Letters from the field : e-learning students change of learning behaviour in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

This paper reports the findings from two case studies on e-learning in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In these countries much hope is set on e-learning as a means to disseminate education to a larger population, but statistics show that drop out rates from e-learning courses are much higher than from traditional, classroom based, courses. In this paper it is argued that one reason for this is that the introduction of e-learning and a more student-centred learning model involves a drastic shift for students who are brought up in very teacher-centred didactic educational cultures. In order to investigate how this change in learning is perceived by its main stakeholders (i.e. the students) visits to learning centres in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were made during 2007 and 2008. To capture the students’ opinions an open approach was chosen where students were asked to write letters about which major challenges they experience in changing their learning behaviour and completing the courses. Altogether the study is based on 107 student letters that have been analyzed and coded based on major differences and challenges identified by the students. Findings show that most students find learning on their own to be the major difference. They find this challenging because they feel very distant and because they do not know how to learn on their own. They have difficulties in managing their time and a lack of flexibility combined with a sloppy administration makes it even worse. Students used to being spoon-fed and learning by memorizing obviously need much support in taking ownership of their own learning in order to be able to learn by themselves. By comparing and mapping these findings to solutions suggested by existing research this study therefore suggests that support functions should be provided for students on ‘how to be an online learner’ and on ‘how to learn by yourself’. The teacher interaction and presence should also, at least in the early stages of the course, be frequent and active in order to make the student confident in his or hers ability to learn on their own. Finally, course flexibility (in regards to delivery mode and pace) should be high and much effort should be put into creating a supportive and well-organized administratio