Covid-19 has brought many changes in our society as a whole. As universities implement online classes, students are placed in a completely different learning environment than before. In the midst of the pandemic, experts are paying attention to the ed...
Covid-19 has brought many changes in our society as a whole. As universities implement online classes, students are placed in a completely different learning environment than before. In the midst of the pandemic, experts are paying attention to the educational strengths of online learning, and predicting that online learning will become an important pillar of university education, leading the post-Covid era. However, even in the new environment of online learning, the role of universities, which is education, remains unchanged, and it will be the basic responsibility of universities to induce students to engage in the learning experience. In particular, universities should support students to proactively participate in the learning process, and achieve cognitive and social development through this. Even in the online learning environment, universities need to develop and provide relevant programs for students to implement appropriate learning methods and strategies that suit them, and achieve meaningful academic results through them. In order for these efforts to proceed, it is very important to examine students' learning strategies and participation patterns in online learning context. Also, looking at which learning strategies have positive effects on students' participation in learning will be the way to achieve "student success", the ultimate goal of universities.
This study examines the difference between self-directed learning and cooperative learning as important strategies for successful learning in an online learning environment, depending on the individual characteristics of students. In addition, it examines how the amount of support for online learning at universities differs according to the location, size, and type of establishment universities. Finally, this study analyzes how students' strategies for learning online(self-directed learning, cooperative learning) and the amount of support for other non-university online learning, influence students' participation in learning and commitment to universities.
To achieve the purpose of this study, the data of 55,081 students from 108 universities collected through the 2020 Korea National Survey of Student Engagement(K-NSSE) were used for analysis. The dependent variable is the student's significant learning experience and institutional commitment, and the independent variables are self-directed learning and cooperative learning, which are learning strategies at the individual level. In addition, an analysis was performed with the degree of support for online learning provided at the university level, as an independent variable. To achieve the purpose of the study, group differences analysis, one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA), and hierarchical linear and nonlinear model analysis were performed.
The main findings are as follows.
First, in the online learning environment, students' self-directed learning and cooperative learning differed according to individual characteristics. Compared to the male student group, the female group had a higher level of setting their own learning goals and using their own learning strategies. However, it was confirmed that boys were more active than girls when it comes to interacting with other students and performing assignments or projects. When looking at different grades, the freshmen group showed the lowest level of self-directed learning and cooperative learning compared to other grades.
Second, it was found that the amount of online learning support perceived by students differs depending on the location and size of universities. Specifically, it has been found that universities in the provinces provide more information on online lectures and platforms for taking lectures without difficulty, compared to universities in the metropolitan area. Depending on the size of the university, it was found that small and medium-sized universities with fewer than 10,000 students provided human and physical support for more effective online classes than large universities. However, the difference according to the type of establishment was not statistically significant.
Third, according to the results of analyzing the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, it was found that the amount of university support for students' self-directed learning and cooperative learning influenced student's significant learning experience.
In particular, the amount of self-directed learning was the independent variable that had the greatest influence on significant learning experience that students learned, by synthesizing what they learned and applying the learning content to real situations. In other words, as students actively participated in learning by utilizing their own learning method, they experienced higher quality of meaningful learning by connecting them to other contexts. Lastly, self-directed learning and cooperative learning at the student level had a positive effect on institutional commitment, an indication of students' positive perception of universities. Also, the more students feel that universities are actively helping them for online classes, the higher their commitment in college. In other words, the more students actively lead their own learning, the more they proceed to learn according to the given situation. The results of this study make the university to be understood as a learning ecosystem. In other words, when students learn while giving and receiving feedback from each other, learning progresses more meaningfully, and they gain trust and positive perception of the university as a learning ecosystem, to which they belong.
Summarizing the above, it can be seen that even if learning is conducted in an online form, the initiative of learners and cooperation among learners are important learning strategies. In addition, the results of this study showed that when learners actively learn and exert a positive influence on each other, a positive perception of the entire learning ecosystem increases, which in turn can promote learning.