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TopPrior Research
Among factors that have been found to affect a student’s level of success are: course prerequisite preparation (Marcus, 2013), time management skills (iSeek, 2015), technology infrastructure (Kukulska-Hulme & Jones, 2012), course content, structure and delivery (Teng, 2008). Other factors include getting familiar with the technology platform and course set up early, maintaining regular communication with the instructor, committing to consistent online study sessions, initiating ties with coursemates, university policies and netiquette (Harrell & Bower, 2011; Harrell & McClinton, 2016). We can group the above factors broadly into two categories: 1) System factors, and 2) Student background characteristics.
System Factors
According to Moore and Kearsley (2012), an online education system involves technology, courses, students, instructors and administrators. Technology includes access and software, whereas courses cover content and pedagogy. Students need to have prerequisite characteristics such as communication abilities and motivation. Instructors are to be technologically proficient and committed, and administrators must provide resources (Tirziu & Vrabie, 2015). Currently, many online systems are asynchronous implying students are separated geographically and in time. Synchronous systems may allow video and voice, either pre-recorded or in real time, to simulate a classroom (Latchman, Akkaraju & Gharbaran, 2010). Such systems can also capture social presence very effectively (Kear, Chetwynd & Jefferis, 2014). Lo, Chan and Yeh (2012) developed a customized learning system using neural network and demonstrated it can adapt to student cognitive styles dynamically through prior interactive sessions. However, research in customization is ongoing (Guthrie, 2012).