e-learning readiness - Asia Pacific Region - Open University Malaysia

order to be a successful e-learner, they must have good interpersonal orsocial skills. About two thirds of the receivers were concerned about therecognition of the E-learning programmes (67.5 percent). In the openendedsection, some expressed strongly that they would only go for E-learning if such a mode was recognized by all sectors. To quote one:“My main concern is whether the government and privatesector will recognize the degree I’m taking. Recentlygovernment made it clear that distant learning is notrecognized. Is this true?”On the subject of whether they were interested in upgrading theiracademic or professional qualifications through E-learning, a very highpercentage (83.0 percent) responded positively and only 15.1 percent saidotherwise. The majority of them (85.5 percent) also responded that theywould grab the opportunity to engage in E-learning. A big percentage (73percent) also responded that they would be committed to E-learning.Only a few (12.7 percent) responded negatively. Many of the receivers(78.7 percent) felt that one day, training on every job on earth will beavailable on the Internet.Most of the receivers felt that their employers too are skeptical about E-learning as they felt that will not allow them to take time off for E-learning (21.0 percent) and not allow them to use office facilities outsideoffice hours for E-learning (19.5 percent). A total of 36.1 percent of thereceivers themselves were reluctant to use E-learning to improve theirwork performance.Content ReadinessMost of the receivers responded positively to questions on contentreadiness. A majority of the receivers, that is, 3,763 (81.4 percent) said thatthere was a variety of E-learning materials for them to choose from. Asmall percentage (15.3 percent) said otherwise. Where availability of thecontent of learning was concerned, a high percentage of the learners (76.6percent) said that it was available for them but 913 receivers or 19.7responded otherwise.About 70.6 percent felt that the content for E-learning was appropriate fortheir needs and only 25.3 percent or 1,172 responded negatively. To thestatement on the usefulness of content of E-learning, 85.8 percent said thatit was useful whereas 10.3 percent said it was not. A big number, that is,3787 (81.9 percent) perceived that the content for E-learning wasmeaningful whereas only 619 (13.4 percent) perceived it differently.A majority of them (74.1 percent) also agreed that the courses providedonline opportunity for them to discuss and work collaboratively onprojects but only 920 (19.9 percent) did not agree with the statement.About half of the receivers (66.5 percent) felt that the online support suchas library facilities, tutorials and e-discussions were inadequate (see Table63).Joint Study by MEWC and OUM 78