use of the virtual class (vc) application: a survey among ... · menggunakan aplikasi kelas maya...

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 10(1): 27-41 (2002) ISSN: 0128-7702© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Use of the Virtual Class (VC) Application: A Survey among Students

ARFAH SALLEH & BADRIYAH MINAIThe Graduate School of Management andDepartment of Accounting and FinanceFaculty of Economics and Management

Universiti Putra Malaysia43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Computers, virtual class application, students, benefits, e-learning

ABSTRAK

Kajian ini meneliti penggunaan aplikasi kelas maya oleh pelajar perakaunan di Fakulti Ekonomidan Pengurusan (FEP). Dua isu utama yang dikaji adalah pola penggunaan oleh pe1ajar dancadangan mereka untuk meningkatkan kebergunaan aplikasi bagi tujuan pembelajaran. Kajianmenunjukkan bahawa di antara enam modul aplikasi kelas maya yang disediakan oleh FEP,modul 'Tugasan dan Kuiz" adalah yang paling kerap digunakan oleh pelajar kursus PerakaunanKewangan Pertengahan. Terdapat pelajar yang beranggapan aplikasi ke1as maya sebagai memberipeluang untuk tidak hadir kuliah. Jangka masa yang diperlukan untuk mengakses aplikasi kelasmaya dikatakan sebagai masalah utama dalam menggunakan aplikasi itu. Faedah utamamenggunakan aplikasi kelas maya pula termasuklah keupayaannya untuk meningkatkanpengetahuan pelajar tentang sesuatu kursus dan juga membantu pe1ajar untuk berkomunikasidengan pensyarah. Kebanyakan pelajar berpendapat aplikasi kelas maya perlu diluaskan kepadasemua pensyarah di universiti. Cadangan untuk meningkatkan penggunaan aplikasi kelas mayatermasuklah memperbaiki kemudahan komputer di kampus dan menyediakan nota yang lebihlengkap dalam aplikasi kelas maya.

ABSTRACf

This study investigates the use of the virtual class (VC) application by accounting students at theFaculty of Economics and Management (FEM). Two main issues examined are the pattern ofusage by students and their suggestions to improve the usefulness of the application for theirlearning process. The study shows that among the six modules of the VC application offered atthe FEM, the "Assignment and Quizzes" module was used most frequently by students in theIntermediate Accounting course. There were students who viewed the VC application as anopportunity to be absent from lectures. The length of time spent in accessing the VC applicationis cited as the main problem in using the application. The major benefits of using the VCapplication include its ability to enhance the students' knowledge of a course and assist studentsto communicate with lecturers. A majority of the students maintain that VC application shouldbe extended to all lecturers in the university. Suggestions given to improve usage of VCapplication include improvement of on-eampus facilities and provision of more complete sets ofnotes than currently available.

INTRODUCTION

This paper focuses on students' pattern of usageof the Virtual Class (VC) application in thecontext of the Salleh et al. (2000) paper. Theperceived benefits and pitfalls of using theapplication are also examined.

The VC application here refers to theenvironment in which lectures in the traditionalmanner are supplemented with the use of thesoftware application as offered on the server ofthe Faculty of Economics and Management(FEM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). As

Arfah Salleh & Badriyah Minai

pointed out by Salleh et at., the rationaleunderlying the use ofVC at the FEM is mainly toovercome the constraints of location and timefor communication between a lecturer and hisor her students, more specifically in reference toa course.

In essence, VC as applied in the FEM case, Uridges thedistance so that students can have access to a li!cturerat any time and from any location outside the scheduU!dsessions of the physical classroom (Salli!h et al. 2000,p. 2).

Initially, when the VC application was firstintroduced, access to the module by lecturersand student access to the database was onlythrough the Lotus Notes application.

A more recent development of the FEMserver is the availability of lecturers' homepagesthat provide links to the VC application.Through this form of Web-based sites, themodules in the VC application of courses offeredas managed by individual lecturers can now beaccessed by students from almost everywherewithin and outside the UPM campus throughthe Intranet and Internet systems. Given therising trend among lecturers at the FEM topopularise the use of the VC application in theirteaching, it is useful to learn whether such effortsand determinism are reciprocated by students'actual usage of the application.

Each of the six modules made available tostudents in the VC application: StudentsRegistration; Course Plan; Course Notes; Newsand Announcements; Assignments and Quizzes;and Discussions l is included to meet specificpurposes. In this regard, it is equally useful toobserve the usage pattern among the modulesso that appropriate measures can be taken toencourage the use of the other non-usedmodules. Considering that the provision of eachmodule means the use of space available on thesystem, a particular module that is perceived asnot being useful perhaps can be deleted fromthe system or replaced with other new modules.

This study, being exploratory, limits its scopeto the usage of the VC application amongstudents who have completed the first course in

accounting, the Introductory Accounting courseoffered during the first semester of theaccounting programme.

Since the first time the VC application wasmade available to students, it has been a practiceof the instructor of the course to provide handson sessions on the use of the VC application tostudents during the first two weeks of thesemester. Attendance, however, was not madecompulsory. As with any new computer softwareapplication, knowledge about the availability ofthe application alone cannot ensure that usersare motivated to use it. In fact, in manyinnovation exercises, overcoming prejudicesagainst the new product becomes fundamental.For this reason and for the reason that it may bethe lack of knowledge of the application thatresults in students not using the application, theinstructor adopts the above approach.

evertheless, providing such exposure to studentsinvolves time and effort on the part of theinstructor, especially when the number ofstudents usually exceeds five hundred. Hence,focusing on the usage of the VC application bythis group of students can, in some ways, indicatewhether the hands-on sessions have indeedcontributed towards their willingness to use theapplication. For instance, if students indicatethat exposure to the application through othermedia can be equally effective, then the instructorneeds no longer continue with the hands-onsessions at the beginning of every semester.

Incidentally, fmdings from the Salleh et at.(2000) study on usage of the VC applicationamong lecturers also indicate that the level ofusage at the FEM was highest in courses offeredby the lecturers of the Accounting and Financedepartment. It thus becomes more interestingto determine the pattern ofVC application usageamong students pursuing courses offered by thisdepartment.

The accounting literature, especiallyaccording to Bryant and Hunton (2000), offersrelatively little research on the pedagogicalbenefits of using technology to deliverinstruction. In reviewing studies on distanceeducation, they also noted that there has been alack of research encompassing newer

28

Except for the Discussion Module, other modules are non-interactive and unidirectional and function like bulletinboards. The discussion module is bidirectional and provides an asynchrounous discussion template between studentsand lecturer.

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No. I 2002

Use of the Virtual (VC) Application: A Survey among Students

technologies such as non-interactive andinteractive web-based delivery even in other areasof education. Hence, it is hoped that this studycan reduce the dearth of the literature on thisissue particularly in respect of accountingeducation.

To summarise, this study reports the level ofusage of the VC application by students at theFEM and the benefits and problems that theyexperienced while learning under the VCenvironment. The section that proceeds providesa summary of the review of relevant literature onthe issue of education via a VC environment.Since literature on the use of the VC environmentin the teaching and learning of accounting isminimal, related studies in business andmanagement education were cited. Next, themethod applied in this study is discussed,followed by a report of the fmdings. Finally, theimplications of the results and the conclusionarrived at are reported.

Review of Relevant Literature

In their paper, Salleh et al. (2000) found thatvarious definitions have been assigned to describethe teaching and learning environment in whichtechnology is used as a medium forcommunication as opposed to the traditionalclassroom setting. Overall, there seems to be noconsensus on the terminology to describe theVC phenomenon. Despite the lack of agreementon what the most appropriate term is, manystudies have been conducted on various aspectsof the issue.

In terms of the usefulness of the VCapplication, a review of literature shows thatmany researchers claim that this form oftechnology integration is able to assist studentlearning especially through creating additionaland flexible access avenue to information(Bradley 1999, Fetterman 1998, Funnel et at.1998). It must be stressed that it is never theintent of this paper to question the usefulness ofthe VC application in terms of its communicationrole. But it should be borne in mind that mostof these claims were made from the perspectiveof instructors. In order to obtain a morecomplete picture of the electronic learningscenario including its benefits, the views of thestudents should not be ignored.

Among the limited studies that includestudents' feedback on electronic learning is thestudy by Clements (1999). The study analysed

results of two surveys that solicited feedbackfrom first year students at the beginning andend of the basic marketing course at theUniversity of Staffordshire in which a virtuallearning environment, the Lotus Learning Space(LLS) similar to the VC platform of the FEM,was introduced in September 1998. Among otherthings, analysis of the results of the initial surveyindicates that students were not necessarilyprepared to work in a VC environment uponentry into university. Only about 87 respondents(20% of the population of 434) indicated thatthey were familiar with virtual group discussionalthough about 51% had searched the Web.About 76% of the respondents were worriedabout the new delivery method and thought thata traditional approach would be better.

These fmdings led Clements to concludethat structured guidance and hands-on practicehave to be built into the course design especiallyin the induction period, a view also shared bySymons and Galpin (1998) and the lecturer ofthe Introductory Accounting course at UPM,among others. The end survey in Clements'(1999) study, though showing a markedimprovement in the level of competency of theLLS application, still suggests that much moreeffort has to be expended into making it work.Only about 50% of the respondents indicatedthat they used the Group Discussion module.

Pybus and Sanderson (1999) carried out apilot study to examine the potential of LLS tosupport distance teaching and learning of theBA in Business Management programme offeredin October 1998 at the Nottingham BusinessSchool. The structure of the programme is suchthat students are required to be full-time studentsduring their first year of study prior to thesubsequent years of distance learning. It wasduring the full-time term that students weregiven familiarity sessions that included hands-onexperience with the various modules of thesoftware application. Concentrating especially onthe discussion module or more specifically, theCourse Room, Pybus and Sanderson discoveredthat the pattern of students' participation wasinfluenced by the topic of discussion similar tothe pattern described by Grudin (1994).Students' enthusiasm was found to be very highinitially when all the twenty students in the BAin Business Management programmeparticipated in the first electronic discussion onnon-specific subject topics. Altogether, 120

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No.1 2002 29


comments were generated within a twenty-minutediscussion session. Later, when the focus waschanged to discussion of study-related topics, farfewer students contributed to the discussion.

Pybus and Sanderson next tried out, amongothers, a highly structured debate on the LLS.This time, students were given a week to research,reflect and prepare their initial posting so as toincrease their confidence in contributing to theon-line discussion. Two topics were to be debatedbetween four teams with two each debating onone particular topic. Each team debating a topicsimultaneously made its first posting and thenread that of their opposition. A response wasrequired after 15 minutes. Next, the teamsswitched their attention to the other debate andall teams were invited to vote, giving a shortexplanation of which arguments had persuadedthem. All students had access to the results ofthe vote. Feedback from students on thisinteresting experiment indicated that all of themenjoyed exploring a topic in this way. Accordingto them, the highly structured nature of the online debate was useful in encouraging theircontributions, they knew exactly what wasrequired of them and it was easy to navigate.Based on the students' response, the conclusionthe researchers made was that a VC environmentas offered via the LLS can be a useful platformfor distance education of the BA in a BusinessManagement programme.

A more recent study on students' perceptionof the LLS was carried out by Arbaugh (2000) atthe graduate management education level. Inthe study, among others, responses measured ona 7-point Likert-type scale on relevant VC learningissues were sought from a total of 108 studentspursuing five Masters in Business Administration(MBA) courses. Only five students were enrolledin two of the courses while the rest had only onecourse each. Each course in the study wasadministered via its respective LLS Web site thatprovided a combination of the non-interactive"notice boards" and interactive discussionplatforms, similar to the LLS of the above twostudies by Clements (1999) and Pybus andSanderson (1999) and the VC of the FEM.Except for one course (Course 2) that had half

of its sessions conducted in a traditional manner,all other courses were conducted fully on theelectronic medium. Within these four courses,three had on-site opening and wrap-up sessionswhile one had no physical meeting at all.

Among the fmdings of Arbaugh's (2000)study was that there were significant differencesbetween the courses in ratings of perceived easeof use of the software. Additionally, the flexibilityof the medium of instruction (VC application)and the ability to develop an interactive courseenvironment were found to playa larger role indetermining student satisfaction with the VClearning environment than the ease or frequencywith which the medium can be used.

In another study of VC usage but within apilot Intranet system at Brighton Business Schoolin 1997/98 by Flowers et al. (1999), studentsinitially viewed the provision of lecture materialsas a diminution of the role of academics asproviders of information and saw potentialopportunities for the avoidance of attendance atlectures. Only with extensive and repeateddiscussions did students realise that the contentor lecture slides play an important but onlyminor role in the lecture, hence, studenteducation process. It is the lecturer who canhelp interpret, synthesise and map out thetopology of a discipline as well as introducestudents to the specialised language of adiscipline area. Analysis of students'2 usage ofthe VC application shows that the Discussionmodule and Social Chat Areas were largelyignored. The most heavily-used modules werethose related to lecture notes/slides, pastexamination papers and module-specific websites.

The popularity of the VC applicationmodules relating to lecture notes or slides amongstudents was also demonstrated in the study byCollett et at. (1999). early half of the studentrespondents in their study of the usage of theVC application within an Intranet system at theUniversity of the West of England (UWE), Bristolused the Lecture Overheads module every week.However, more than a third of the respondentsnever accessed any module of the VC applicationat all, including the Course Outline, Assignmentand Examination Papers modules. Unlike at the

2 Although the system was initiated during the beginning of the 1997/98 academic year, by the time it wasimplemented, it was a different batch of students who had the oppurtinity to use the application during the secondhalf-year.

30 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No.1 2002

Use of the Virtual (Ve) Application: A Survey among Students

VC application of FEM, however, no discussionplatform was made available within the VCenvironment of the UWE.

Fong (1999) investigated the perception ofstudents in the Accounting Studies programmeon the VC environment at the City University,Hong Kong, offered through the World-WideWeb Course Tools (WebCT) applicationdeveloped by the University of British Columbia.Although two surveys were meant to beconducted, first during the first few weeks of thesemester and later approaching the end of the14-week semester, his report covers only resultsof the initial survey. Unlike the findings in theinitial study by Clements (1999) where themajority of the students were apprehensive aboutthe usefulness of the electronic delivery platform,Fong found that students generally perceivedthe WebCT to be better than traditional coursedelivery methods. However students' acceptanceof web-based course deliveries was found to besignificantly influenced by accessibility toInternet-connected computers at home or inthe office.

From the review of literature above, itappears that some modules within the VCapplications such as those related to lecturenotes and slides seem to be more popular thanothers. Equally, the pattern of usage of the VCapplication differs between the studies. Students'perception of the usefulness of the VCapplication in supporting their studies alsoappears to differ. With the above fmdings inrespect to other studies, it would be interestingto observe what the pattern of usage of the VCapplication is by accounting students at UPMand what their perceptions are of the benefitsand impediments of the VC application.

RESEARCH METHOD

Data for this study were collected from studentsin the Intermediate Financial Accounting I classduring the second half of the May 1999/2000semester. This group of students had completedthe Introductory Accounting course during thepreceding semester, in which all were providedwith the opportunity to attend the hands-onsessions provided earlier by the instructor ofthat course.

Questionnaires were distributed during oneof the lecture sessions when 89 out of 120students were present. Information sought in

the questionnaires can be categorised into fourmain parts:I) background information on computer usage

in general;II) specific information on actual usage of VC

application during the preceding andcurrent semesters;

III) information on the benefits enjoyed andproblems encountered in using the VCapplication; and

IV) students' suggestions on how to improvethe usefulness of the VC application.

With the exception of the questions on theaccess to and frequency of using computerfacilities and the VC application (results indicatedin Tables 1, 5, 6, and 8), multiple responseswere allowed for all questions.

With the intention of this study being toobserve the general pattern of usage of the VCapplication, including the perceived benefits andproblems as opposed to establishing relationshipsbetween variables, data solicited from thequestionnaire survey were analysed descriptively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section provides a report of the results anda discussion of the related issues in four parts inaccordance to the research questions above.

General Computer Usage

Table 1 shows the source of computer facilitiesgenerally used by students. It also providesinformation on students' ownership ofcomputers. As can be seen below, slightly morethan a third of the respondents own computers.Between those who indicated that they did nothave access to personal computer facilities, morethan half (33 out of 57) used other privatefacilities outside the university while theremaining used the facilities on campus.

The above fmdings provide an interestingdisposition to the usually held perception about

TABLE 1Access to computer facilities

Source Frequency Percentage

Own/personal facilities 32 36.0Other private outside

facilities 33 37.0University facilities 24 27.0



students' willingness to use computers in relationto the facilities available at institutions of higherlearning. For instance, in the study by Salleh etat. (2000), some lecturers perceived that lack ofcomputer facilities at institutions of higherlearning might have a negative influence onstudents' willingness to use computers, includingthe VC application, hence lecturers werereluctant to use the application themselves.

But responses in this study show that studentsdo not rely totally on on-eampus facilities. Thesituation could be that students used otherfacilities than on-eampus because they prefer todo so. On the contrary, another possible reasonwhy students who did not own computersresorted to other facilities off-eampus could bebecause of the lack of facilities on campus itself.Due to the inconvenience of having to get accessto on-campus facilities, students took the initiativeto look for other sources. Whether the facilitiesavailable on campus are seen by students asadequate or not, only analysis of other relevantquestions can show.

For students who used computer facilitieson campus, Table 2 lists the locations wherethey accessed the facilities. A point to note withthis question is that, as indicated above, studentswere allowed to provide more than one response.This means that total frequency need not makeup 24, that is, the total number of respondentswho used on-eampus facilities.

TABLE 2Locations of on-campus computer facilities

accessed by students

colleges appear more used by the students. Thelibrary appears as the least-used site for computeraccess by students who do not have access topersonal or other private computer facilities.Given that the questionnaires did not seekinformation on reasons for preferences for eachsite, it is unwise to speculate on why, for instance,students prefer the "Cyber Cafes" facilities to theComputer Centre or faculty laboratories despitehaving to pay for using the facilities at the"Cyber Cafes". The "Other" category consists ofaccess to friends' computers on campus. As withthe facilities at the library, not many studentsaccessed computers in this manner.

During the first year of studies, studentswho registered for the Accounting, Accountingwith Education, Business Administration andEconomics programmes at the FEM wererequired to take the Computer and DataProcessing course. This is to ensure that allstudents are familiar with computers and canappreciate how computers can assist their workwhether as students or in future workenvironments. In this course, various computersoftware packages were introduced, includingthe spreadsheet, word processing, statisticalpackages and the use of the Internet facilities.Therefore, apart from questions on access tocomputers, a question on the types of softwarepackages used by students was also included inthe questionnaire. However, the use of VCapplication software is excluded here, since aquestion specifically on the issue is askedseparately. Results on the use of the selectedtype of software packages are shown in Table 3.

Location Frequency(multiple

responses)

Percentageof total

responsesTABLE 3

Use of computer software

Responses to this question indicate that oncampus "Cyber Cafes" appear the most popularsites where students used computers. Despitethe Computer Centre and individual facultiesallowing students to use their computer facilities,these two sites appear not to be popular amongstudents. Rather, the facilities at the residential

As with responses to the question on locationof computer facilities accessed by students,students were also allowed multiple responses tothe question on the software packages used.

Word processing 88Spreadsheet 68Statistical package 35Internet (surfing web sites) 79E-mail 78

The Computer CentreFaculty laboratoryLibraryResidential CollegesOn-campus "Cyber Cafes"Others

472

12502

5.29.12.6

15.664.92.6

Software Frequency(multiple

responses)

Percentageof total

responses

25.319.510.122.722.4



This is in view of the high probability that anindividual student will use more than one typeof software package.

From Table 3, word processing softwareappears to be widely used by the respondentswith 88 of the students indicating so. Salleh andWilliams (1997) observed a similar pattern whenthey surveyed the use of computers amongMalaysian public universities. In their study, allthe public universities in Malaysia surveyed atthat time indicated that students wereencouraged to prepare assignments using wordprocessing facilities rather than submitting handor typewritten scripts, hence word processingpackages were widely used. The next mostpopular software among the packages usedduring the students' first year was for accessingthe Internet, very closely followed bye-mailingsoftware. Statistical packages were not widelyused by the respondents. Given that Table 3reflects usage of software during the first twosemesters of study when students do not usuallyconduct research, it is not surprising that thelevel of usage of statistical packages is the lowest.

Another question included in thequestionnaire survey is about the person whomstudents refer to when they faced problemsrelated to computer use. Responses to thisquestion are depicted in Table 4. Again, as withearlier questions, multiple responses to thecategory of persons are allowed.

indicated by the results in Table 4. Given thatmost students who used on-campus facilities didso at "Cyber Cafes" perhaps it became mostconvenient for them to refer to the staff thererather than to wait until they met the lecturersor laboratory technicians or demonstrators.Another interesting finding depicted in Table 4is that students always refer to someone wheneverthey face problems. This is indicated by the"zero" response to the "Nobody" category. Suchan attitude of the students should be interpretedpositively for it means that they do make aneffort to consult someone when faced withdifficulties although it could be only their friendswho might know no more than they do.

Prior to providing responses to questions onthe VC application usage during their fIrst year,students were required to answer a question onthe frequency of computer usage beforeattending the Introductory Accounting course.The purpose of the question was to seek anindication of the level of comfort of computerusage among students. Presumably, the morefrequently a student uses the computer, the lesslikely it is that he or she is apprehensive aboutcontinued usage in the future.

Responses to the question on the frequencyof usage of computers are shown in Table 5.

TABLE 5Frequency of computer usage

TABLE 4Category of reference person for help

Frequency Percentage

Category Frequency(multiple

responses)

Percentageof total

responses

Duration

More than once a dayAbout once a dayAbout once a weekHardly everNever

6 6.717 19.138 42.727 30.3I l.l

From Table 4, it can be seen that studentstend to refer to their friends for assistance whenthey need help regarding computer usage.Interestingly, students hardly refer to theirlecturers or laboratory technicians or evenlaboratory demonstrators when they facedifficulties with using computers. Rather, staff of"Cyber Cafes" tend to be more referred to as

Lecturer 1Laboratory technician 1Demonstrator of lab. session 3Staff of "Cyber Cafes" 16Friends 72Nobody 0

l.ll.l3.217.277.4o

Generally, more than a third of therespondents used computers about once a weekprior to attending the Introductory Accountingcourse, in other words, prior to attending ahands-on session ofVC usage and actual accessingof the VC application. It is worth noting thatabout 30% hardly used computers while 1%never used computers at all. Only about aquarter of them in total used computers everyday. Given a generally low level of usage amongstudents prior to being exposed to the VCapplication, it is interesting to observe the patternof VC usage after that.



Lecturer(Introductory Acc.) 62 64.6

Laboratory technician 0 0Demonstrator of

lab. session 1 1.0Staff of "Cyber Cafes" 0 0Friends 28 29.2Self-taught 2 2.1Others (not specified) 3 3.1

TABLE 7Source of knowledge on how to access

the VC application

Usage of the VC application

The first question in this section acts as a checkon students' knowledge of the way to access theVC application. Having attended the hands-onsession at the beginning of the earlier semesterduring the Introductory Accounting course, thestudents were presumed to have acquired theknowledge to access the VC application.Nevertheless, from Table 6 below, about 2% ofthe respondents indicated that they did notknow how to access the VC application.

TABLE 6Knowledge on how to access the VC application

Source Frequency(multiple

responses)

Percentageof total

responses

Response Frequency Percentage

Given that attendance during the hands-onsessions was not made compulsory, some studentsmight not have attended the classes in the firstplace. Or, perhaps, even if they had attendedthe training sessions, they might not have learnedor remembered what was taught.

To seek further indication on theeffectiveness of the sessions, another questionon the issue was posed in the questionnaire tothe students. However, rather than asking for adirect response on whether the hands-on sessionshad been effective or otherwise, students wererequired to indicate from whom they had learnedto access the VC application. The idea of sucha question is that if the majority of the studentsindicate that they learned to access the VCapplication from sources other than theirlecturer, then hands-on sessions as conducted bythe lecturer of the Introductory Accountingcourse need no longer be continued. Responses(multiple allowed) to this question from the 87

YesNo

872

97.82.2

students who knew how to use the VC applicationare shown in Table 7.

As indicated in Table 7, the "Lecturer"category received the most number of responses.This implies that the majority of the respondentswho had used the VC application learned to usethe application during the hands-on sessionsalthough there were some students who learnedfrom their peers; from a laboratory demonstrator;from others as well as a few who were selftaught. Unlike the results in Table 4 wheresome students indicated that they referred tostaff of "Cyber Cafes" when they had difficultywith computer usage, no student learned toaccess the VC application from staff of "CyberCafes".

In terms of the frequency of usage of theVC application by modules, Table 8 provides theresults of responses by students who knew howto access the VC application only. This is becausethe two students who indicated that they did notknow how to use the application also indicatedthat they did not use the application. Logically,one will not be able to use a software package ifone does not know how to use it.

Frequency of Usage

TABLE 8Frequency of VC application by modules

VC Module used

EverydayOnce a weekOnce a fortnight<Once a fortnightNever

Stud. Reg.

122

3349

Assign. &Quizzes

o1320459

News &Announ.

o11144022

Course Plan& Notes

o7

134720

Disc.

o66

2451



From Table 8, it can be seen that amongthe six modules on the VC application at FEM,the "Assignment and Quizzes" module appearsas the most referred to by students; more than athird of the respondents (33 out of 87) accessedit at least once a fortnight. Usage of this modulesurpassed that of the "News and Announcements"module (25 out of 87 or about 29%) althoughlogically students should access the "News andAnnouncements" module as frequently aspossible, preferably every day, in order to findout about the latest announcement on a course.

Interestingly, the modules regarding lectureplans and notes/slides which were representedin the questionnaire under "Course Plan andNotes" rather than separately were third in termsof frequency of access by students. Althoughthese modules represent the contents of thecourse, the findings in this study are unlikethose of Flowers et al. (1999) and Collett et al.(1999) where the modules related to coursenotes or slides were found to be used most bystudents. A browse of the actual contents oflecturers' "Course Notes" module during theMay 1999/2000 semester revealed that most ofthe contents did not provide full lecture notesbut various topic headings and sub-topics.Perhaps, students would fmd the "Course Notes"module more beneficial if full sets of notes wereto be provided. It would be interesting to fmdout whether students had indicated that thebenefits of VC could be increased if full sets ofnotes were provided. This is an issue to bediscussed later from answers to the question onhow to improve the usefulness of the VCapplication.

Pybus & Sanderson's (1999) study showsthat students perceived that the use of thediscussion platform has positive implications ontheir learning. Yet in this survey, the "Discussion"module was found not to be used as frequentlyas the other modules except for "StudentRegister". Nearly 60% never accessed the"Discussion" platform at all, quite similar to thefindings by Flowers et al. (1999) where themodule was found largely ignored by students.According to Doob (1995), research shows thatstudents achieve more by participating in studygroups out of class. The use of the discussionplatform of the VC application at FEM shouldtherefore be encouraged given the positiveinfluence it could have on students' learning.One way to encourage the use of this module is

perhaps to integrate some assignments into themodule innovatively as was done by Pybus andSanderson.

The "Student Register" module is a platformwhich provides on-line registration to students.At the same time, this module can serve as therecord book where lecturers can post studentsmarks for all assignments. In the study by Sallehet al. (2000), the "Student Register" was found tobe the least-used module by lecturers. It is thismodule, too, that is found in this study to be theleast frequently accessed by students, with only 5of them accessing it at least once a fortnight.This is despite the fact that students in theIntermediate Financial Accounting I course wererequired to register their names through the"Students Register" module during the first twoweeks of the May 1999/2000 semester. Andindeed, all students did have their namesregistered. Yet, more than half of the respondentsin this study indicated that they never used thisapplication. An implication of the fmdings aboveis that their names were most probably keyed inby someone else, most probably their coursemates. Another reason why this module did notappear popular with students could be becausethe lecturers hardly used this module to pastestudents' results over the semester. Thus,students might not see it beneficial to access thismodule.

Problems and Benefits in Using the

VC Application

On the questions of problems faced while usingthe VC application and the benefits experiencedfrom using it, the responses of students whoused the VC application are as tabled in Tables9 and 10. Although students were asked to listproblems and benefits other than those proposedin the questions, only one other problem andbenefit each was stated. Both of these responses(other problem and benefit) are listed last inTables 9 and 10.

From Table 9, the main problem thatstudents faced while using the VC applicationappears to be related to the time spent inaccessing the VC application with 35 studentsindicating so. Problem of accessing, however, isnot specific to the VC application software butmore related to the connection between thestudents' terminals and the server. Given that afew parties are involved in the enabling of anon-line communication such as the network



TABLE 10Benefits from using the VC application

assist communication. The VC application issaid to help students communicate with theirlecturers. This ability is especially handy incircumstances where lecturers' time to meetstudents does not coincide with that of students'.Inability to have face-to-face meetings withlecturers due to the above need no longer meanthat students do not get access to lecturers.Rather, with the usage of the VC application,communication between lecturers and students

be a nuisance. But this is a problem that can beeasily solved. Students can always save intofloppies to be printed elsewhere. Nevertheless,availability of printers for this purpose can helpreduce the inconvenience.

Although there were students who had theproblem of not understanding the instructionson the computer screen, the proportion isminimal. There were also a few students whohad not experienced any problem at all.Interestingly, the problem of not getting accessto a computer was only cited once.

With regard to the benefits that studentsidentified from their experience of using the VCapplication, Table 10 reveals that among themain benefits of using the VC application is thatit can enhance students' knowledge of a course(with 54 students identifYing this as among thebenefits). This is not surprising given that theVC platform is specifically designed to provideinformation on a particular course.

The other benefit is in terms of its role to

Enhancement ofknowledge on a course 54

Help to communicatewith busy lecturers 48

Reduction of necessityto face lecturers 43

Ease of communicationwith lecturers fromstudents' various localities 45

o benefit 0Access to up-to-date

information such aschanges in examinationdates

28.3

0.5

23.6o

22.5

25.1

Percentageof total

responses

Frequency(multiple

responses)

Types ofbenefits

provider and telecommunication companieswhose policies and actions are beyond the controlof a lecturer using the VC application, thereappears little that an individual lecturer can doto improve the situation. As highlighted in thestudy by Salleh et al. (2000), the use oftechnology, especially new versions may beaccompanied by some breakdowns of thattechnology. Perhaps, students should anticipatethe problem relating to access time and developstrategies to reduce such impact. One possibleway is to attempt to access the VC applicationduring off-peak periods.

Other problems while using the VCapplication include difficulty in getting assistancewhen faced with difficulty and unavailability ofprinters. With respect to the former, it can bea frustrating endeavour for students who couldnot proceed with using the VC application ifthey could not consult anyone for help whileaccessing the application. On this issue, studentswere recommended to use the PCs at variouslaboratories to minimise such incidences.However, given that most students were foundnot to use on-campus facilities (Table 1), it isnot surprising that assistance could not be soughtwhen they faced difficulty relating to usage ofthe application.

The other problem of non-availability ofprinters, although it may appear insignificant tosome, can have some bearing in situations wherestudents are expected to download for hardcopies. An example is the "Assignments andQuizzes" module where students are usually notprovided with hard copies but expected to obtainthe copies themselves. Absence of printers can

TABLE 9Problems faced while using the VC application

Types of Frequency Percentageproblems (multiple of total

responses) responses

Time consuming toaccess virtual class 35 35.7

Unavailability of printers 20 20.4Difficulty in getting

help when needed 27Lack of understanding

of instructions givenon computer 9 9.2

o problem 6 6.1Difficulty in getting

access to computer 1 1.0



* includes the two students who did not use the VCapplication

TABLE 11Should all UPM lecturers integrate the VC

application in their course?

The inclusion of the question on thejustification for recommending or nonrecommending usage of the ve application byall lecturers at the university may appearrepetitive given that students were earlierquestioned on the benefits and problems of

can be effected wherever students are andwhenever they desire so. For some students whoare by nature apprehensive about meetinglecturers, they see the above as another benefitof ve. Related to its communication role, theve is also said to assist students keep themselvesinformed of the latest changes or updatesregarding a course. Although cited only once,the benefit listed last in Table 10 was also citedby lecturers in the study by Salleh et al. (2000).However in that study, the benefit was seen fromthe perspective of the lecturers who used the veapplication where the ve application was said toassist lecturers disseminate information quicklyto students.

Having given thought to the problems andbenefits that they experienced in using the veapplication, students then responded to thequestion of whether all lecturers at the universityshould integrate the ve application in theirteaching of a particular course. This questionwas asked of all students regardless of whetherthey had used the ve application or not.Students were also required to provide theirown reasons for selecting either the "yes" or"no" answer. Responses to the question ofwhether all lecturers at UPM should use the veapplication are as those found in Table 11 whiletheir reasons for selecting a particular answer,are in Tables 12 and 13. A point worth notingis that some students from both groups ("yes"and "no") provided more than one reason forpreferring or not preferring to see the use ofthe ve extended to all lecturers.

4.3

8.58.55.311.730.93.213.8

13.8

Percentageof total

responses

Frequency(multiple

responses)

TABLE 12Reasons why all lecturers should use

the VC application

Reasons Frequency Percentage(multiple of total

responses) responses

Facilities inadequacy 7 41.2No printer 1 5.8Time consuming to

access VC 2 11.8Costly to access 2 11.8Dislike VC 1 5.8Face to face meeting

is important for thelecturer to understandstudents' problem 2 11.8

No response 2 11.8

using the ve application. This, however, is notthe case for it should be borne in mind that theearlier question on the benefits and problemswere answered only by those who used the veapplication whereas the question on thejustification was answered by all students. Thisimplies that although a student may not use theve application (although only 2) he or she mayfeel that all lecturers should use the veapplication as a result of experiencing someform of difficulties or for reasons learned frompeers' experience. In this respect, it is interestingto observe, in particular, the response by the twostudents who did not use the ve application.

TABLE 13Reasons why all lecturers should not use

the VC application

Easier to refer toannouncement 13

Easier to obtaintutorial questions 4

Easier to obtainlecture notes 8

Saves time 8Enhances IT skills 5Facilitates learning 11Easier to contact lecturers 29*Need not go to lecture 3No response 13

*includes responses from the two students who didnot use the VC application

Reasons

74* 83.115 16.9

Frequency PercentageResponse

YesNo


Arlah Salleh & Badriyah Minai

Table 11 reveals that more than eightypercent of the respondents (74 out of 89students) would like to see all lecturers in UPMuse the VC application. Students in this categoryinclude the two who did not use the VCapplication.

Moving on to the reasons for theirrecommending that all lecturers use the VCapplication, from Table 12, it can be observedthat, generally, again, the communication roleof the VC environment appears the main reasonwhy students perceived that it should be used.This too, was the reason given by the two studentswho did not use the VC application. Perhaps, bynot using the VC application, they experienceddifficulty in communicating with their lecturersor perhaps they perceived so after comparingnotes with their peers.

Some other students felt that it should beused as it could facilitate their learning andenhance their IT skills. Only 3 students lookedat the VC application as a means of not attendingclasses or opportunity to stay away from lectures.Although relatively minimal (only 3 students),there were students who did perceive the VCapplication as an opportunity to abstain fromlectures, similar to some students in the initialsurvey of the Flowers et al. (1999) study. Some13 other students did not provide justificationfor wanting all lecturers to use the VCapplication.

Among the 15 students who believed thatthe VC application need not be extended to alllecturers at the university, the main reason fortheir not preferring so was because of thedifficulty of getting access to computers althoughone student indicated that it was for difficulty ingetting access to printers. Given that more thana third of the students were found to have accessto personal and private computer facilities asshown in Table 1, and that lack of computerfacilities was cited by only one respondent as aproblem faced in using the VC application (Table9), perhaps, this reason may not appear strongenough for not wanting to extend the use of theapplication to other lecturers.

A few students also perceived that since theuse of the VC application was time-consumingand costly, the use of the VC should not beextended to other lecturers at the university.One student appeared to have a negative attitudetowards the VC application and so believed thatbecause of his dislike to the VC application, all

lecturers should not use it. Another tworespondents suggested that the VC applicationshould not be used by all lecturers because they(the students) believed that lecturers shouldmeet students face-to-face to be able to

understand students' problems better. Withregard to this issue, it must be remembered thatthe FEM has always insisted that the use of theVC application is not a replacement for lecturesor meeting students face-to-face. It is to be usedas a complement to the traditional teachingapproach. Two students did not provide reasonsfor not wanting the VC application to be used byall lecturers.

Having provided a discussion of the benefits,problems and reasons for/against suggesting anextended usage of the VC application to otherlecturers at the university, this paper examinesstudents' suggestions on how to improve theusefulness of the VC application in the nextsection. In the light of the pattern of usage ofthe VC application modules as depicted in Table8, especially that of a non-frequent usage ofmodules relating to course notes and slides,students' suggestions on ways to improve theapplication become more interesting.

Suggestions on How to Improve the Usefulness of theVC ApplicationAs shown in Table 14, 26 students did notprovide any suggestion on how to improve theusefulness of the VC application. Out of theremaining 63 students, 74 suggestions wereobtained indicating that some students providedmore than one suggestion. Table 14 consists oftwo parts:A: suggestions of measures viewed as able to

improve the usefulness of the VC applicationby students who actually know how to useand who actually used the application and

B: suggestions by those who did not know howto use and did not actually use theapplication.

From the suggestions in Table 14A, most (21out of 63) students indicated that the VCapplication would be more useful to them iflecturers were to provide more complete sets oflecture notes. In some ways, this implies thatstudents still have the perception that the VCapplication should replace lectures. Given thatthe philosophy for the usage of the VCapplication at FEM is to supplement rather than



TABLE 14ASuggestions on how to improve the usefulness

of the VC application (by studentswho used the VC application)

TABLE 14BSuggestions on how to improve the usefulness

of the VC application by students who didnot use the VC application

supplant lectures, perhaps it has to beemphasised further and extensively, too, to thestudents that it is the lecturer who can helpinterpret, synthesise and map out the topologyof a course, not the lecture notes. In the studyby Flowers et al. (1999), similar efforts to changethe perception of students on the role of lecturersand lecture notes under a traditional approachof teaching and learning were reportedlyconducted after discovering the over reliance ofstudents on course notes.

The next most suggested measure to improvethe usefulness of the VC application is to improve

Reasons Frequency Percentageof total

responses

No suggestion 26 26.5Include more complete

notes 21 21.5Increase computer

facilities at FEM 17 17.4Make compulsory the

use of VC in all courses 6 6.1Update information on

VC application regularly 5 5.1Increase speed of access 4 4.1Make VC application

more interesting 4 4.1Introduce and train

studen ts to use VC 3 3.1Students take initiative

to learn to use VC 3 3.1Introduce and train

students to use VC earlier 2 2.0Include model questions

and answers 2 2.0Others 5 5.0

the computer facilities specifically at the FEM.Although difficulty in getting access to computerswas not cited as a major problem in using theVC application in Table 9, improvement in thefacilities at the FEM in particular, can enhancethe VC usefulness.

Although many other suggestions to improvethe usefulness of the VC application wereprovided by respondents as shown in Table 14A,these suggestions appear not to represent theviews of the majority. Two students suggestedthe inclusion of model questions and answers. Ifthe usage of a particular module of the VCapplication is an indication of the usefulness ofthat module, based on the study by Flowers et al.(1999), then model questions and answers shouldindeed be included since the module was foundto be heavily used. On the contrary though,Collett et al. (1999) reported that in their study,the module on past questions was hardly accessedby students.

One student suggested that in order for theVC to be viewed as more useful, students shouldbe provided with free access to the application.This is in fact already the case if students are toaccess the VC application through the IntranetLotus Notes system at the FEM. In relation tothe second most popular suggestion wherestudents suggested that more facilities should beprovided at the FEM, perhaps the reason forsuggesting so was cost-related. But, given thatstudents did not provide reasons for suggestingso, such a suggestion remains a speculation.

Suggestions by the two students who did notuse the VC application as shown in Table 14Bwere also related to computer facilities and cost.The suggestions, however, do not appear specificto the VC application only. Both suggestionsnaturally lead to better access to computers,which means that general usage of computersand its implication can be enhanced.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This study examines issues on the use of the VCapplication by students at the FEM. Four areaslooked into are the pattern of usage of computersin general, including source of computer access;usage of the VC application; problems andbenefits in using the VC application; andstudents' suggestions on ways to improve theusefulness of the application.

In terms of the facilities used by students,findings in this study show that only slightly

50.0

50.0

Percentage

Increase computerfacilities on campus 1

UPM subsidises students'purchase of computers

Reasons Frequency



more than a quarter of the total respondentsused on-campus computer facilities. Amongthose who used on-campus facilities, moreappeared to use the facilities provided at cybercafes. Such a pattern of usage could be a resultof many reasons. For instance, because studentsrealised that the facilities available on campuswere insufficient, they resorted to using otherfacilities such as borrowing other people'scomputers outside or using facilities at cybercafes rather than trying to access facilities at thefaculties' laboratory, the university's computercentre, the halls of residence or the library. Or,it could be that students prefer not to use oncampus university facilities because they alreadyown personal computers or have access to othersources.

Judging from further students' responses,although students did not unanimously perceivethat non-access to on-campus university facilitieswas a hindrance to their ability to use the VCapplication, they believed that one way toimprove the usefulness of the VC applicationwas to increase the on-campus university facilities.Students also indicated that computers weremostly used for purposes of word processingand accessing the Internet and e-mail. Wheneverthey faced problems with computers, studentswere found to refer mostly to their peers or staffat cyber cafes rather than lecturers. Additionally,prior to being exposed to the VC applicationduring the semester preceding the May 1999/2000 semester, most of the respondents usedcomputers about once a week.

Feedback from respondents showed that onlyabout 2% of them did not know how to use theVC application, hence, did not use it at all. Themajority of those who indicated that they knewhow to use the VC application and indeed diduse the application, obtained the knowledgefrom the lecturer during the hands-on sessions.There were some who learned from their peers.Among the modules in the VC application at theFEM, the "Assignment and quizzes" module wasmost popular and most regularly used. The"Students register" and "Discussion" moduleswere the least popular.

The main problem that students faced whileusing the VC application was the length of timespent to get access to the VC application.Difficulty in getting help when faced withproblems was another problem cited by students.The benefits that students believed they had

experienced in using the VC application were inrelation to information on the course. Throughusing the VC application, students perceivedthat their knowledge of a particular course wasenhanced. However, on aggregate, it seemedthat the main benefit of the VC application wasperceived to be the role it played in thecommunication process between students andlecturers.

When asked whether the use of the VCapplication should be extended to all lecturersin the university, more than 80% of therespondents would like this to happen, includingthe two students who had never used the VCapplication. Their main reason was because mostof them believed that the VC application couldhelp their communication with lecturers. Sucha perception was also held by the two studentswho did not use the application. Those studentswho did not want to see the usage extended toall lecturers at the university cited inadequacy ofcomputer facilities as the main reason.

In order to enhance the usefulness of theVC application, students suggested that lecturersprovide more complete sets of notes thancurrently available. Some others believed thatthe on-campus university facilities, especially atthe FEM premise, should be improved.

The findings in this study as highlightedabove have implications on the future approachof education in general and at the FEM inparticular. The VC application can be a usefulapproach to learning if used appropriately.Students' responses show that generally, the useof the VC application at FEM can still beconsidered low with the average usage of aboutless than once a fortnight. The use of the"Discussion" module, for instance, whicheducators believe can be a useful platform toenhance learning, was found to be rare. Giventhe availability of vast room for improvement,measures have to be taken to encourage furtherusage. Of equal importance is to emphasise theoverall role of the VC application in relation tostudents' learning process. It has to be stressedthat the VC application is never intended tosupplant traditional lectures so that studentsshould never view usage of the VC application asan opportunity to be absent from lectures. It isindeed unfortunate that the majority of thestudents perceived that among ways to enhancethe VC application usefulness, lecturers shouldprovide more complete sets of notes. Problems



highlighted by students on usage of the VCapplication that they faced should not bedismissed without further consideration.Likewise some of the suggestions made bystudents should be deliberated upon. It shouldalways be remembered that if the VC applicationis not perceived as useful to them, students maybe reluctant to use it. With the investment costinvolved in providing the VC application facilities,it would indeed be wasteful if these facilitieswere not utilised.

In terms of its contribution to the literature,it is also hoped that this study will provide theimpetus for future research in the area. Giventhat it is only exploratory, further work involvinga larger sample size and students from otherdisciplines and examining other issues on theusage of the VC application is needed to obtaina more comprehensive picture of the VC learningenvironment. Nevertheless, as it is, this studydoes meet its particular objectives.

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(Received: 5 April 2001)


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