The inhibitors and enablers affecting the online behaviours of online college students learning in a blended learning context

Abstract EN

This paper portrays part of a larger study which explores the new online collaborative learning experiences of a class of thirty-seven college students learning in a blended learning context.

The research is a case-study with a multi- method interpretivist approach using observations, unsolicited meetings, VLE tracking system, students' reflective journal, online informal discussions, questionnaires, focus groups and individual interviews.

This paper focuses on the experiences of students as described in their own voice.

It briefly describes the online journeys and identifies the online challenges faced by these students.

Although 86% of the students were familiar with the Internet and computers, six online complex behavior patterns emerged.

The findings indicated that the enablers and inhibitors affecting the learners' online behaviours were of a situational, infrastructural and persona-related nature.

Situational factors are due to the learner's lifestyle.

Infrastructural factors are external factors that are not directly under the control of the learners, whereas the persona-related factors are characteristics of the learners' personalities.

This work is of great significance in contexts of novice online learners and of cases where educators shift from traditional face-to-face learning to blended or online learning.