成人远程学习准备度的实证研究

An Empirical Study on Adults爷Readiness for Distance Learning

国内外辍学研究表明，远程学习者的辍学往往发生在学习早期阶段，学习者的前期准备已经成为影响其学业成功的重要因素。本研究以某省级开放大学2013 年专科新生为对象，通过问卷调查和访谈的形式，从学习态度、学习基本技能、计算机应用技能、自我管理技能和学习条件与支持五个维度对远程初学者的准备现状进行调查，形成的结论如下:一是远程学习准备度的五个预设维度经因子分析后得到了进一步验证;二是远程学习者整体的准备度良好，其中计算机应用技能准备较为充分，但自我管理技能方面准备不足，具体表现在:对远程学习需投入的时间和精力的认识，听课、阅读和表达等基本技能的掌握，应对工学矛盾、安排学习时间及学习抗干扰等方面的态度与能力准备以及所获得的单位支持;三是人口学因素对远程学习者的准备度有不同程度的影响，其中性别、年龄和工作年限带来的差异显著。访谈结果对上述结果均给予了解释与支持。最后，文章提出远程学习早期阶段的支持服务需侧重于帮助学习者正确认识远程学习所需的时间和努力、为学习者基本学习技能的提升提供补偿性支持、为学习者自我管理技能的提升提供持续支持等。

Domestic and international researches on dropout of distance learners have indicate that distance learnerstend to quit at the early period of learning process， and that learners' readiness becomes one of the most important fac-tors that affect learners' academic success. Prior literatures about distance learning readiness mainly focus on two per-spectives. One is about developing an ideal framework to improve distance learning essential skills. The framework con-sists the way to describe characteristics of ideal distance learners， the quality of successful distance learners， character-istics of online learning and so on. The other is about developing and applying assessment tools，aiming to predictstudent success in online courses， to examine the dropout crisis， to diagnose general ability of distance learning， or toassess learners' readiness for online learning. Assessment tools have been widely used in open universities and onlinecampus as the supplement projects. However， systematic studies on distance learning readiness， especially on the actualreadiness condition of beginners in distance learning are not available. Therefore， this paper aims to conduct a system-atic study on the readiness condition of beginners in distance learning.To assess the readiness condition， it is necessary to clarify the basic elements for preparing distance learning. Thisstudy analyzes common and different elements of widely used tools. that the result shows that these elements emphasis the a-bility of self-management according to assessment dimensions， such as self-directed learning， independent learning， timemanagement， and learning control. In addition， computer application skills are highlighted as a single dimension. Fur-thermore， learning culture is added in the tools applying in the open universities， because it was not mentioned very often inonline learning readiness assessment in traditional universities. This study uses principal component analysis to validate fivedimensions that affect learner readiness，namely learning attitude， learning basic skills， computer application skills， selfmanagementskills， and study conditions and support. The measuring scale applied in this study contains 5 dimensions and32 assessment items. In this study， 1700 newly registered learners from an open university in China participate the interviewshost by two teachers and counselors. Among them， 255 took part in phone interviews. The result shows that the level of dis-tance learners' overall readiness is good， and that learners have adequate preparation on the computer skills，but lack selfmanagementskills. The result also shows that learners do not understand their investment of time and energy on distance learning. They lack the basic skills of listening， reading， and expression， the ability of arranging their time for learning，the knowledge of anti-interference，and supports from enterprises. In addition， demographic factors influence learner readi-ness for distance learning as well， especially gender， age， and working experiences. The authors suggest that distance learn-ing supports should focus on helping learners to correctly understand that time and hard work are needed for distance learn-ing when learners begin distance learning， rather than delivering basic computer skills to learners. More supports about basiclearning skills should be provided. These supports can be based on the development of micro online resources， rather thanjust launching short-term compensatory programs. In addition， continuous supports for the learners to improve their selfmanagementskills should be strengthened by tracking their learning processes to understand their situation dynamically， in-cluding learning plan and implement， learning time， and learning process control. It is the key for distance learning sup-port and service to help learners manage their learning effectively.