Critical Success Factors in Distance Learning Construction Programs at Central Queensland University: Students’ Perspective
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 141, Issue 1
Abstract
Distance education has gone through rapid expansion over the years. Many Australian universities are pushing the use of distance education in delivering construction education programs. However, the critical success factors (CSFs) in distance learning construction programs (DLCPs) are not fully understood. More importantly, students’ demographic features may affect the selection of distance education technologies. Situation-matching strategies should therefore be taken by universities or institutions with different student cohorts. A survey is adopted in Central Queensland University (CQU) to identify and rank the critical success factors in a DLCP in Australia where there is a significant number of earner-learners and students with low socioeconomic background. The findings suggest that the most important CSFs include access to computers and internet, reliability of web-based learning sites, high relevance and clarity of learning materials and assessment items, the availability of web-based learning sites that can be easily manipulated, and the capability of the instructors to provide well-structured courses. The findings also suggest that students with low socioeconomic background have more rigorous requirements on interface design, instructors’ support, and the integration of practical components into courses. The results provide good guidance of the design and delivery of DLCPs and will be useful for universities and institutions that are seeking to implement the distance mode in construction education.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Office of Learning and Teaching at CQU (grant number GO-LRNTCH-CTL-000000-000000-LR6146). The authors would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for the valuable and constructive comments and suggestions to improve the paper.
References
Alan, G. C., Thompson, M. M., and Hancock, B. W. (1999). The McGraw-Hill handbook of distance learning, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Allen, I. E., and Seaman, J. (2009). Learning on demand: Online education in the United States, 2009, The Sloan Consortium, Newburyport, MA.
Attewell, P., and Battle, J. (1999). “Home computers and school performance.” Inform. Soc.: An Int. J., 15(1), 1–10.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). “Community participation of people with a disability.” 〈http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Previousproducts/66A7963E00C12206CA2571B00010334A?opendocument〉 (Nov. 7, 2013).
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). “Building and construction.” 〈http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/productsbyCatalogue/EDD60A6A5408DD1BCA2576B00014308C?OpenDocument〉 (Dec. 10, 2012).
Australian Institute of Building. (2012). “Standards for the accreditation of building degree programs: Academic standards for course accreditation.” 〈http://www.aib.org.au/lib/pdf/Education/AIB%20Accreditation%20Academic%20Standards%20Document%20-%20Dec%202011.pdf〉 (Dec. 31, 2012).
Beldarrain, Y. (2006). “Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration.” Distance Educ., 27(2), 139–153.
Benson, R., Hewitt, L., Devos, A., Crosling, G., and Heagney, M. (2009). “Experiences of students from diverse backgrounds: the role of academic support in the student experience.” Proc. 32nd HERDSA Annual Conf., Charles Darwin Univ., Darwin, Australia, 545–550.
Berge, Z. L. (2002). “Obstacle to distance training and education in corporate organisations.” J. Workplace Learn., 14(5), 182–189.
Brook, C., and Oliver, R. (2003). “Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework.” Aust. J. Educ. Technol., 13(2), 139–160.
Chmiliar, L. (2010). “Case study surveys.” Encyclopedia of case study research, A. J. Mills, G. Durepos and E. Wiebe, eds., SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 125–127. 〈https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412957397.n43〉.
Cobb, P. (1994). “Where is mind?” Educ. Research., 23(7), 13–20.
Cohen, S., and Syme, S. L. (1985). “Issues in the study and application of social support.” Social support and health, S. Cohen and S. L. Syme, eds., Academic, Orlando, FA.
Colley, A. M., Gale, M. T., and Harris, T. A. (1994). “Effects of gender role identity and experience on computer attitude components.” J. Educ. Comput. Res., 10(2), 129–137.
Dept. of Industry, Innovation Science, Research, and Tertiary Education. (2012). “Higher education statistics.” 〈http://www.highereducationstatistics.deewr.gov.au/〉 (Dec. 4, 2012).
Harvey, M., Novicevic, M. M., and Garrison, G. (2004). “Challenges to staffing global virtual teams.” Hum. Resour. Manage. Rev., 14(3), 275–294.
Janicki, T., and Liegle, J. O. (2001). “Development and evaluation of a framework for creating web-based learning modules: A pedagogical and systems approach.” J. Asynchr. Learn. Netw., 5(1), 58–84.
Kirk, K. (2008). “Diversity and achievement: Developing the learning of non-traditional HE students.” Improving student retention in higher education: The role of teaching and learning, G. Crosling, L. Thomas, and M. Heagney, eds., Routledge, Oxford, U.K., 150–159.
Langford, D. A., Bilham, T., Fellows, R., and Newcombe, R. (1994). “Case study of development of distance-learning course.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 333–340.
McClary, J. (2013). “Factors in high quality distance learning courses.” J. Dist. Learn. Admin., 16(2).
McMullin, M., and Owen, G. M. (2002). “Educating students via distance learning for civil engineering design.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 6–11.
Moon, S. (2013). “What women want in a construction career: A discussion paper commissioned by the National Association of Women in Construction.” 〈http://www.nawic.com.au/app/documents/NAWIC/15-04-13_national_nawic_discussion_paper.pdf〉 (Nov. 4, 2013).
Murphy, B. (2009). “Great expectations? Progression and achievement of less traditional entrants to higher education.” Widening Participation Lifelong Learn., 11(2), 4–14.
Musa, M. A., and Othman, M. S. (2012). “Critical success factor in e-learning: an examination of technology and student factors.” Int. J. Adv. Eng. Technol., 3(2), 140–148.
Ola, A., and Niclas, L. (2005). “RSS: The future of internal communication?” Rep. from the School of Mathematics and Systems Engineering, Väjö Univ., Växjö, Sweden.
Perrenet, J. C., Bouhuijs, P. A. J., and Smits, J. G. M. M. (2000). “The suitability of problem-based learning for engineering education: Theory and practice.” Teach. High. Educ., 5(3), 345–358.
Puri, G. (2012). “Critical success factors in e-learning—An empirical study.” Int. J. Multidiscip. Res., 2(1), 149–161.
Schuetze, H. G., and Slowey, M. (2002). “Participation and exclusion: a comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education.” High. Educ., 44(3/4), 309–327.
Senior, B. A. (1998). “Infusing practical components into construction education.” J. Constr. Educ. 3(2), 92–101.
Swan, K. (2002). “Building learning communities in online courses: The importance of interaction.” Educ. Commun. Inform., 2(1), 23–49.
Volery, T., and Lord, D. (2000). “Critical success factors in online education.” Int. J. Educ. Manage., 14(5), 216–223.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Wilcox, P., Winn, S., and Fyvie-Gauld, M. (2005). “It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people: the role of social support in the first-year experience of higher education.” Stud. High. Educ., 30(6), 707–722.
Williams, A., Sher, W., and Simmons, C. (2010). Construction education in Australia: A review of learning and teaching challenges and opportunities, Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Sydney, Australia.
Wu, P., Pienaar, J., O’Brien, D., and Feng, Y. (2013). “Delivering construction education programs through the distance mode: Case study in Australia.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 325–333.
Yorke, M., and Longden, B. (2008). The first-year experience of higher education in the UK, The Higher Education Academy, York, U.K.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 11, 2013
Accepted: May 6, 2014
Published online: Jun 2, 2014
Discussion open until: Nov 2, 2014
Published in print: Jan 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.