Salt Lake City — A survey of the social values and motivations of online students and face-to-face students at a Texas college found that female online students are more likely to rate conformity as a key motivator than those in traditional courses.
The survey was conducted by Brett Jorge Millan, interim director for distance education at South Texas College, and it drew responses from 157 online students and 486 face-to-face students at the institution. Mr. Millan presented the results at a poster session at the League for Innovation in the Community College’s annual technology conference here. The researcher used the Schwartz Value Scale to measure 10 motivational types: self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, and universalism.
In general, however, the values of online students tended to be the same as those in face-to-face courses, he said. He found that far more women than men took online courses at his institution. And online students tended to be older than students in face-to-face courses.
The results are not yet available online. —Jeffrey R. Young
