May 2002 — Features

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Predictors of Performance in the Virtual Classroom

There are two reasons why we believe that these cyber-study groups are beneficial for at-risk students. First, the peer-to-peer interactions needed for collaboration promote a collective sense of responsibility that is not ordinarily found in the virtual classroom. Second, cyber-students who have low self-efficacy or an external locus of control receive feedback and encouragement from their study partners. Consequently, this form of peer-to-peer interaction is an additional incentive for these students to perform well in the virtual classroom.

Finally, we believe that a heightened social presence by the instructor is beneficial for the at-risk cyber-student. Social presence refers to the degree of salience that another individual will enter into a meaningful dialogue (Short, Williams and Christie 1976). Accordingly, social presence is enhanced when another individual is perceived as real and genuine. This is critical for the virtual classroom because learner satisfaction is higher when computer-mediated communication is associated with high levels of social presence (Gunarwardena and Zittle 1997).

So how can cyber-instructors increase their social presence? By ensuring that there is immediacy and intimacy in the way they communicate with their students. This is best accomplished by the synchronous communication that occurs in regularly scheduled online chats and virtual office hours, and not simply by e-mail correspondence. At-risk cyber-students who have an external locus of control and low self-efficacy for the class will benefit the most from this sort of interaction.

Profiling At-Risk Cyber-Students

There are several indicators that, taken collectively, are reliable predictors of poor performance in the virtual classroom. Accordingly, we do not suggest relying on a single indicator as a means of identifying the at-risk cyber-student. Instead, we recommend that cyber-instructors compile several indicators to form a profile of the student who is potentially at-risk. In our view, any student who matches four or more of the characteristics on the following list has the potential for low performance in a virtual classroom:

- Does the student have an external locus of control?
- Does the student have low self-efficacy regarding their computer skills?
- Does the student have low self-efficacy regarding the course content?
- Does the student lack previous experience with online courses?
- Did the student enroll solely because of course availability?
- Does the student have a low login rate for the course home page?
- Is the student reading and writing few messages on the class forum?
- Is the student quiet or nonresponsive in the online chat room?