Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Michael Simonson
Committee Member
Todd Curless
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
administration, agreeable perceptions, American students, analysis, applied dissertation, cultural groups, data analysis, descriptive statistics, distance education, distance learning, distance learning programs, implementation, learning characteristics, learning communities, Micronesia, Micronesian students, postsecondary students, program design, research questions, replies, Russia, Russian students, student perceptions, survey research, United States, virtual learning communities, vision of learning communities
Abstract
This applied dissertation examined and compared the perceptions of participants regarding learning communities in distance education. Specifically, it sought to determine how the development and implementation of distance education programs affected perceptions of the learning community among students in 3 different cultural groups: Micronesia, Russia, and the United States. The study sought to develop a deeper understanding of the elements and processes involved in creating virtual learning communities in distance education. It also sought to consider an even more basic question, namely, how relevant and important are learning communities to distance education?
This research study was survey based. Between May and June of 2003, a survey was conducted measuring student perceptions of the value of learning communities in distance education. The survey was administered to postsecondary distance learning students participating in distance learning programs hosted at 3 locations: Micronesia, Russia, and the United States.
Replies to the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics to show how the question items in the survey addressed the research questions. The gathered data were linked to the study’s 6 research questions and then applied to the 3 programs and their vision of learning communities.
Analysis of the data showed that students perceived the learning community either neutrally or positively. Micronesians were the most agreeable, with American students more agreeable than Russians. There was no significant difference between students’ perceptions of administration vs. student-derived learning characteristics. Most of the characteristics differed by group, with Micronesian students having more agreeable perceptions than Russian students in the majority of those analyses.