Introducing Distance Education to
the Technion: Science and
Engineering Students' Learning
Experiences
Miri Barak
Rania Hussein Farraj
Yehudit Judy Dori
Introduction

Universities nowadays reach out to students who are employees of
organizations and companies by launching distance education (DE)
programs.

TIDES - Technion International Distance Education and Studies was
established by Prof. Dori, Head of the Division of Continuing Education
and External Studies.

TIDES aims at enhancing lifelong learning among graduates engineers
and scientist while contributing to their professional development and
productivity.
Distance Education (DE) in Higher Education

DE is defined as learning through a variety of technological
means, enabling students far away from the teaching place to
acquire knowledge as if they were present at the face-to-face
(F2F) lessons (Schrum & Ohler, 2005).

DE systems offer learners flexibility; learning can be conducted
at the same time - synchronously, or at different times asynchronously (Berge, 2007).

Universities invest much effort in developing
online environments that promote active
learning and high order thinking skills
(Hussein Farraj, Barak & Dori, 2011).
Distance Education (DE) in Higher Education

In the past decade, many universities developed DE programs
for attracting and retaining students (Allen & Seaman, 2010; Lee &
Pituch, 2006).

However, some studies report that the integration of DE in
academia faces a wide range of problems, such as : work
overload, intellectual property rights , Interactions with
students, etc. (Bonk, et al., 2003; Cuban, et al., 2001).

Whilst higher education institutions have
invested substantial resources in DL, their
pedagogical advantages as well as their costeffectiveness are still to be examined.
Research Goal and Plan
To examine science and engineering students' attitudes about
DE and their learning experiences.
The research plan included three consecutive stages:
The initial stage which was carried out for the purpose of learning about
students' attitudes towards distance learning and investigating the feasibility
of establishing DE courses in our university.
The comparative stage which was conducted in order to examine the effect
of DE on students' learning experiences. In this stage we compared between
two groups of students: those who studied in a regular classroom setting and
those who studied from distance via online tools.
The focus stage which led to validation of the quantitative and qualitative
findings derived from the second stage and was related to students' learning
experiences in a DE setting.
Research Settings
The Moodle system http://www.moodle.com, an open-source
web application, was used as the learning environment for both
DE and F2F students. Students' Assignments included online
discussions, worksheets, and questionnaires.
The lectures were videotaped via Panopto system
http://www.panopto.com and were broadcasted asynchronously.
Research Participants
The initial stage: 261 science and engineering graduate
students answered a survey.
The comparative stage: 105 students participating in two
courses: Innovation Management and From Cell to Tissue
Divided into two research groups:
On-campus students (N=70) who studied in a traditional setting
DE students (N=35) who studied in an online setting.
The focus stage: 8 DE students
Video Recordings of F2F Lectures
The Comparative Stage (N=105)
Personal background and demographics
Course
Gender
Age
Major
Veteran in
workplace
Student percentage
DL
F2F
Innovation Management
63
43
From Cell to Tissue
37
57
Male
66
43
Female
34
57
20–to-34 years old
55
87
Above 35 years old
45
13
Engineering
55
75
Science
45
25
5 or less
62
81
More than 5 years
38
19
The Focus Stage (N=8)
Age
group
Undergraduate
major
Gefen
> 30
Engineering
Ora
> 30
Science
> 30
Science
Meril
> 35
Science
Yoni
> 25
Science
Tom
> 40
Engineering
Adam
> 30
Engineering
Boris
> 40
Engineering
Pseudonyms
Anat
Gender
Female
Male
Workplace
Pharmaceutical
Company
Pharmaceutical
Company
Pharmaceutical
Company
High-tec.
company
(U.S.A)
Military
industry
Engineering
company
Communication
company
Engineering
Position at
workplace
Veteran in
workplace
Engineer
5-10
Team leader
1-5
Team leader
5-10
Manager
1-5
Engineer
5-10
Manager
10-15
Engineer
1-5
Manager
1-5
Method and Tools
The Mix Method Research model (Johnston and Onwuegbuzie 2004).
The research tools included:
Pre- and post- online questionnaires
Consisted of open- and close ended questions.
The 1-to-5 Likert type scale, included 32 items composing Six categories:
a) Promoting meaningful learning,
b) Techno-pedagogical benefits,
c) Social aspects and communication,
d) Course quality and students' support,
e) Self-efficacy and self-assurance, and
f) Work-place and promotion.
Adapted from Schrum & Ohler ( 2005), Shin & Chan, (2004); Pituch & Lee
(2006), Cronbach's Alpha, was 0.93.
Method and Tools
Semi structured interviews
Conducted among eight students, audiotaped by Audacity software
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net), and lasted about 30 minutes. A
researcher diary was used for documenting the interviews and for
quality assurance.
Findings: The Initial Stage
Category
Mean
(N=261)
3.40
3.74
0.78
0.70
Course quality and student support
2.95
3.06
0.86
0.82
Self-efficacy and self-assurance
3.82
0.82
Workplace and promotion
3.44
0.79
Total
3.40
0.64
Meaningful learning
Technological pedagogical benefits
Social aspects and communication
SD
Students with previous experience in DE hold statistically significant higher
positive attitudes about DE (t (239) = 3.61, p < 0.001).
Findings: The Comparative Stage
Research
group
N
F2F
DE
70
35
Pre questionnaire
Post questionnaire
Mean*
3.22
3.54
Mean*
3.12
3.58
SD
0.45
0.64
SD
0.49
0.58

No statistically significant difference was found between the pre- and
post-perception questionnaires mean scores for both research groups.

However, data indicated that DE students asserted higher positive
opinions on the course in comparison with their F2F peers.

The DE students asserted statistically significant higher positive
opinions about meaningful learning, and self-efficacy and selfassurance (F (1, 74) = 5.37, p<0.05; F (1, 74) = 4.24, p >0.05, respectively).
Findings: The Comparative Stage

The DE female students, in
comparison with males,
asserted statistically
significant higher positive
perceptions of DE related to
social aspects and
communication in the course
(F (1, 33) = 4.77, p < 0.05).

It appears that female
students were more confident
about their ability to
communicate with their
classmates and lecturers from
distance.
Findings: The focus stage The Comparative Stage
 Young DE students, ages 20
to 24, asserted statistically
significant higher positive
perceptions of the quality of
the DE courses and the
support received from the
teaching staff, in comparison
with elderly peers (F(1, 33) =
7.89, p > 0.05(.
 It may be because younger
students are more computer
savvy and they feel they do
not need much technical
support.
Findings: The Focus Stage
Themes
Categories
Examples
In DE it is the same level of understanding as learning face to face.
Thinking skills
Cognitive and
professional
skills
Professional skills
Regulation of cognition
Affective
Resource
management
In DE I can concentrate better when learning on my computer.
Self -discipline
DE requires self-discipline, that I have, and therefore I have no problem to learn from
distance.
Interest and challenge
When the course team explained to us the method of DE course I was very
interested so I decided to participate in this challenging venture.
With lecturer
DE is a new concept and I wanted to try it.
DE does not lack interaction because you can communicate with the lecturer by
Email
With peers
I need to Interact with people. DE does not give the opportunity to participate in
discussion with my peers in a real time.
Time management
DE has opened for me the possibility to study the learning materials at times
convenient to me.
Innovation
Social
interaction
In DE I work with my colleagues through Skype calls, so we talk to the point and
learn to build a professional basis.
Environment manage.
Learning management
DE allows me to choose the learning environment which is good for me.
DE is an appropriate learning method for me because I like to manage and plan my
own learning.
Summary and Implications




Our findings indicated that although lifelong learning is crucial
for the professional development of graduate students, not all
of them are able or willing to study from distance.
DE students were more satisfied with their learning compared
to the F2F students.
However, DE students are concerned with:
 their self-determination and self-discipline
 lack of social interactions with peers while learning from
distance.
DE courses can be further improved by encouraging
communication and by enhancing students' social interaction
as part of their learning experiences.
THANKS
To Prof. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Miriam
Erez for taking part in TIDES initiative