This dissertation is accessible only to the Illinois State University community.

  • Off-Campus ISU Users: To download this item, click the "Off-Campus Download" button below. You will be prompted to log in with your ISU ULID and password.
  • Non-ISU Users: Contact your library to request this item through interlibrary loan.

Graduation Term

Summer 2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Teaching and Learning

Committee Chair

Anna Smith

Committee Member

Beth White

Committee Member

Kristina Falbe

Abstract

Online courses in higher education are growing in popularity (Putulowski & Crosby, 2019). The worldwide COVID pandemic of 2020 brought new attention to online courses and the percentage of higher education students enrolled in online courses skyrocketed from 29.7% in 2015 (Allen & Seaman, 2017) to 75% in 2020 (NCES, 2022). By 2022, an average of 54.2 % of higher education students enrolled in an online course (NCES, 2023). The student experience in online courses can be impacted by many different factors including work and family responsibilities, study commitments for the course, insufficient time, ill health, and approach to learning (Farrell & Brunton, 2020; Willging & Johnson, 2019). Students may also encounter different barriers such as institutional, technological, financial, and pedagogical barriers that may hinder their online student experience (Neben, 2014). Much of the research that focused on what students in higher education perceive as barriers to their online experience has been conducted prior to the COVID pandemic of 2020. This body of research points to a range of perceived barriers to the online student experience such as lack of social interaction, instructor issues, time and support for studies, learner motivation, and technology issues that can interfere with the online student experience (Muilenburg & Berge, 2005).

This survey study was conducted to determine what barriers are perceived in online courses after the COVID pandemic of 2020. The survey consisted of two measures including the Barriers to Online Learning measure developed by Muilenburg and Berge (2005) and the Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (OSLQ) used to measure student self-regulation in online learning (Barnard et al., 2009). Composite means of barrier subscales were determined as well as the percentage of participants who rated barrier subscales as a moderate barrier or stronger. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to determine if there were significant differences in perception of barriers among genders, self-regulated learning levels, graduate and undergraduate students, and the number of online courses taken. Motivational barriers were rated as a moderate barrier or higher by the highest percentage of participants. Social barriers had the second highest percentage of participants rating them as a moderate barrier or higher. Also, data suggest that perceptions of barriers are not significantly different among genders. Participants who reported lower levels of self-regulation in learning had significantly higher scores for the motivation barriers than participants who reported higher levels of self-regulation in learning, graduate students rated time barriers significantly higher than undergraduate students, and students that had taken ten or more online courses rated technology and infrastructure barriers significantly higher than those who had taken less than ten online courses.

The results of this study show that students are perceiving barriers differently than they did before the COVID pandemic of 2020, with the highest percentage of participants rating motivational barriers as a moderate or stronger barrier followed by social barriers. We can anticipate that perceived barriers to positive learning experiences will continue to shift over time. A goal for online courses should be to stay up with the times, be aware of the changing perceived barriers, and provide support to faculty to focus their time and efforts in creating a positive online experience for students.

Access Type

Dissertation-ISU Access Only

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD.1763755358.531061

Download
Off-Campus Download

Share

COinS