Experiences and Opinions of E-learners: What Works, What are the Challenges, and What Competencies Ensure Successful Online Learning

Abstract

This paper reports preliminary findings of online learner survey from Western (mostly US), Israeli, Mexican and Japanese cohorts. A questionnaire with 58 questions, including several open-ended questions, allowing the respondents to tell their “stories” as online learners was administered online. The total number of returned surveys was 318. The current study attempts to better understand how students engage in online learning, in terms of interacting with the medium, with the materials, with one another, with the instructor, and ultimately, with the environment in which they work and apply new knowledge and skills acquired through their engagement with learning process. Also, with four distinct cohorts, representing four different countries and cultures, there is some value in determining if there might also be some differences between these learner populations that are driven primarily by cultural orientation.