Student Traits and Attributes Contributing to Success in Online Courses: Evaluation of University Online Courses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the roles self-efficacy, specifically technology self-efficacy and distance education self-efficacy, and self-regulation play in students’ learning via distance education. This study examines a system for evaluating distance education courses in a similar manner to those for traditional university courses. Participants in this study were undergraduate and graduate university students enrolled in business distance education courses. Prior to the completion of the semester, students completed an online survey designed to measure technology self-efficacy, distance education self-efficacy, and self-regulation. Using a Likert-type scale, students rated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with 53 statements that comprised the survey. Additionally, students responded to three short-answer prompts concerning the benefits and drawbacks of distance education. As indicated from this study’s results, students judged that course evaluations used for traditionally taught courses can also be appropriate for distance education courses. Finally, self-efficacy and self-regulation levels were compared across gender, with no statistically significant gender differences resulting. Educational technology has stretched educational boundaries and created new ones on a daily basis. One of these new and rapidly expanding boundaries is distance education. Distance education, some researchers and educators contend, is the new, student-centered paradigm for future learning (Miller, 1997; Yellen, 1998). So, what exactly is distance education? At its simplest, distance education is a form of education where the teacher and the students are separated by distance and/or time (Kearsley, 2000; Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Tiene & Ingram, 2001). Though forms of distance education, such as correspondence courses using the mail system, have been around for more than 150 years, it is only within the last quarter century that distance education has really exploded. Modern technologies like video