The Impact of E-learning on Academic Performance: a Case Study of Group Learning Sets

Abstract

This study focused on the impact of e-learning on academic performance. The study relates to a level one undergraduate module delivered using traditional lectures and elearning based methods. E-learning has been revealed in this study not to have a positive impact on academic achievement contrary to the expectations of this study. The paper also examines the data for the presence of interaction effects between elearning study hours and socio-demographic characteristics. This is undertaken to identify whether or not personal-characteristic-related learning style differences influence the extent to which students benefit from e-learning. It is found that, after controlling for other factors, female students benefited less from e-leaning material than their male counterparts. The methodology that was employed in this study was systematic random sampling for students under traditional study mode and purposive sampling in identification of students under the e-learning study mode. It is concluded that in order to improve teaching effectiveness and academic achievement, higher education should consider aiming to develop e-learning teaching strategies that encourage greater engagement and also take into consideration the different learning styles found within the student body. The study recommends that critical factors such as institutional issue, management issue, pedagogical factors, technological issue, interface design issue, evaluation issue, and resource support issue and the factors within each issue have not yet been investigated with detail coverage. It further suggests that there is need to carry out detail research involving case studies based on survey questionnaires involving various learning institutions which will ultimately give a better understanding of impact of e-learning aspects within implementation process