Evaluating the Online Learning Experiences of Participants in an Online Education Course

Abstract

Learning online could be an entirely new experience for students who are used to learning in face-to-face contact settings. Of importance are the ways course instructors and learners transition to online teaching and learning. Underpinned by the Community of Inquiry framework, the study sought to explore and understand the online learning experiences of participants on a 4-week long intensive training programme in a rural-based university in Eswatini. A purposive sample of eleven participants participated in the study by completing a programme evaluation form and participating in a virtual focus group discussion session. The thematic content analysis method was utilised to analyse qualitative data. The study found that while the participants found online learning exciting and flexible, they had different interpretations of their interactions with content, peers, course instructors and technology. The study concludes that effective online teaching and learning is dependent on the meaningful interaction of the learners with content, peers, course instructors and technology. There are important pedagogical implications on how online course instructors should establish and maintain the three ‘presences’ which are the cognitive, the social and the teaching in ways that impact positively on the online learners’ learning processes.

Keywords: Online learning. Interaction. Presence. Online pedagogy

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-20-02

Publication date:July 31^st 2022