A study of factors influencing students' perceived learning in a web-based course environment
The study was designed to identify factors that might influence students' perceived learning in 19 Web-based courses. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed for the collection of data that consist of survey and course data. Twelve variables were identified: three variables were selected from the survey and nine variables, including instructor and student behavior variables, were identified from the course data. Results of correlation analysis indicated that the two instructor behavior variables, grade for discussion and requirements for discussion, were significantly and positively correlated to students' perceived learning. It seems that students felt they had experienced better learning in courses, which emphasized online discussion. However, contradictory to our expectation, number of student responses had no significant relation to students' perceived learning, nor did students' perceived interaction with fellow students, al-though number of instructor responses had a strong relation with number of student responses. Since this study, with a small sample size of 19 courses, was based on students' self-report of their learning experiences, caution should be taken when interpreting these findings. The purpose of the study was to identify various variables through observations and present a preliminary view of their relations with students' perceived learning in a Web-based environment. Future re-search should seek larger sample size for more advanced statistical inferences and to use qualitative analysis to examine the nature of student responses.