e-learning: Key findings of a UK study

IMC (UK) Learning Ltd, in its recently released  (June 2009) study into the attitudes of university academic and operational staff to e-learning, has reported the following findings (the full report can be downloaded here).  

• Nearly eight in ten (79%) respondents agree that e-learning increases flexible and repeated access to learning content, whereas only 27% agree e-learning saves money and 18% agree it saves time for teaching staff

• For those who use e-learning, the figures increase significantly with nearly nine in ten (88%) agreeing that e-learning increases flexible and repeated access to learning content, 40% agreeing it saves money and just over a quarter (27%) agreeing it saves time for teaching staff

• When asked which e-learning tools, if any, respondents’ universities use, 35% stated off-the-shelf e-learning content compared with 53% who use bespoke e-learning content. Three quarters (74%) use a virtual learning environment and four in ten (39%) use an e-learning ‘lecture/presentation capture tool’

• Less than one in five (16%) respondents currently record their lectures, with only 14% publishing these to a virtual learning environment

• For those who recorded lectures, 21% used video, audio and screen capture, 13% audio only and 4% video only

• Of those who use e-learning, three in ten (31%) found automatic synchronisation of recorded data and a combination of video, audio and annotation useful. Other useful features included different output formats (29%), editing content without data loss (21%) and ‘one-click’ publishing to a virtual learning environment (19%)

• Less than one in ten (9%) respondents always/frequently post-edit recorded lectures while just over one in five (22%) always/frequently add questions or documents to recorded lectures

• When it comes to ease of use, only 15% of respondents agreed that their lecture recording system was very/quite easy to use (77% responded as not applicable / dont know)

• Nearly half (48%) of respondents who use e-learning agreed that it is very/quite popular amongst students compared to just 37% of the whole sample.

Source: Study by IMC Advanced Learning Solutions – ‘Examining e-learning in higher education: perceptions and reality’.