Developing a diagnostic tool for assessing tertiary students' readiness for online learning

Abstract

The increasing investment in developing high quality systems for online learning has focused more on technology with little regard for learners' readiness to learn through such systems. One of the reasons for this was an assumption that most students have the necessary capacity (technical and attitudinal) to deal with online learning. This assumption is increasingly being challenged in recent years. This paper explores the difficulties experienced by online learners and develops a diagnostic survey instrument to ascertain learner readiness to participate in online learning environments. Through confirmatory factor analysis, four factors were identified: Technical skills, Learner self-efficacy, Learning preference and Learner attitude. This paper reports on the design and development of the survey instrument. Keywords: online learning; student readiness; diagnostic tool; learning skills and dispositions; tertiary learning. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Pillay, H., Irving, K. and McCrindle, A. (2006) 'Developing a diagnostic tool for assessing tertiary students' readiness for online learning', Int.