Investigating relationships between features of learning designs and student learning outcomes

This article reports a study of eLearning in 21 courses in Hong Kong universities that had a blended design of face-to-face classes combined with online learning. The main focus of the study was to examine possible relationships between features of online learning desings and student learning outcomes. Data-collection strategies included expert reviews of the learning designs, student surveys of perceptions of the web environment and their own learning outcomes. and a SOLO (structure of observed learning outcomes) analysis of assessment evidence of student learning outcomes. The findings of the correlational study indicate mild relationships between features of learning design and student perceptions of their learning outcomes. Both the provision of learning resources and the engagement of students in online communication relate to aspects of learning (acquisition of knowledge and skills, and enhancement of learning motivation). Also the relationship was stronger when eLearning strategies were more extensively used. However, no relationship was found between learning design and the student performance in assessment tasks, possibly because of the limited assessment data that was examined.