Influencing factors of students’ small private online course-based learning adaptability in a higher vocational college in China

ABSTRACT

Recently, universities and colleges have gradually shifted from face-to-face teaching to small private online course-based teaching, which integrates massive open online courses with physical classroom teaching. However, learners often experience adjustment problems within this relatively new environment. This survey-based study evaluated the status of college students’ learning adaptability and clarified the relationships between the factors influencing small private online course-based blended learning. With 3,050 participants from a Higher Vocational College in China, the researchers conducted an in-depth study using correlation analysis, regression analysis, and path analysis. The results revealed that students’ learning adaptability was generally at the upper-middle level with females scoring higher than males, and there was no significant difference in learning adaptability based on the students’ ages, grades, or Internet age. Regarding the impact of interest variables on learning adaptability, teaching support, learning platform, and curriculum setting had a significant positive effect; whereas learning attitude, autonomous learning, teaching methods, and learning environment did not have a significant positive effect. The teaching management had no significant impact either. Our findings have some implications for improving the efficacy of small private online course-based learning in educational institutions in China and elsewhere.

KEYWORDS:

• Small private online course
• influencing factors
• blended learning
• learning adaptability
• higher vocational college

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by 2021 Guangdong Education Science Planning Project (Special program for Higher Education) (2021GXJK558), by Research project on foreign language education reform in Vocational Colleges of the Ministry of Education in China in 2021(WYJZW-2021-2062).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research project on foreign language education reform in Vocational Colleges of the Ministry of Education in China in 2021 [grant number: WYJZW-2021-2062]; Guangdong Education Science Planning Project (Special program for Higher Education) [grant number: 2021GXJK558].

Notes on contributors

Liping Jiang

Liping Jiang is currently an associate professor and a doctoral candidate; he is teaching in School of Foreign Languages & International Business, Guangdong Mechanical & Electrical Polytechnic, Guangzhou city, People’s Republic of China. His research fields include Business English research, Cognitive linguistics, He published more than 60 academic papers, some of them indexed by Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index like the Journal of Shanghai Translation, Foreign Language Research and other journals.

Ghayth Kamel Shaker Al-Shaibani

Ghayth Kamel Shaker Al-Shaibani is currently working for UCSI University (Malaysia) as an Assistant Professor, Dr. He was conferred his BA in English from University of Baghdad (Iraq) in 1993, MA in Linguistics and English Language Studies, and PhD in Applied English Linguistics/Critical Discourse Analysis from Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia) in 2004 and 2011, respectively. He worked in his first workplace as a Senior Lecturer and an Honorary Lecturer (June 2011 – May 2017) at Universiti Sains Malaysia. His research focuses on discourse and education studies. He has graduated 5 PhD students; and currently, he is supervising 10 PhD students from China.