All the data were incorporated into a SPSS statistical software file. The data were then analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations.
Overview
An analysis of the library resources sector of the Fall 2002 MSVCC Student Survey indicated that Mississippi public community and junior colleges’
Learning Resources Centers were doing a good job of serving the virtual community college students in providing access to library materials (Ap- pendix B). The ‘‘averaged ratings’’ showed that the high majority (87%) of MSVCC students using the library resources and instruction rated the serv- ices as adequate.
Research Question One
The first research question asked was whether the online courses offered through MSVCC required library resources. The choices given were
‘‘strongly agree,’’ ‘‘agree,’’ ‘‘disagree,’’ ‘‘strongly disagree,’’ or ‘‘not appli- cable.’’ A breakdown of the responses to this question is found in Fig. 4.
Survey results indicated that 52% of the students self-reported that li- brary resources were required for their online course. The researcher felt that this question was very misleading since it did not provide a ‘‘yes’’ or
‘‘no’’ response. Survey participants may have been unsure of how to answer this question. It was interesting to note that 20% of the respondents either
‘‘disagreed’’ or ‘‘strongly disagreed.’’ Whereas, 28% felt this was ‘‘not applicable.’’ Because of the wording of the question, the researcher can only
assume that 48% of the respondents reported that their online course(s) did not require the use of library resources.
The most identifiable concern was the 48% of students who indicated that no use was made of library resources. Individual faculty were targeted to educate and inform them of the benefits of the resources offered and to encourage them to make more assignments which require students to take advantage of those library resources.
Research Question Two
The second survey question asked whether distance education students self- reported that they were able to effectively use library resources. The choices given were ‘‘strongly agree,’’ ‘‘agree,’’ ‘‘disagree,’’ ‘‘strongly disagree,’’ or
‘‘not applicable.’’ A breakdown of the responses to this question is found in Fig. 5.
An analysis of the results has indicated that 58% of the respondents felt that they were able to effectively use library resources; whereas, 13% were not able to effectively use the resources. As a note, 29% of the students surveyed thought the question was not even applicable.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Strongly Agree Agree
Disagree
Strongly D isagree
Not A pplicable
Fig. 4. Research Question 1: The Course(s) that I am Currently Taking Required Library Resources/Research.
Research Question Three
The third survey question asked whether distance education students self- reported that instruction for using library resources was made available. The choices given were ‘‘online through MELO,’’ ‘‘handouts,’’ ‘‘faculty instruc- tion,’’ or ‘‘librarian.’’ A breakdown of the responses to this question is found in Fig. 6.
MELO provides an online tutorial as well as access to a librarian 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Forty-one percent of the respondents selected MELO as their choice for receiving instruction in the use of library resources. Because of this information, community college librarians have already made the decision to continue supporting the MELO project.
Faculty instruction was also a favorite choice with 30% of the respond- ents reporting that the faculty provided instruction in the use of library resources. Librarians should realize that the training sessions provided to the instructors proved beneficial in terms of filtering the information through the teacher to the student.
The use of online and print handouts for instruction in the use of library resources reached 15% of the respondents, and the librarian assisted 14% of the respondents with this endeavor.
An analysis of the results indicated that the distance learning student was able to make use of the instructional methods offered. In an effort to better
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree Not Applica
ble
Fig. 5. Research Question 2: I Learned to Effectively Use Library Resources.
serve these students, librarians and faculty should stress the availability of additional instructional support materials such as the online orientations, videos, DVDs, and CD-ROMs.
Research Question Four
The fourth survey question asked whether distance education students self- reported that they were satisfied with instruction received for using library resources. The choices given were ‘‘strongly agree,’’ ‘‘agree,’’ ‘‘disagree,’’
‘‘strongly disagree,’’ or ‘‘not applicable.’’ A breakdown of the responses to this question is found inFig. 7.
Most students (87%) felt that instruction for library resources was made available to them and they had effectively learned to use the resources. Only 11% of the respondents indicated that instruction for use of library ma- terials was inadequate, although 2% indicated that such instruction was
‘‘not applicable’’ for the particular course taken.
Some of the online instructors received training via the Community Col- lege Network. All of the instructors attended faculty orientation workshops and were provided library handbooks and brochures, which identified
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Onlin e Through M
ELO
Handouts
Faculty In
struction Libra
ria n
Fig. 6. Research Question 3: Library Information was Provided in the Following Way.
library and learning resources and services available for all constituents of the College, regardless of location. Group e-mails were implemented for notification of changes and/or additions to the existing resources. The in- tention of providing instruction for faculty was to increase the faculty knowledge of the library and learning resources available to the distance learner and to help them integrate these resources into their courses. Also, an online orientation and a physical brochure which reflects library resources and services was made available for online students and faculty members.
Each student enrolled in an online course was emailed the link to the MELO website where an online orientation was located. This orientation included information about MAGNOLIA and MELO, as well as contact information about each community college library. A ‘‘Distance Education Library Orientation,’’ in the form of a CD, DVD, or VHS was available for student checkout at all libraries. This in-depth orientation provided more detailed information to the student in hopes of encouraging them to utilize the available resources.
Research Question Five
The fifth survey question asked whether distance education students self- reported that offline library resources were delivered in a reasonable length
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Not Applicable
Fig. 7. Research Question 4: The Instruction for Library Material was Adequate.
of time. The choices given were ‘‘strongly agree,’’ ‘‘agree,’’ ‘‘disagree,’’
‘‘strongly disagree,’’ or ‘‘not applicable.’’ A breakdown of the responses to this question is found inFig. 8.
Although there was a high percentage in the ‘‘not applicable’’ section, 34% of the respondents were satisfied with the delivery rate of books and/or magazine articles not provided online.
Mississippi Community College Libraries have established a Reciprocal Lending Agreement for the Mississippi Virtual Community College. It was created by the library directors in 2001 and approved by the community college presidents in March 2002. This document established a lending agreement for statewide library cooperation. Reciprocal lending is not in- tended to substitute for the provision by each community college of ade- quate library resources and services to support students, but it was created to increase access to library resources by the member libraries, to maximize use of the combined collections of the member libraries, and to support the Mississippi Virtual Community College. Students may conduct online searches of the individual libraries for books which he/she may need for an assignment, and request the book from the nearest community college li- brary. Participation in the agreement by college libraries was voluntary.
In addition to the mutual loan agreement for the MSVCC program one other consortia agreement was in place for the participating community
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Strongly Agree
Agree Disagree
Strongly Disa gree
Not Applicable
Fig. 8. Research Question 5: If I Needed Resources which were not Online, the Resources were Delivered with a Reasonable Period of Time.
colleges. MCCLIP is an agreement between Mississippi State University and 13 Mississippi community college libraries and was completed by Letters of Agreement on April 6, 2001. MCCLIP helped facilitate cooperation and sharing of resources between Mississippi’s community college libraries and Mississippi State University libraries. The partnership allowed all libraries to share resources, excluding electronic resources.
SUMMARY
Distance learning has a well-developed history in the Mississippi Commu- nity and Junior College System. Progressive participation in distance ed- ucation was seen as an integral mechanism for achieving the mission of the system; providing opportunities for continuing education in academic, technical, vocational, and adult education, and providing leadership in civic, cultural, and economic growth.
Through MSVCC, Mississippi’s public community and junior colleges offered students the opportunity to achieve their educational goals through on-line classes in addition to the traditional on-campus offerings. The growth and popularity of online classes and the resulting growth in online enrollment provided the impetus for this study.
This chapter presents the researcher’s conclusions and recommendations after gathering and analyzing the archival data. As mentioned previously, the survey instrument included descriptive and self-perception explorations.
Descriptively, the instrument provided demographic pictures of MSVCC students, but due to restrictions set by SBCJC, the researcher was unable to utilize this data. A copy of the IERC Committee’s MSVCC Student Services Survey appears in Appendix A.
Questions 1–10 under Section VI – Library Resources were analyzed for this study. The researcher used survey question 1 under library resources to answer research question 1. Survey question 5 under library resources was used to answer research question 2. Survey question 7 under library re- sources was used to answer research question 3. Survey question 6 under library resources was used to answer research question 4. Survey question 3 under library resources was used to answer research question 5.
All participants in this study were enrolled in at least one MSVCC online course during the Fall 2001 semester. Each student was asked to complete only one survey even if he/she was taking more than one course. Of the class entries, 2309 of the 4781 (approximately 48%) non-duplicated head count responded to the survey.
An analysis of the library resources sector of the Fall 2002 MSVCC Stu- dent Survey indicated that Mississippi public community and junior colleges’
Learning Resources Centers were doing a good job of serving the virtual community college students in providing access to library materials. The
‘‘averaged ratings’’ showed that the high majority of MSVCC students (87%) using the library resources and instruction rated the services as adequate.
The study provided administrators and library staff members with the data necessary to determine if they are meeting the needs of the distance learner. The results enable administrators to make meaningful changes and/
or additions to the support services offered to the student.