increasing levels of participation in tertiary education. Technological advances in course management software and computing capacity along with increased.
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Integrating a virtual learning environment into a second-year accounting course: determinants of overall student perception
P. ORIGINAL Accounting Wells et al. and ARTICLES Finance XX AFAANZ (2008) XXX–XXX Blackwell Oxford, Accounting ACFI © 0810-5391 Journal XXX The Authors compilation UK Publishing and ©Ltd 2007
Paul Wellsa, Paul de Langeb, Peter Fiegerc a
Department of Accounting, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, 1020, New Zealand b School of Accounting and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3001, Australia c Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, 1020, New Zealand
Abstract Rapid acceptance of, and changes in, information technology are revolutionizing the way educators teach and students learn. This study reports on the use of Blackboard as a tool for creating a virtual learning environment (VLE). Responses from undergraduate accounting students in New Zealand provide data on the use of the VLE as a learning aid. Findings suggest that the students have openly embraced the VLE and support its adoption by faculty members in other courses. However, students appear unwilling to actively participate in two-way online activities. This has implications for faculty contemplating the adoption of a VLE in their courses. Key words: Student perceptions; Online learning; Internet JEL classification: I21 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-629x.2007.00249.x
1. Introduction The information age combined with quantum advances in information technology are revolutionizing the way educators teach and students learn (Reeves, 1997; Bryant and Hunton, 2000). One example of the revolution is the use of The authors wish to acknowledge the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand for a travel grant to present an earlier draft of this paper at the American Accounting Association 2005 Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA). We also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions from Ken Hyde and the two anonymous reviewers from Accounting and Finance. Received 21 August 2007; accepted 18 October 2007 by Gary Monroe.
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the Internet and course management software tools, such as Blackboard and WebCT, developed to facilitate student learning outside the physical classroom.1 Extensive use of information technology in learning is present in what is often referred to as a virtual learning environment (VLE). VLEs use Internet technology for communication and disseminating information with the aim of enhancing learning (Seale and Mence, 2001). Concurrent with these developments has been the call for the development of new learning strategies that better equip accounting graduates with the skills expected of them (American Accounting Association, 1986; Accounting Education Change Commission, 1990; International Federation of Accountants, 1996). These strategies involve the development of student-centred rather than teacher-centred learning activities and seek to develop not just student understanding of content but to also develop their broader interpersonal, communication and intellectual skills (De Lange et al., 2006). The extent to which young adults have embraced surfing the Internet (De Lange et al., 2003) is just one example of how students are motivated to learn when they learn in new and novel ways (Kozma, 1991). As a consequence of this increased interest in the Internet as a tool to facilitate student-centred learning and the practical necessity of facilitating learning in different geographical locations, most universities use a VLE in their programmes of study. This rapid acceptance of and changes in information technology has meant that the pedagogical benefit of incorporating new technologies into subject delivery is not well understood and the non-discipline-specific findings are inconclusive (Reeves, 1997; Bonner, 1999; Smeaton and Keogh, 1999; Brace-Govan and Clulow, 2000). Even though some studies have reported that improved learning outcomes result from heightened motivation and extended mental effort (Kozma, 1991; Kember, 1995; Koh and Koh, 1999; Bryant and Hunton, 2000), Ramsey (2003) concludes that the impact and use of technology on learning outcomes for students and faculty are not well understood. Against this broader context, there has been limited investigation into these issues in the accounting discipline (Bryant and Hunton, 2000). This provides the motivation for this study to investigate how accounting students use a VLE and to identify student perceptions of its usefulness. The remaining sections of this paper are structured as follows. Section 2 provides an examination of the relevant literature and further provides the theoretical background for the study, followed by the research propositions in Section 3. Sections 4 and 5 explain the details of the instrument and respondents, followed by a description of the statistical tests in Section 6 where the major results from the investigation are presented. Section 7 is a discussion of the major findings along with concluding remarks.
1
http://www.blackboard.com
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2. Theoretical background Much has been written about the calls from employers (Arthur Andersen et al., 1989), government funding agencies (Mathews et al., 1990), academia (American Accounting Association, 1986) and professional accounting bodies (International Federation of Accountants, 1996) to reform accounting education programmes to attract and retain high-calibre students and to better equip them with the requisite skills. These calls focus on the development of accounting graduates as independent learners. They suggest that this may be achieved through the use of student-centred learning strategies that include self-paced learning, working in groups, using technology creatively and encouraging students to actively participate in the learning process. It has been further suggested that learners need to be encouraged to contribute to their own learning through interaction with not only the course materials, but also with their peers and faculty (Bandura, 1977; Potter and Johnston, 2006). The adoption of technology to facilitate the provision of flexible learning systems seeks in part to provide a response to these calls (Oliver, 2000). It has been found that this actively involves the student in the learning process, which in turn facilitates deep learning and is more likely to result in quality learning outcomes (Booth et al., 1999; Adler et al., 2000; Potter and Johnston, 2006). Further motivating influences for the adoption of technology in teaching and learning platforms include technological advances, provider competition and increasing levels of participation in tertiary education. Technological advances in course management software and computing capacity along with increased and improved access to the Internet have provided a viable alternative to faceto-face teaching and learning. This, together with an increased number of, and competition between, education providers, and increased expectations from external stakeholders (O’Malley and McCraw, 1999; Arbaugh and Duray, 2002; Siragusa, 2002), has ensured that education providers explore cost-effective alternative methods for programme and course delivery. In addition, Beard and Harper (2002) suggest that with increasing levels of student participation in tertiary education, and the resulting student demographics, there is increasing pressure to produce more flexible educational delivery systems. This flexibility is catered for by making the learning environment time and place independent (O’Malley and McCraw, 1999; Arbaugh and Duray, 2002). As a consequence, an increasing number of business schools are offering courses that use technology to create VLEs (O’Malley and McCraw, 1999; Oliver, 2000; Potter and Johnston, 2006). These VLEs may be used to totally replace face-to-face teaching in a physical classroom, partially replace face-toface teaching or solely supplement existing face-to-face teaching (Arbaugh and Duray, 2002). In doing so, they seek to facilitate the achievement of learning outcomes through improved access to learning materials, the provision of more timely feedback to students through online assessment (Breen et al., 2003; Potter and Johnston, 2006), and improved communication between students and between © The Authors
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students and faculty through the availability of bulletin boards, discussion forums and email facilities (Beard and Harper, 2002). Although educators are actively seeking to develop VLEs in an effort to make their courses more flexible, these are not without difficulties. Some recent studies have reported that students might lack the required computer and/or Internet literacy levels (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Siragusa, 2002; Breen et al., 2003) and that access to the sites and staying connected was problematic (Beard and Harper, 2002). It was also found that students were reluctant participants in discussion forums and other two-way communications (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Breen et al., 2003). This latter observation has led some researchers to conclude that many students use the VLE as a ‘safety net’ for learning as preferred use of the technology is primarily to access information, such as lecture notes, study guides, suggested solutions and announcements (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Kenny, 2003; Love and Fry, 2006). 3. Research proposition The present study seeks to provide a platform for evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of a VLE by ascertaining how students use this learning tool, and identifying student perception of the VLE as a learning tool. This leads to the following research questions: RQ1: Do students support the use of the VLE in their programme of study? RQ2: How do students use the resources offered through the VLE? RQ3: Which of the five variables – namely, the provision of lecture notes, discussion forums, self-tests, announcements and other tools used by New Zealand students studying accounting – influence their overall perception of the VLE? RQ4: To what extent is the perception of the VLE (RQ2) driven by a lack of prerequisite computing skills and limited access to technology by students? 4. Background The present study was undertaken at a New Zealand university that offers a Bachelor of Business programme with majors in Accounting, Advertising, Business Economics, Commercial Law, eBusiness, Information Technology, International Business, Management, Marketing and Tourism. This is a 3 year full-time equivalent programme of study. Accounting Information Systems and Auditing is a second-year course that is taken by students intending to major in Accounting and is mandatory for students seeking New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants recognition. All students enrolled in this course will have completed or will be concurrently enrolled © The Authors
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in all the first-year courses of this programme where they have been introduced to computer and online learning technologies. The course was delivered to three separate classes from semester 2 of 2003 to semester 2 of 2004. The first half of the course relates to Accounting Information Systems and is assessed by a project that has both individual and group assessment components. The second half of the course relates to Auditing and is assessed by examination. University administrators actively encourage and support the use of Blackboard to enhance learning by enabling students to obtain resources, facilitate increased interaction between students and with staff and to assist students in developing valuable information technology skills. Teaching is based on small group classes of up to 30 students, for 3 h per week per course for courses that are taught in face-to-face mode. Lecturers may apply to deliver the course in ‘enhanced’ mode with no reduction in class-contact time, or in ‘flexible’ mode with a reduction from 3 to 2 h of class-contact per week. Approval was given for this course to be offered in the enhanced mode. Although all students had previously been given the opportunity to use enhanced learning support in their compulsory first-year multidisciplinary courses, this was the first opportunity for them to use enhanced support for a dedicated accounting course in the degree programme. 5. Data collection The present study sought to answer how students used the VLE (research question 2) by monitoring the resources used and the frequency and timing of accesses to the VLE. Students’ perceptions of the overall usefulness of the VLE (research question 1) as well as individual VLE resources (research question 3) were measured by conducting a survey that asked students to evaluate each of the five categories of learning resource provided by the VLE as well as providing an overall evaluation. A further dimension of the study sought to evaluate the respondents’ perceptions of their difficulty in using technology (research question 4). 5.1. Survey instrument The survey instrument, developed and tested by de Lange et al. (2003) from a framework first used in a study by Suwardy and de Lange (1998) and adapted for the present study with minor modifications, sought to measure student perceptions of the usefulness of the VLE. Respondents were asked to evaluate the usefulness of the VLE for the provision of lecture notes, discussion forums, formative self-testing, announcements and other tools. They were also invited to provide to an overall evaluation. The lecture notes section contained three questions that specifically sought information relating to the availability of notes and two questions that sought to ascertain whether the availability of these notes detracted from student learning © The Authors
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and participation in the course (this is subsequently referred to as effect). The three discussion forum questions sought to identify whether dialogue with academic staff and peers assisted in the learning process. In the self-test section, two questions related to the usefulness of the self-tests and a third asked whether they should contribute to the final mark for the course, while the remaining question related to the extent to which students actually use the self-tests. The two announcements questions sought to identify whether students considered this to be an effective technique for communicating with the whole class. Other tools referred to the availability of www links and the availability of email contact (including address books) with teaching faculty and fellow students. In the summary section, five questions related to overall perceptions of the VLE, in terms of desirability of use in other courses, student satisfaction and improved access to teaching staff and students. The sixth question focused on the respondents’ ability to use the VLE as a result of their computer and Internet literacy levels. In addition to this range of Likert-style questions for each section, respondents were given the opportunity to make ‘additional comments’ at the conclusion of these questions. Participants were asked to provide demographic data and their student identification number. The latter data item enabled the retrieval of any student’s summative result for the Accounting Information Systems component of the course. 5.2. Procedure Ethics approval from the University Ethics Committee was required prior to the commencement of this project. The survey instrument was administered in the course Accounting Information Systems and Auditing, during formally scheduled class times, in the 10th teaching week of semester 2 of 2003 and semesters 1 and 2 of 2004. Students were asked to provide responses on the basis of their experience in the Accounting Information Systems component of the course (weeks 1–6). Staff who were not involved with the course administered the survey and all students were provided with a letter advising them of the purpose of the study and their right not to participate. 5.3. Respondents From a total of 206 enrolled students over the three semesters, there were 166 respondents providing an overall response rate of 81 per cent. Of respondents, 79 provided their student identification number. The mean and standard deviation of the assessment results for this group were 67.7 per cent and 8.5, respectively, whereas the mean and standard deviation for the entire population was 64.7 per cent and 12.9, responsibility. Meanwhile, the mean and standard deviation for the identified students overall rating of the project was 2.27 (on a scale of 1–5) and 0.662, respectively, and for the entire population was 2.44 and 0.724, © The Authors
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Table 1 Respondents demographics n = 166 Respondents Gender Male Female Age 39 Full-time/part-time Full-time Part-time
%
27 73 1 43 44 10 2 77 23
respectively (p < 0.01); hence, confirming that students who were more satisfied with the project and who performed slightly better were more willing to identify themselves. In an effort to understand the profile of respondents, demographic characteristics are reported in Table 1. Of respondents, 73 per cent were women, 77 per cent were full-time students and 88 per cent of respondents were under 30 years of age. The high number of female respondents reflects the high proportion (70 per cent) of female enrolments in the course. 6. Results 6.1. Descriptive findings: research question 2 During semester 2 of 2003, 59 of the 69 students enrolled in this course made 20 164 hits on this VLE site. The most popular application was the content area, which recorded 35 per cent of the hits followed by the discussion board (28 per cent) and announcements (14 per cent). Although there was a total of 4730 hits on the discussion board, these were directed at a mere 34 messages. This suggests that students prefer to monitor rather than actively participate in class activity in the VLE, even with the added option of anonymity in the discussion forums. An analysis of all application hits is presented in Figure 1. Access to the site was evenly distributed during the weekdays, with access declining by more than 50 per cent during the weekends; hence, suggesting that students complete most of their study during Mondays to Fridays. Only 12 per cent of accesses were made at the weekend even though 26 per cent of respondents were part-time students. Anecdotal evidence reported in a respondent’s additional comments suggests that many of the part-time students printed out material at work rather than at home. The number of hits per day is illustrated in Figure 2. © The Authors
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Figure 1 Hits by application.
Figure 2 Hits by day of the week.
Eighty-one per cent of hits are made on the site between 08.00 and 19.00 hours. Given the number of part-time students, this raises the question as to when part-time students actually undertake self-directed learning using the VLE. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that Internet download rates are faster at the students’ place of work and the university compared to their own homes; hence, access speeds might in fact be a hindrance. Another explanation is that students prefer to use their employers’ printing facilities to print out material from the VLE. © The Authors
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Figure 3 Hits by hour of the day.
The number of hits made each hour is illustrated in Figure 3. Usage statistics for semester 2 of 2004 are consistent with these statistics. 6.2. Multivariate tests: research question 3 Data analysis proceeded through two stages. First, exploratory factor analysis was undertaken on each of the six sections of the instrument to reduce the number of items to a workable number of factors (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996). Cronbach alpha analysis was then undertaken on each of the derived factors to confirm the reliability of the factor analysis results. Second, regression analysis was conducted using the factors to determine their relationship with the overall perception of students using the VLE. The dimensionality of the items in the survey instrument was explored using principal component analysis with Varimax rotation. As a result, eight factors in total were identified and extracted for subsequent regression analysis. This included seven factors that would form independent measures in the regression analysis (availability of lecture notes, effect of lecture notes, discussion forum, self-tests usefulness, self-test use, announcements and other tools) and one factor that would form the dependent measure (overall perception). The factor analysis and subsequent calculation of the Cronbach alpha measures suggested the deletion of two items from further analysis. One item in the self-test usefulness factor related to the contribution of test results to the final grade for the course; deletion of this item resulted in a much improved alpha. One item in the overall evaluation section of the questionnaire focused on the students’ ability to use the VLE as a result of their computer and literacy levels; this was included as previous studies had identified computer and Internet literacy as a key cause of dissatisfaction with the VLE as a learning tool (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Siragusa, 2002; Breen et al., 2003). Deletion of this item also resulted in a much improved alpha. © The Authors
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Table 2 Cronbach alpha values Factor
Cronbach alpha
Lecture notes availability Lecture notes effect Discussion forums Self-test availability Self-test use Announcements Other tools Overall perception
0.634 0.815 0.822 0.679 0.803 0.606 0.723
Table 3 Inter-item correlations Overall perception Lecture notes (Availability) Lecture notes (Effect) Discussion forums Self-test (Usefulness) Self-test (Use) Announcements Other tools Overall perception
0.592 0.000 0.163 0.041 0.507 0.000 0.363 0.000 –0.162 0.041 0.520 0.000 0.523 0.000 1.000
The analysis of the reliability of the extracted factor variables yielded satisfactory Cronbach alpha values of 0.61–0.82. The generally agreed upon lower limit for Cronbach alpha is 0.7, although it might decrease to 0.6 in exploratory research (Hair et al., 1998). Table 2 shows a satisfactory alpha value across all factors. Cronbach alpha is not reported for the self-test use measure as this was a single item measure. Table 3 reports the Pearson correlation coefficients between the seven independent measures and overall perception of the VLE. Moderate-sized correlations were found to exist for four independent measures (lecture note use, discussion forums, announcements and other tools). Small correlations were found to exist for the remaining independent measures. © The Authors
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Table 4 Regression coefficients Standardized coefficients Beta (Constant) Lecture notes (availability) Lecture notes (effect) Discussion forums Self-test (usefulness) Self-test (use) Announcements Other tools F-value R2 Adjusted R2
0.335 0.044 0.074 0.098 –0.047 0.250 0.271 25.4 0.550 0.529
t
Significance
0.604 5.105 0.759 1.025 1.544 –0.787 3.973 4.169
0.547 0.000*** 0.449 0.307 0.125 0.433 0.000*** 0.000*** 0.000***
*p ≤ 0.10; **p ≤ 0.05; ***p ≤ 0.01.
Regression analysis was used to assess the relationships between the created seven independent variables (factors) and the overall perception (dependent variable). Table 4 shows the regression coefficients as well as R2 and adjusted R2. The regression result shows that the seven selected factors explain slightly more than 52 per cent of the variance in ‘overall perception’. The F-value of 25.4 is statistically significant at the 99 per cent level and confirms that the model expresses a meaningful relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables. The beta coefficients in Table 4 identify the strongest contributing predictors of the overall perception of the VLE as ‘the availability of lecture notes’, ‘announcements’ and ‘other tools’. The quantified impact of these variables on the ‘overall perception’ is illustrated in Figure 4. 6.3. Descriptive findings: research question 1 The mean score for the factor overall perception of 2.171 with a 95 per cent confidence interval of 2.08–2.26 indicates support by the respondents for the VLE used in this study. 6.4. Descriptive findings: research question 4 In the summary section of the survey questionnaire, one question asked the students, using a five point Likert scale, to rate their ability to use the VLE as a result of their computer and literacy levels (1 = significant difficulties and 5 = no difficulties). The mean score for this question was 4.2; hence, indicating © The Authors
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Figure 4 Key predictors of overall perception.
that students encountered few difficulties in using computer technology, the Internet or the VLE. 7. Summary and conclusions The purpose of the present study was to identify student usage and perceptions of the VLE. Specifically, the study sought to answer four questions. The first being, did students support the use of the VLE in their programme of study? In terms of overall perception, it was found that the use of the VLE had been a rewarding experience and that the integration of computers into the learning process aided student learning, staff and students became more accessible to each other, and there was a high level of support for the use of the VLE in other courses. These findings are consistent with previous research that supports new and novel teaching approaches as techniques for stimulating © The Authors
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learning (Kozma, 1991). This in turn is often associated with enhanced learning outcomes (Naser and Peel, 1998). However, although student responses to the availability of the VLE in this study have been very positive and endorsement for adoption of the VLE by other courses has been very high (82 per cent), this enthusiasm and motivation might decline as the provision of Internet-supported learning becomes the norm and its novelty declines (Suwardy and de Lange, 1998). The second question sought to identify how students utilized the various resources available through the VLE. Project results suggest that students preferred to use the VLE solely as an information source rather than engaging in online interaction with other students. This finding is particularly disappointing given that other researchers (Booth et al., 1999) have claimed that engagement in interactive dialogue leads to deeper learning. This preference for one-way rather than interactive communication is also consistent with prior research findings (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Beard and Harper, 2002; Breen et al., 2003). Lindner and Murphy (2001) find that students’ reluctance to participate in interactive communication arose in part due to the absence of any assessment relating to the activity. This study supports that finding; however, the instructor did require all questions relating to assessment to be directed through a discussion forum, this is, in part, the reason for the high hit rate on the discussion forum. A further possible conclusion from these findings for this research question is that students used the VLE resources as a safety net for absence from class even though they claim that it did not make them less attentive or less likely to attend class. With an increasing number of students working while studying full time, student absence is often explained as employment related and involuntary. Although the provision of VLE resources provided an opportunity for the students to ‘catch up’ on missed classes, a number of students in their additional comments stated that the VLE ‘. . . should not replace the physical classroom’. These findings are consistent with those of Kenny (2003) and Oliver (2000). The third question was, which of the five VLE resources, self-tests, lecture notes announcements, discussion forums and other tools influenced students’ overall perception of the VLE? The results show that availability of lecture notes, announcements and other tools (availability of www links and email contact) made the strongest contribution to the students’ overall perception of the VLE. Results indicate that one-way communication resources had more influence of overall perception than interactive communication resources. Student absence from class and ‘catch-up’ activity might explain why all three factors, which contributed to the overall positive perception of the VLE, involved one-way rather than interactive communication. These findings are consistent with the findings from research question 2 and in turn support the conclusion that the VLE is being used as a safety net for absence despite respondent claims to the contrary. The availability of lecture notes as a significant factor is not surprising given that 35 per cent of all hits on the VLE related to the content area. Surprisingly, the usefulness and availability of discussion forums was not considered a © The Authors
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significantly positive feature by the respondents and yet this feature accounted for 28 per cent of the hits on the VLE. In contrast, respondents found that announcements and other tools contributed positively to their perception of the VLE, while attracting only 14 and 3 per cent of the hits, respectively. These results are likely to have been influenced by the growing wave of consumerism where students now appear to consider it their right to select their own learning resources as they deem appropriate. Two VLE-related problems identified in previous research – access to sites and staying connected, and computer and Internet literacy (Lindner and Murphy, 2001; Beard and Harper, 2002; Siragusa, 2002) – formed the basis for research question 4. Findings from this study indicate that neither of these issues was considered a problem for the students surveyed in this study and, hence, the results relating to this question were eliminated from the study. One possible explanation relating to Internet and computer literacy is that most students in this course had used computer technology and VLEs in previous courses whereas this might not be true for all courses. In addition, one explanation for the absence of student dissatisfaction with access/download and connection issues is that this was principally undertaken at the university or students place of work where connection speeds are often much higher than in the students home. In conclusion, the purpose of this study has been to examine the use and perceived usefulness of the design features of Blackboard being used as a VLE in teaching second-year accounting students. Three of these design features (availability of lecture notes, announcements and other tools) had a significantly positive effect on students’ overall perceptions of the usefulness of the VLE, although this did not necessarily mean that students actually used these design features in their course of study. Overall, the results of this study show high levels of student satisfaction with the availability of and learning support provided by a VLE, and they suggest that this should be made available in other courses. However, it cannot be assumed from these findings that students will in fact use these resources. Furthermore, the unwillingness of students to participate in two-way online activities does prevent educators from realizing the full potential of the online learning technology in which to facilitate deep learning. One of the key limitations of this research was the relatively small number of participants (n = 166). Expanding the data collection to a larger group would enable a meaningful analysis of the results by gender or age. The findings from this project provide a number of further research opportunities. First, there has been little research that examines whether VLEs hold novelty value, and if so whether interest and support for these learning aids will decline as student exposure to them is increased. Second, an expanded study with a greater number of participants would assist in ascertaining whether perceptions are influenced by gender and/or age. A third opportunity exists to further explore the Web logs in an effort to better understand how and when students engage with the VLE. © The Authors
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