Asian Journal of Distance Education

Yazarlar: Kurnia E. RIANA, Aminudin ZUHAIRI, Maya MARIA

Konular:

Anahtar Kelimeler:Distance Education

Özet: Increasing competition among higher education providers is now driving the need for an improved more-thorough understanding of the students’ decision-making behaviours. Studies on student decision-making processes have been carried out, but only a few have addressed these in the specific context of distance education. The purpose of this study was to examine various factors involved in the decision-making process of distance learners, along with their relative importance. Here we report the findings from an exploratory study involving first-year undergraduate students at the Universitas Terbuka (UT) School of Management and who were resident at the time in Jakarta, Indonesia. Self-administered questionnaires were used, asking questions concerning problem recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives. The study identified factors which could be used as proxies in each stage of the students’ decision-making process. The reliability test conducted showed that these factors were proven to be reliable scales. Results showed that an experiential factor was the most important motivation for pursuing higher education. Findings also suggested that the younger age group had significantly different motivation for pursuing their degree : they were influenced more by status improvement than the older age group. The flexibility of the distance education system was found to be the most prominent criterion when selecting at which university to enrol. This flexibility criterion was also the most important type of information that students sought. For their information sources, distance students relied more on impersonal sources of information such as university brochures and websites, rather than on personal sources.

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