Interesting exercise this week – I just took 3 e-learning readiness surveys. (see for example: http://www.sdccdonline.net/assess.htm)

First impressions – these were useful in getting me to think about whether e-learning was the right path: for example, how much time did I have available, what was my motivation, how computer literate am I. But in addition they all had in common questions about learning styles and time management skills which I guess implies that these characteristics are highly prized in distance/e-learning students.

They also had in common a scoring system that was not explained. So in one I scored 45, in another 50, and in the third 11. All said I was a great candidate for e-learning (yay!) but I don’t know what the scale was….

I think this type of exercise could be useful in getting students to think about the e-learning process ahead of signing up – particularly if feedback was more specific – e.g: “you said you prefer to meet with tutors face to face – this isn’t an option on this course so you may want to consider whether this could be a major drawback for you….”

I teach a face to face course with some e-learning elements and do use a  questionnaire to gauge students’ computer literacy before and after the module. I could definitely improve my questionnaires to include some elements form those I have just looked at – particularly around self organisation

These pre-course “readiness” self assessments also made me wonder whether we shouldn’t use something similar with all students on conventional courses as I am pretty sure that some do not appear prepared for the experience! 🙂