A study of ‘E learning practices’ followed by post-graduate and under-graduate students at Chandigarh

‘E-learning’ is becoming increasingly important in teaching and learning pedagogy. A questionnaire survey was designed to gather information on students’ participation and opinions of the use of ‘e-learning’ resources, and the results show that different student groups are more likely to participate regularly in certain types of study activities than others. Chi-square tests for independence were carried out to test for associations between student gender, age group, discipline, and level of study with student usage of the various applications of ‘e-learning’ at the college level. The purpose of the exploratory factor analysis was to reduce the data set to a smaller set of summary variables or factors such that each factor comprises multiple ‘e-learning’ measures that contribute to the same ‘e-learning’ construct or theme. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three underlying factors which represent the overall student participation in computer and internet applications for educational use. The descriptive statistics and statistical tests confirm that differences exist between students, mainly according to gender, age group, and discipline of study, in their participation in the different types of ‘e-learning’ activities. The findings reported will aid in targeting resources to encourage those groups of students who currently participate least often in ‘e-learning’ activities, with an aim to enhance student engagement and student learning. These three factors which represent the different applications of ‘e-learning’ should be considered individually in terms of design, delivery, and management of ‘elearning’ support systems, and provision of training for both staff and students.