| 60672 |
abstract |
Research has shown online learners’ performance to have a strong association with
their demographic characteristics, such as regional belonging, socio-economic standing,
education level, age, gender, and disability status. Despite a growing number of studies
exploring factors for successful online learning outcomes, most researchers have utilised
one or a combination of very few learner characteristics. Moreover, a limited number
of studies scrutinised the impact of individual characteristics on learning outcomes
as learners progress in a course. The current research aims to explore the dynamic
impact of demographic characteristics on academic outcomes in the online learning
environment. We investigated and compared the dynamic influence of six demographic
characteristics on online learning outcomes using a sample of 8581 UK based learners
across four Open University online courses from four different disciplines. We found
region, neighborhood poverty level, and prior education respectively, to be strong
predictors of overall learning outcomes. However, at a fine-grain level, such influence
varied temporally as the course progressed, as well as between different courses.
To conclude with, we discussed the implications for institutional support on adopting
a tailored approach towards a more personalised student support system. |