Date of Award
January 2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Teaching & Learning
First Advisor
Margaret Zidon
Abstract
Enrollments in online courses offered in community colleges have sharply increased over the past decade. At the same time, it appears there is a growing trend toward community college students displaying a tendency to incorrectly and/or incompletely read and follow instructions in online courses. The ability to follow instructions has a direct impact on the success of students in online classes. This study examined factors that influence community college student perceptions of their instruction following behaviors in online courses using self-regulated learning as the theoretical framework. Participants were 102 students enrolled in general education online courses at a Great Plains community college. The survey collected demographic information related to gender, year in school, age, grade point average, educational funding, parental involvement, living accommodations, employment status, the number of college credits in which the student was enrolled, whether the majority of the student’s K-12 education was completed in a rural or urban environment, and the amount of non-academic screen time spent by the student per day. The independent variables chosen from those demographics were age, grade point average, the parental involvement, whether the majority of the student’s K-12 education was completed in a rural or urban environment, and the amount of non-academic screen time spent by the student per day. The dependent variables selected measured student perceptions of barriers to online learning, behaviors toward reading instructions, and possible solutions to barriers.
In addition, the survey also included student perceptions of their levels of perfectionism. Results indicated that among all demographics studied, there was a low level of agreement that participants experienced barriers to online learning, a high level of agreement that participants demonstrated successful behaviors in online learning, a high level of agreement for solutions to barriers to online learning, and a moderate level of agreement for participants’ levels of perfectionism. Results also indicate that it is not necessary to have separate interventions among students in the independent variable categories.
Recommended Citation
Volk, Vickie, "Factors That Influence Community College Student Perceptions Of Their Instruction Following Behaviors In Online Courses" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 2082.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/2082