Students’ perceived challenges in an online collaborative learning environment: A case of higher learning institutions in Nairobi, Kenya

Maina Elizaphan Muuro,John Kihoro,Waiganjo Peter Wagacha,Robert Oboko

doi:10.19173/irrodl.v15i6.1768

Abstract

<p>Earlier forms of distance education were characterized by minimal social interaction like correspondence, television, video and radio. However, the World Wide Web (WWW) and online learning introduced the opportunity for much more social interaction, particularly among learners, and this has been further made possible through social media in Web 2.0. The increased availability of collaborative tools in Web 2.0 has made it possible to have online collaborative learning realized in Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs). However, learners can perceive the online collaborative learning process as challenging and they fail to utilize these collaborative tools effectively. Although a number of challenges have been mentioned in the literature, considerable diversity exists among countries due to diversity in infrastructure support for e-learning and learners’ background. This motivated this study to investigate components of online collaborative learning perceived as challenging by learners in HLIs in Kenya. Using a questionnaire, a survey was conducted in two public universities and two private universities to identify students’ perceived challenges in an online collaborative learning environment. Through purposive sampling the questionnaire was distributed to 210 students using e-mail and 183 students responded. Based on descriptive analysis the following five major challenges were rated as high: lack of feedback from instructors, lack of feedback from peers, lack of time to participate, slow internet connectivity, and low or no participation of other group members. There was also a relationship between the university type (private or public) with the perceived challenges which included: lack of feedback from the instructor (p=0.046) and work load not shared equally among group members (p=0.000). Apart from slow internet connectivity the rest of the challenges were in line with the observed challenges in the literature.These key challenges identified in this study should provide insight to educators on the areas of collaborative learning that should be improved in order to provide access to quality education that supports effective online collaborative learning in HLIs in Kenya.</p>

Highlights

With the increased demand of higher education in Kenya, e-learning in Kenya has gained popularity
The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ satisfaction and perceived challenges in an online collaborative learning environment with specific attention to those learner activity management systems (LAMSs) being utilized by Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) in Kenya and in Nairobi, where e-learning infrastructure is more established in terms of network access due to fiber optic network and education demand being higher as compared with other regions in Kenya
Purposive sampling was adopted to select two public universities namely KU and Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT), and two private universities namely United State International University (USIU) and Australian University Study Institute (AUSI), which have adopted the use of online collaborative learning tools in their e-learning modules and they are within Nairobi

Summary

Introduction

With the increased demand of higher education in Kenya, e-learning in Kenya has gained popularity. To meet the growing demand most of the Kenyan universities have set up an e-learning portal to tap the many students who do not have time to attend physical classes but have time to study online. For example to address the increased demand for e-learning programs in Kenya, recently Kenyatta University (KU) launched a digital school. According to KU website, the digital school offers over 100 courses through blended learning. The students taking these courses can access notes and assignments on the e-learning portal and later they attend four hour face-to-face tutorials for every course before they sit for the final exam. Other universities in Kenya have followed the same suite and have e-learning portals for blended learning

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