The Competencies Required for Effective Performance in a University e-Learning Environment

Abstract

As a means of redressing the lack of learner-centred research in the field of e-learning, the current study set out to identify the competencies required for effective performance in a university e-learning environment. To achieve this, the study was implemented in two phases. In Phase One of the study, the Hybrid BARS methodology was used to identify the performance dimensions and competencies considered essential for e-learning. In Phase Two of the study, the performance dimensions and e-learning competencies identified in Phase One formed the basis of a web-based survey. The purpose of the survey was to gather the perceptions of student and staff stakeholders of the relative 'importance', 'difficulty', and 'preparedness' of the e-learning competencies. ... Results from the study indicated that students found learning in e-learning environments developed in accordance with social constructivist principles to be challenging. Evidence suggested that staff struggled with these principles as well. One of the main conclusions drawn from the study, was that both students and staff need to be apprenticed into a culture of social constructivism in order for the affordances of e-learning and social constructivism to be fully realised.