Title
About Project
Problem
Process
Research
Design
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Decision Making
Course Development
Competitive Products
Development Cost


Online Course-Development Survey

Objectives:

This survey was conducted in order to find out about the following information regarding distance education courses and course development tools:

  • What type of development tool is preferred
  • What features are necessary
  • What type of course is offered or going to be offered via WWW
  • Who the potential users of a development tool are
  • What considerations there are when purchasing a course development tool
  • How distance education students should be evaluated

Method:

A survey form was posted to a distance education listserve (DEOS-L: DEOS-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU). The survey form was filled out by forty-three distance education professionals.
 

Questions Asked in the Survey:

The actual survey form used can be viewed here.
 

  1. What is your current profession and area of study?
  2. Have you taught a distance education course? If Yes, which course?
  3. Have you taken a distance education course? If Yes, which course?
  4. Have you developed a distance education course? If Yes, which course?
  5. What type of course are you providing or planning to provide via WWW?
  6. If you need to develop a distance education course, which would you prefer? Why?
    • Design my own custom distance education environment from scratch
    • Use an integrated distance education package or development tool (e.g. TopClass)
  7. Have you used any of the following development tools for developing a distance education course?
  8. If your organization had a development tool, who would be the users of the tool?
  9. When you purchase a development tool, what are the major concerns?
  10. What features do you expect a development tool to have?
  11. In order to evaluate a student in a distance education course, what types of methods would you like to use?
  12. Additional comments


Result:

The result of the survey is shown below in the forms of table, graph, and text.

Icons used:
shows answers other than the answer choices given
shows other miscellaneous data
shows data in pie graph
shows data in radar graph
show data in bar graph

The Survey Result and Summary of Answers:
 Total Responses: 43
 

About Subjects

I. Current Professions
Total Responses: 38
View Data: 

Area of Study
Total Responses: 30
View Data: 


II - IV. Experience with Distance Education Courses
Total Responses: 43 each
View Graph:
View Data: 

  Yes No
As Teacher 24 (56%) 19 (44%)
As Student 28 (65%) 15 (35%)
As Developer 30 (71%) 12 (29%)

 

About Distance Education Courses and Development Tools

V. Type of course providing or planning to provide via WWW
Total Responses: 39
View Data: 


VI. Create Own Course by Hand v.s. Create Own Course Using a Development Tool
Total Responses: 42
View Graph:
View Reasons: 

By Hand 17 (40%)
Using a Tool 25 (60%)

VII. Development Tool Used
    Total Responses: 34
    View Graph:
    View Other Tools: 
    View Comments on Tools: 
     
    FirstClass 6 (18%)
    Interactive Learning Network
    3 (9.0%)
    LearningSpace
    2 (6.0%)
    TopClass
    8 (24%)
    Web Course in a Box 
    4 (12%)
    WebCT
    11 (31%)

    VIII. Potential Course Developer Using a Development Tool
    Total Responses: 102
    View Graph:
    View Other Users: 
     
    Faculty
    34 (33.0%)
    Lecturer
    13 (13.0%)
    Technical Staff
    26 (25.0%)
    Member of Distance Education Center
    21 (21.0%)
    Teaching Assistant
    8 (8.0%)


    IX. Key considerations When purchasing a Development Tool
    Total Responses: 251
    View Graph:
    View Other Considerations: 
     

    Price
    32 (74.4%)
    Number of Features
    29 (67.4%)
    Ease of Use for Students
    35 (81.4%)
    Ease of Use for Instructors
    35 (81.4%)
    Ease of Use for Developers
    27 (62.8%)
    Brand Name
    1 (2.3%)
    Appearance
    21 (48.8%)
    Platform Reliability
    16 (37.2%)
    Number of Students
    24 (55.8%)
    Technical Support
    31 (72.1%)

    X. Features Expected in a Development Tool
    Total Responses: 494
    View Graph:
    View Other Features: 
     
    Newsgroup
    29 (67.4%)
    Chat Room
    39 (79.6%)
    Video
    27 (62.8%)
    Slides
    26 (60.4%)
    Quiz
    39 (79.6%)
    Glossary
    28 (65.1%)
    Search
    37 (86.0%)
    Syllabus
    35 (81.4%)
    Check Grade (by individual student)
    33 (76.7%)
    Calendar
    34 (79.1%)
    Schedule
    36 (83.7%)
    Printable Lectures Notes
    36 (83.7%)
    Student Homepage
    26 (60.4%)
    Help
    36 (83.7%)
    Modifiable Layout
    33 (76.7%)


    XI. Evaluation Method in an Distance Education Course
    Total Responses: 135
    View Graph:
    View Other Methods: 
     

    Multiple-choice Question
    25 (19.0%)
    Short Essay
    30 (22.0%)
    Project
    40 (29.0%)
    Phone Interview
     9 (7.0%)
    Final Paper
    31 (23.0%)


    XII. Additional Comments
    View Data: 


TITLE | ABOUT PROJECT | PROBLEM | PROCESS | RESEARCH | DESIGN | CONCLUSION | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS