |
6 |
|
Faculty |
7 |
|
Regional Centres |
6 |
|
TOTAL |
40 |
The
questionnaires were administered to 374 second, third and final year women
students enrolled in the arts and science academic courses at the School of
Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) during the annual residential
three-week intensive course for the 2003/2004 academic session. A total of 145 questionnaires were returned
representing a rate of return of 38.8%.
From the 145 women students returning the questionnaire, 79.4% (115) of
them were high achieving students who had obtained a CGPA of 3.00 and higher in
the previous academic session’s final examination. The other 20.6% (30) were the low achieving
students who had performed poorly in the examination with a CGPA of 2.00 or
lower. The analysis was taken only from data of the high achieving students so
the results reflect the factors contributing to the achievement as perceived by
them.
Factorial
analysis utilizing the principal components was chosen based on the assumption
that the factors involved in the analysis were not correlated with each other.
Based on this assumption, the orthogonal factor approach was chosen. Kaiser’s
Criteria were used to maintain the eigen values higher than 1.0.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
The
analysis of the respondents’ demographic details revealed that their ages
ranged from 31 to 45 years old. The distances to the nearest regional centre
were primarily in the range of 0-40 km (59.8%). Most of the students (94.4%)
had a computer at home with 68.7% of them possessing Internet connectivity. A total of 68.4% among them were married and
the majorities (48.7%) have 1-3 children. Most of them (42.6%) spent a total of
6-10 hours a week on their studies.
The
exploratory factorial analysis was used to determine the factors affecting the
achievement of women learners enrolled in distance education. The items in the
questionnaire were analysed in the factorial fashion which was based on the
component principle with a varimax rotation. The analysis yielded six main
factors with eigen values greater than 1.0 as shown in Table: 2.
Table: 2
Factorial
analysis of items in the questionnaire
|
Factor |
Eigen value |
% Variance |
% Cumulative |
|
1 |
4.243 |
10.607 |
10.607 |
|
2 |
4.118 |
10.295 |
20.902 |
|
3 |
4.071 |
10.177 |
31.079 |
|
4 |
3.691 |
9.227 |
40.306 |
|
5 |
2.734 |
6.835 |
47.141 |
|
6 |
2.632 |
6.581 |
53.722 |
Table 2
shows that the results of the exploratory factorial analysis yielded six
factors which explained 53.7% of the variance, a sufficient value for social
science studies with these six factors
being consistent with the number of
categories as proposed in
Figure: 1
The matrix form of the responses after the varimax rotation is shown in Table:
3. In Table: 3, the measure of the internal consistency evaluated based on the
composite reliability technique is shown.
A high
value of Cronbach Alpha was achieved for each factor indicating the
multi-dimensional characteristics of the data. Items with high loading factor
of greater than 0.40 are shown in the table. Table: 3 also shows that Factor 1
explains the highest variance at the percentage of 10.6% with 7 items including
Faculty readily provide assistance, I received responses from the faculty, The
responses form the faculty help me in my
assignment, The faculty is readily
accessible, etc. as shown in the various activities involving the faculty
emerged through these items.
Thus it is
evident that the high achieving women distance learners regarded the faculty as
the main contributory factor in their learning activities leading to their
achievements. The role of faculty in enhancing meaningful learning among women
distance learners is well documented (Hipp, 1977; Kirkup & Von Prummer,
1990, Taplin & Jegede, 2001). Connected and collaborative learning with the
faculty appears to fit many women students’ learning needs.
Examples
of such learning are from the feedback and constructive comments the students
received on assignments, video conferencing, online forum board communication,
e-mails and face-to-face tutorials and personal coaching and facilitation they
received during the annual intensive course. Through these collaborative
activities, the faculty facilitates women learners via the interpretation and
meaning of a course and resolves difficulties through collaborative activities.
The
collaborative activities with the faculty also enhance the self-confidence and
self-esteem of the women distance learners so that they can find a stronger
voice in their studies. They can begin to do more than simply give what the
faculty wants and start integrating their own knowledge with what the faculty
and peers are saying and writing. In this way, their learning becomes more
insightful, challenging and rewarding (Hipp, 1977).
Table: 3
The rotational factors in the learner support
system
|
for high achieving
women distance learnersNo |
Item |
Factor 1 |
Factor 2 |
Factor 3 |
Factor 4 |
Factor 5 |
Factor 6 |
Cronbach
Alpha |
|
1 |
The lecturers are
willing to help me in my studies. |
.845 |
|
|
|
|
|
.8921 |
|
2 |
I obtain feedback from
lecturers when I contact them.. |
.843 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
The lecturers’ feedback
on the assignments helps me in my studies. |
.741 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
The lecturers are
easily contacted. |
.687 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
The lecturers are
considerate about my status as an adult. |
.677 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
The lecturers advise me
when problems arise in my studies. |
.658 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
I regularly make contact
with lecturers to help me in my studies. |
.409 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
The intensive course
improves my understanding of the study materials. |
|
.816 |
|
|
|
|
.8755 |
|
9 |
The face-to-face
tutorials during the intensive course help me in my studies. |
|
.801 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
The intensive course
facilitates understanding of the study materials. |
|
.797 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
The lecturers help me
in my studies during the intensive course. |
|
.790 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 |
I have discussions with
my course mates during the intensive course. |
|
.780 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 |
I use the library during the intensive course. |
|
.538 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 |
I look for information
relevant to my course through the Internet. |
|
|
.881 |
|
|
|
.8515 |
|
15 |
The information in the
Internet helps me in my studies. |
|
|
.825 |
|
|
|
|
|
16 |
I use e-mail to contact
my lecturers. |
|
|
.787 |
|
|
|
|
|
17 |
The materials from the
Internet help me in my studies. |
|
|
.752 |
|
|
|
|
|
18 |
I use the Internet to
have discussions with my friends regarding our studies. |
|
|
.608 |
|
|
|
|
|
19 |
I use the
computer to complete my assignments and reports. |
|
|
.541 |
|
|
|
|
|
20 |
I revise
the materials discussed during the video conferences for exams and tests. |
|
|
|
.839 |
|
|
.8403 |
|
21 |
I note
all the materials discussed during the video conferences. |
|
|
|
.764 |
|
|
|
|
22 |
I put
emphasis on materials discussed during video conferences when revising. |
|
|
|
.746 |
|
|
|
|
23 |
I pay
full attention to lessons during the video conference sessions. |
|
|
|
.709 |
|
|
|
|
24 |
I attend
all the scheduled video conference sessions. |
|
|
|
.618 |
|
|
|
|
25 |
The
materials discussed during the video conferences help me in the exams and
tests. |
|
|
|
.402 |
|
|
|
|
26 |
I read
and prepare before attending the video conferences. |
|
|
|
|
.774 |
|
.7554 |
|
27 |
I make
preparations as stipulated in the agenda before attending the video
conferences. |
|
|
|
|
.774 |
|
|
|
28 |
I
actively take part in the discussions during video conferences. |
|
|
|
|
.659 |
|
|
|
29 |
I
frequently make contact with the lecturers to help me in my studies. |
|
|
|
|
.460 |
|
|
|
30 |
I use
the facilities at the regional centre’s
mini library. |
|
|
|
|
|
.732 |
.7878 |
|
31 |
I use
the multimedia materials available at the regional centre. |
|
|
|
|
|
.665 |
|
|
32 |
I know
who my resident tutor at my regional centre is. |
|
|
|
|
|
.635 |
|
|
33 |
Past
years’ tests and examination questions available at the regional centre help
me in my studies. |
|
|
|
|
|
.633 |
|
|
34 |
I use
the regional centre as a venue to have discussions with my friends. |
|
|
|
|
|
.476 |
Factor 2
which explains 10.3% of the variance can be categorised as an annual
residential intensive course. All of the items in this category such as The intensive course enhances my
understanding of the course content, The face-to-face tutorials during the intensive course help my learning,
The faculty helps my learning during the intensive course, I discuss issues
with peers during the intensive course
relate to the activities carried out during such a course. The annual
residential intensive course consists mainly of face-to-face tutorial sessions
with the lecturer for course content facilitation. Personal face-to-face academic assistance
outside the classroom tutorials is also provided by the lecturer to mediate
problems related to the course contents.
Students also have the opportunity to form study groups for the purpose
of collaborative discussions and the exchange of learning experiences. All
these activities are perceived important by the women distance education students
in enhancing their academic performances. The intensive course also provides a
platform for women learners to overcome their sense of isolation, and assist
them where socialising issues are concerned through sharing their experience
with peers; it also creates a sense of belonging to the institution.
Factor 3
that explains 10.2% of the variance can be categorised as ICT. All the items in
this category such as I find information
relevant to my course in the Internet, The information in the Internet helps me
in my studies, I use the e-mail to communicate with the faculty, The materials
in the Internet help me in my studies, I use Internet to discuss issues
regarding the course with my peers are all related to the usage of ICT in
their learning. Universiti Sains
Factor 4
and Factor 5 that explain 9.2% and 6.8% of the variance respectively can be categorised as video
conferencing. Out of 10 items in these
two categories, all items except one relate to the video conferencing activities.
Factor 6 which explains 6.6% of the variance could be categorised as the
regional centres. All the items in Factor 6 relate to the activities at the
regional centres.
The
factorial analysis as depicted in Table 3 reveals that the various items can be
categorised into six categories but upon detailed analysis of the items, only
five factors emerged and these are the faculty, the intensive course and ICT
with an almost equal percentage variance between them. The last two, with a
lower percentage variance each, are the video conferencing and the regional
centres. One cannot draw hard and fast conclusions from the findings of this
study but the analysis does show some distinct patterns regarding the factors that
effect the achievement of women distance learners and they provide insight into
their needs which have to be resolved in order to enable them to succeed.
CONCLUSION
and SUMMARY
This study
on the dimensions of the support system provided by the School of Distance
Education (SDE), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to its women learners reveals
that the role played by the faculty, the provision of the intensive course, the
electronic portal, video conferencing and to a much lesser extent, the role
played by regional centres, affect their achievements. However, in order to
ascertain the support that is appropriate to resolve their needs, one has to
know more about their experiences in education and learning, self-image,
personal changes as well as the perceived catalyst for change and impediments
to growth. There is a need to be consistent in the approach taken by the
institution to its women distance education learners so that it is not simply
left to chance whether or not the support is available to them.
Financial
Support
This
research is supported by the Universiti Sains
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