Spearman Brown correlations test is also a non-parametric test which compares two variables at a time to observe for any associations between them. Cross tabulations were carried out across all the questions as given in the Tables XIIIa, XIIIb and XIIIc in Appendix XIII.
In this section, only the correlations which indicate significant associations among the variables are discussed. There are a number of variables which were significantly correlated with p<= 0.05. For the purpose of analysis, the most significant correlations with p<=0.01 were considered for triangulation against either outputs of qualitative analysis in chapter 5 or other quantitative analysis techniques considered in this chapter.
The correlations which were triangulated against other quantitative analysis; factor analysis (Section 6.4) and CART analysis (Section 6.5) are not considered in this section. Tables 6.2-6.7 below show the most justifiable correlations.
Table 6.2 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis
Factor Co-relation Triangulation
Gender Weekly hours at work
Female students work < 40 hours per week as opposed to males who work > 40 hours per week. This fact was further proved at interviews with students as male students have to often travel for job related matters and spend more time at work than their female counterparts.
Learn at own pace
Prefer self-learning These are the core benefits of online WBL. All four factors are inter-related among each other, i.e. they are
mutually inclusive. For example, one cannot learn at his/her own pace if he/she doesn’t prefer self-learning.
During interviews this was the most unanimous fact agreed upon by all stakeholders as key benefits of WBL (chapter 5) No need to commute to university Learn anytime eLP user- friendly Online discussion and chat help
The Discussion Board (DB) and chat rooms are built into the eLP therefore these factors correlate with each other always. It was pointed out by both students and academics at interviews that their main communication occurs on DB (Ex: To post their views and to seek advice from academics).
Library helpful The online library can be accessed through the eLP where research literature being hosted under ‘NORA’ portal.
Library, Finance and Student services helpful IT services helpful
All four services come under the university services for students which means any kind of negativity of any of the four would have an impact on other services which will subsequently add to the reputation of the university. IT services is central to ensure online access to all other services which is least costly compared to land phones, mobile phones and fax. During interviews this was further confirmed indicating interrupting access to university web site and DTA time to time due to various reasons affect WBL students badly as their learning time is round
the clock. As with the rapid development of technology, students’ access tools are also shifting towards mobile
technologies. This has become a necessity for IT services to ensure compatibility between IT interfaces and mobile tools available in the market. Through this enabling, WBL students who are mostly on the move could access the university anytime, anywhere, using any tool.
Likelihood of continuing WBL Personal development through knowledge and skills
Student’s personal view about the programme and its benefits would decide whether to continue WBL for
further qualifications or not. Most students during interviews mentioned that they were quite happy about their learning experience especially with the opportunity of working and learning simultaneously which could lead them to decide to follow further WBL qualifications like professional doctorates.
Table 6.3 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis contd. Highest educational qualifications Student union’s help
This was triangulated at the interview with the students’ union (NSU) where the concept of APL was not well supported by the NSU as an entry qualification indicating it could be unfair for the on campus FT students who get enrolled with standard educational qualifications required by the university and at the end both types of students would obtain the same qualifications. On top of that, WBL students are advantageous being able to earn both money and experience during learning whilst FT on campus students do not.
Professional status upgrade
Different professional bodies have different criteria for professional registration. However, educational and training requirements are the two main areas which any PB would be concerned. The higher the educational qualifications one can have bigger the chances of being professionally registered.
Mentor at workplace helps
An employee who has higher qualifications would be more academically sound than an employee with less or no academic qualifications in WBL which could affect the level of support needed from the mentor. This was triangulated at interviews with academics who revealed that some students who were recruited through APL scheme have struggled to cope up with academic rigour and needed more mentor support at the workplace.
Curriculum relevant to work role
Depending on the relevancy of educational background to the current employment, the extent of tailoring of learning contract could vary. Ex: a Masters student with a relevant Bachelors degree as background qualification and working in
the same field, it is likely that the student’s contract is fully tailored to work place whereas a Masters student with a
non-relevant Bachelors degree or without a degree will have to take up basic academic modules in order to fill the knowledge gaps.
Effective monitoring mechanism in place
The students with lesser qualifications should be monitored on their progress than who are with higher qualifications due to their academic experience, maturity, knowledge and self-learning capability. Employers are concerned about
students’ progress and have set up regular reporting mechanisms on individual students’ progress.
Difficult to adjust to online learning
Migrating from conventional face-to-face learning to online WBL could be challenging for most of the students if this is their first such academic experience. Those who have previous academic experience irrespective of the mode of delivery could have some exposure to online learning technologies.
Benefited from APL at
enrolment as a selection criteria
APL only comes into consideration if the student does not possess required level of academic qualifications. In such a scenario, student may be asked to submit a profile which should include other relevant/non-relevant academic/non academic qualifications, work experience and references. The university would evaluate the profile to compare and align with selection criteria case by case on the basis of pre-set standard benchmarks. During interviews this was highly appreciated by students who had benefitted to follow Masters Programmes without a basic degree.
Table 6.4 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis contd.
Difficult to adjust to online learning
Learn anytime In WBL, preference for anytime self-learning is correlated with time taken to get adjusted for online learning. This was further proved during interviews that those students who are used to face-to-face learning and did not prefer self- learning found it very isolated.
Prefer self- learning Prefer inclusion of some face-to- face sessions
The migration from face-to-face learning to online WBL needs a lot of skills, motivation, and self-discipline which is a challenge for first-time learners. It was triangulated in the interviews that many students feel the absence of physical community and prefer inclusion of some face-to-face sessions like induction programmes.
Professional status upgrade
The ‘Professional status upgrade’ could indirectly correlate with adapting to online WBL where quick adaptors could
complete the programme faster than others as a result of which they could then complete their professional registration.
Effective monitoring mechanism in place Curriculum relevant to work role
Relevance of curriculum to work role could correlate with the presence of an effective monitoring mechanism by the university because failing to progress through the programme could affect the work organization as well as the
individual student’s progress. More relevant the curriculum to work role, the responsibility of monitoring the same
shifts from university towards workplace and vice versa.
Mentor at workplace supports
Mentors should be helpful to monitor students’ progress against the learning contract as a supplementary to the
university’s monitoring mechanism. Mentor could support the student by giving inputs to the study programme, support in submissions and also monitoring student’s progress through a formal mechanism. This was triangulated at interviews with the employers who commented about their routine progress monitoring schedules.
Professional status upgrade
Effective monitoring mechanism will lead to timely completion of the WBL programme which should eventually enable upgrading of professional status early.
Professio- nal status upgrade Personal development through knowledge and skills
The knowledge and skills gain from this qualification would definitely add a lot of value to individual students for upgrading of their professional registration.
Curriculum relevant to work role
When the programme curriculum is relevant to the work role, professional bodies would assess learning more closely towards practical and professional aspects than academic and theoretical aspects.
Table 6.5 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis contd. Likelihood of continuing WBL Personal development through knowledge and skills
Student’s personal view about the programme and its benefits could decide whether to continue WBL for further
qualifications or not. Most students during interviews mentioned that they were quiet happy about their learning experience especially with the opportunity of working and learning simultaneously which could decide them to follow further WBL qualifications like professional doctorates for their personal development..
Benefitted from APL at enrolment Mentor at workplace helps my studies
APL is a key concept in WBL where more flexibility has been adapted in enrolments with compared to on campus programmes. In order to support these students with the gaps in knowledge, academic skills and theoretical background, mentor support at workplace, an effective monitoring mechanism on their progress and also special supportive initiatives from students’ union would be helpful.
Effective monitoring mechanism in place Student services helpful Curriculum relevant to work role Tutor expertise in delivering online programmes
The more the curriculum is relevant to the workplace, this can sometimes mean it is out of the periphery of the tutor’s expertise in the subject and thus the mentor and student have more control over the tutor. However, the tutor’s online tutoring experience is key in setting up benchmarks to maintain quality academic standards.
Response quality
The less the curriculum is relevant to the work role and the more generic it is, the quicker the response time as tutors would be more comfortable with the content than if it was fully tailored to the work role hence the quality of the response would be better.
Main
employment
Engineering learning contracts are almost 100% tailored to work role as opposed to library or records management related employments in the study.
Benefitted from APL at enrolment
Students who have been selected for Masters without a first degree through APL could cope with the programme due to its curriculum being tailored to day to day work activities.
Table 6.6 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis contd. Quality of learning material Quality of learning material Curriculum relevant to work role
Quality of online learning materials is important on learners’ output and satisfaction in online WBL hence academics
need to pay their highest attention on improving study materials. When the curriculum is relevant to learner’s work role, the amount and quality of study material online is less as learning contract is more under the control of student. Professional
status upgrade
Quality study materials enhance quality of student learning hence upgrading of professional registration. Effective
monitoring mechanism in place
In order to maintain the quality of study materials being delivered by academics, it is necessary to deploy an independent panel which consists of online teaching experts as an effective monitoring mechanism.
Mentor at workplace supports
Mentors’ inputs to the curriculum enhance the quality of study material although not much involvement from mentors
is being encouraged by the university at the moment whilst employers prefer to be involved.
Finance helpful
Additional financial support to upgrade online material could help academics to outsource their teaching content to online content development professionals as LTech staff capacity does not seem sufficient to cater to the entire university.
Benefited from APL at
enrolment
There are two types of APL as APCL and APEL. The difference between APCL and APEL is students who get enrolled through APEL would only have extensive work experience in the field as opposed to APCL considerate students who would have academic qualifications not relevant to their current field of study. In this context, APCL students could have some exposure to online study material as opposed to APEL students who could experience them for the first time in life. This could lead to different levels of acceptance and criticism on quality of learning material by two types of students.
Highest educational qualifications
The study results show that quality learning materials are a key element in WBL as the learning takes place always
distantly in online mode. ‘Highest educational qualifications’ of the student could correlate to assess the quality of
learning materials as those students may have experience of other online materials in their previous studies to compare
with current materials. A first time online learner wouldn’t know what is expected out of online study materials and
Table 6.7 Triangulation of correlations of Spearman Brown analysis contd. Quality of learning material Main employment
It was observed in the study that engineering and IT programmes are without much online content on the eLP with compared to library and records management programmes.
Tutor expertise
Response quality
All three factors relate to academics and for the Quality of Service (QoS) of the University in distance WBL delivery. The online distance WBL standards and benchmarks set up by the university would decide all three factors and also the focus and approach of the university towards this mode of HE delivery. The interviews with the academics revealed many bottlenecks they face in this exercise which should be addressed by the management in order to improve the current situation.
Quality of learning material