| 摘要: | The study looked at factors that may affect students' perceptions by grouping factors into four groups:First, Technology Factors are factors with regard to the stability, compatibility, cost of the technology, and computer literacy; Second, Environmental Factors are those factors that involve changes in the way we communicate and how information is transmitted in an online environment such as flexibility, communication, information, and social issues; Third, Institutional Factors are issues that are confronting institutions such as copyright, accreditation, and privacy; and last, Personal Factors are issues that surround students in an online learning environment such as academic honesty and student control. Those factors will aid in the process of understanding the students' perceptions and encouraging faculty to add more depth to their Internet courses and "include learners as our traveling partners"(Le & Le, 1999, p. 752). Finally, attending to the attitudes, willingness, and preferences of students will lead to more informed decision making, to improved design of curriculum, and to better communication with students (Merriam & Brockett, 1997). Currently the Internet is the new trend that is reshaping higher education. According to data in the "State of Distance Education in the U.S.", the top two types of technologies which institutions used as the primary mode of instructional delivery for distance education were Internet courses using asynchronous and synchronous computer-based instruction (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999). Moreover, 82% of the reporting institutions plan to use Internet courses using an asynchronous computer-based Web-Based Learning: A Review of the Issues 525instruction method of delivery in the following three years. While the Internet learning environment is gaining popularity in education, recent studies show that there are no or small differences in student achievement between students receiving instruction by distance education via real-time video interaction in the remote sites compared to students in the host site (Webster & Hackley, 1997; Swan & Jackman, 1999). Also, Cleveland and Bailey (1994) argued that the quality of a program and effectiveness of students' learning should look beyond the limited perspective of class grade point average. Garrison (1990) stated that students' perceptions toward the distance education programs often correlated with student achievement and satisfaction. Moore and Benbasat (1991) suggested that it is important to investigate students' perceptions of the relative advantages or disadvantages between technology enhanced distance learning and traditional classroom instruction. Also, Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw(1989) noted that an understanding of the students' perceptions of the usefulness of distance education and technology will help in the successful adoption and implementation of computer-mediated communication. "With all of these technological advances, one would assume that distance education is the future for delivering education to various student populations. But what do the student populations think of the advances incorporated in education delivery?" (Ponzurik, France, & Logar, 2000, p. 181). The review of literature indicated that there are basically four main factors that may have positive or negative influences on students' perceptions toward Internet courses: Technological Factors, Environmental Factors, Institutional Factors, and Personal Factors. An examination of these four factors will aid in the understanding of students' perceptions and help in the implementation and adoption of future Internet courses. |
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