Comparison of Higher Education Student and Teacher Perceptions of E-learning

Currently e-learning is considered an essential part of the everyday learning processes for both teachers and students in higher education. However, the learning results of e-learning are under debate and there is a growing critique on the efficiency and actual results of e-learning. In this paper we present our on-going work for exploring higher education students' and teachers' recent perceptions of their e-learning experiences. Two surveys were conducted in order to investigate and compare the perceived advantages, challenges and needs for support among the students and teachers in higher education. The results indicate that the perceived advantages of e-learning for both teachers and students were fairly similar. Flexibility in use of time and place were found as the most important benefit of e-learning. The main challenges in e-learning for both students and teachers dealt with technical issues and teacher-student interaction. Both students and teachers also experienced problems in directing the learning situation. Based on the studies we suggest that in order to ensure high-quality learning results in e-learning, continuous and relevant training and peer support for educators and students are needed. Additionally it is important to enhance the user experience and to carefully design the content and materials of the courses. Finally, we suggest that in e-learning the interaction between teachers and peer students should be improved.