[Air-l] Sources for characteristics of online students

[Aldon Hynes]

Brian,
   Interesting questions.  I can comment from my own
experiences, but not from any studies.  See my
comments interspersed below.

Aldon
--- "Newberry, Brian Wayne" <bnewberry at ku.edu> wrote:
> Greetings fellow list members. I'm searching for any
> studies that describe
> characteristics of online students. Some questions
> that I am pondering: 
> 
> Are students who take online classes self-selecting
> the online experience
> because of some characteristic they share?

It seems to me fairly obvious that this is the case. 
The most obivious characteristic is that of not being
adverse to computer mediated communications.

I've taken a few online classes and they have varied
considerably.  The folks in the classes generally are
not technical wizards.  They want something easy to
use, and don't want to push the envelope.


> If so, does the success of these
> students in the current models of online learning
> lead to a greater
> replication of the established models of learning
> online and reduce
> exploration into new models that would better server
> students who are
> currently self-selecting out of online learning?

Well, if it's not broke, don't fix it.  Yeah, it would
be neat to see new methods of online learning, but you
need to determine what problem you are solving before
introducing any new methods.

> 
> Are there students who don't like online classes
> because of a learning style
> or personality characteristic? If so, are there ways
> to alter the online
> class experience to better fit these people's
> needs/desires?
> 
> Do designers of online classes need to alter online
> classes to better suit
> an existing or perhaps a target population?

No opinion on these, but if you come up with any
information, I would love to hear what you find.

Aldon
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> Brian 
> 
> ---
> Brian Newberry
> University of Kansas
> 785-864-0735
> ---
> 
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