Online tutorial support in open and distance learning: students' perceptions

The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the distance learning environment. The university has arranged these courses to provide students with greater flexibility in interacting with tutors, classmates, and the content itself. Integral to learner flexibility online is access, valuing computers and online learning, endorsement, and language proficiency. The current investigation attempts to explore these issues by examining the perceptions of OUHK students enrolled in courses with online tutorial supports. The methods of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview were employed. Surveyed using multistage stratified sampling technique were 449 OUHK students enrolled in 18 upper level courses (9 English, 9 Chinese) at the OUHK. Forty-two students were randomly selected for a follow-up interview. Five major topics were explored including: (1) accessing the Internet; (2) perceptions of technology; (3) rationale for using the Internet in course work; (4) learning strategies used by the tutor online; and (5) perceptions of the online tutorial support.