Towards success: steps in an effective web-based education

Abstract

To have more successful online students, a country should have more successful training programs which are delivered to students according to their needs. An understanding of the factors that influence student satisfaction with web-based education in a particular context can be used as an input for the appropriate design of learning environments. A critical review of literature is carried out with the aim of developing a more practical framework for achieving success in web-based education. Furthermore, to capture data about online learners training needs, the authors have created an online questionnaire, consisting of 20 items, and they have posted it on Surveymonkey.com. The questionnaire was distributed in two countries (Turkey and Cyprus), in Turkish, to over 700 students. A total of 495 questionnaires were filled in three months. The responses collected based on the questionnaire differed significantly among the two countries. Students choose Skype and Wiki as their favourite web tools. The study reveals that E-Books, Message Forms, Site Search, Chat Rooms, Email Platform, Speaking Characters are important facilities of a web-based education for students. Based on this study, the researchers have extracted 10 recommendations.