Online Literacy among Students and Faculty: A Comparative Study between the United States and Eastern European Countries

Abstract

Based on the recent proliferation of online education and the ongoing technological revolution, this research focused on interaction of students and faculty as a main contributor to the success of online education. During 2003, a survey was distributed to convenience samples of faculty members and students from the Midwest of the U.S. and three Eastern European countries. The data reflects students’ and faculty members’ opinions about the state of technology, online communication, and instruction. The results confirm findings from the literature about the existence of a digital divide between developed and emerging nations. Although Eastern European respondents don’t benefit from the technology base of their American correspondents, their satisfaction and comfort with technology remains relatively strong. The digital divide may result from administrative rigidity; Eastern European students enjoy less access to computer labs, due to fewer and less flexible hours. Faculty members and administrators remain entrenched in “old” technologies such as e-mail, whereas Millennials expect newer communication tools and prefer synchronous ones. Considering the available technology, online assessment is employed relatively inconsistently. Libraries as technology providers are perhaps underutilized particularly in Bulgaria, Moldova, and Macedonia.