Abstract
Recent years have seen an explosion in the popularity of online education, yet the impacts of online education on existing education models, teachers, and students are not fully understood. While the rise of online education is evident in countries around the world, students in East Asian societies have been particularly active in their online educational pursuits. This chapter seeks to further understand the significance of these trends by using empirical evidence from a nationwide survey conducted in collaboration with the Election Study Center in Taiwan. In particular, it aims to identify the impacts of online education on the existing education model, teachers, and students. The results indicated that online education has had major impacts on the existing education model. It was seen as more Western, active, top-down, and focused on knowledge acquisition than offline education, which suggests that offline education represents a significant departure from the approaches to teaching and learning that locals have come to expect. The perceived impacts on teachers included an encouragement of teaching quality improvement and lessened the overall burden. As for students, the perceived impacts have been mostly positive, with respondents viewing online education as encouraging independent learning, providing more opportunities to be critical of teachers, and not necessarily discouraging creativity or asking questions. Respondents also suggested that online education supplemented the breadth, depth, and richness of educational opportunities, suggesting that some respondents viewed local educational opportunities as inadequate. Detrimental impacts on students included decreased opportunities for face-to-face interaction with peers and teachers as well as mentions of assessment problems and student apathy.
The survey used in this study was conducted in collaboration with the Election Study Center, National Chengchi University, Taiwan. The research was funded in part by a grant (102 2410 H 004 206 MY2) from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Executive Yuan, Republic of China, Taiwan.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adkins, S. S. (2011). The worldwide market for mobile learning products and services: 2010–2015 forecast and analysis. Ambient Insight. http://www.ambientinsight.com/Resources/Documents/Ambient-Insight-2010-2015-Worldwide-Mobile-Learning-Market-Forecast-Executive-Overview.pdf. Accessed 25 Sept 2014.
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2012). Conflicted: Faculty and online education, 2012. Babson Survey Research Group. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535214.pdf. Accessed 10 Oct 2014.
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade change: Tracking online education in the United States. Oakland: Babson Survey Research Group. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/gradechange.pdf. Accessed 3 Oct 2014.
Chen, H. R., & Tseng, H. F. (2012). Factors that influence acceptance of web-based e-learning systems for the in-service education of junior high school teachers in Taiwan. Evaluation and Program Planning, 35(3), 398–406. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2011.11.007.
Chen, P. S. D., Lambert, A. D., & Guidry, K. R. (2010). Engaging online learners: The impact of Web-based learning technology on college student engagement. Computers & Education, 54(4), 1222–1232. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.11.008.
Chen, L. Y., Hsiao, B., Chern, C. C., & Chen, H. G. (2014). Affective mechanisms linking Internet use to learning performance in high school students: A moderated mediation study. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, 431–443. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.025.
Cheng, S.-F. (1996). Summary of National Chengchi University Election Study Center. Survey Research: Method and Application, 1, 205–212. http://140.109.171.170/files/paper/227_cabd92e9.pdf. Accessed 29 Sept 2014. [鄭夙芬. (1996). 國立政治大學選舉研究中心簡介. 調查研究-方法與應用, (1), 205–212.]
Chou, C. P., & Ching, G. (2012). Taiwan education at the crossroad: When globalization meets localization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230120143.
Coursera. (2014). Coursera cup leaderboard standings. http://blog.coursera.org/post/89785500257/do-it-for-your-country-win-the-coursera-cup. Accessed 20 Aug 2014.
Executive Yuan, ROC. (2013). The Republic of China yearbook 2013. http://www.ey.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=00B16C6FEB500D8B. Accessed 8 Nov 2014.
Farrell, G. M. (Ed.). (1999). The development of virtual education: A global perspective. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED432668.pdf. Accessed September 29, 2014.
Jung, I. (2001). Issues and challenges of providing online inservice teacher training: Korea’s experience. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 2(1), 1–18. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan004045.pdf. Accessed 29 Sept 2014.
Kong, S. C., Chan, T. W., Huang, R., & Cheah, H. M. (2014). A review of e-learning policy in school education in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing: Implications to future policy planning. Journal of Computers in Education, 1, 1–26. doi:10.1007/s40692-014-0011-0.
Kuo, Y. C., Walker, A. E., Belland, B. R., & Schroder, K. E. (2013). A predictive study of student satisfaction in online education programs. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(1), 16–39. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1338/2416. Accessed 24 Nov 2014.
Lee, J. W. (2010). Online support service quality, online learning acceptance, and student satisfaction. The Internet and Higher Education, 13(4), 277–283. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.08.002.
MDBG. (2014). Definition: Shiti. http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=%E5%AF%A6%E9%AB%94. Accessed 10 Oct 2014.
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. U.S. Department of Education. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505824.pdf. Accessed 10 Oct 2014.
Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance education: A systems view of online learning. Belmont: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
Ngram Viewer. (2014). Phrases: Distance learning, distance education, online learning, online education, online course between 1970 and 2008. Google Books. http://goo.gl/HA5lvz. Accessed 29 Sept 2014.
Rosenberg, M. J. (2001). E-learning: Strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Seaman, J. (2009). Online learning as a strategic asset. Vol. II: The paradox of faculty voices: Views and experiences with online learning. Washington, DC: Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. http://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=1879. Accessed 24 Nov 2014.
Sparapani, E. F., Perez, D. C., Gould, J., Hillman, S., & Clark, L. (2014). A global curriculum? Understanding teaching and learning in the United States, Taiwan, India, and Mexico. SAGE Open, 4(2), 1–15. doi:10.1177/2158244014536406.
United States Department of Education [DoED]. (2010). National education technology plan 2010. Office of Educational Technology. http://tech.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/netp2010.pdf. Accessed 30 Sept 2014.
Vonderwell, S. (2003). An examination of asynchronous communication experiences and perspectives of students in an online course: A case study. The Internet and Higher Education, 6(1), 77–90. doi:10.1016/S1096-7516(02)00164-1.
Wallace, R. M. (2003). Online learning in higher education: A review of research on interactions among teachers and students. Education, Communication & Information, 3(2), 241–280. doi:10.1080/14636310303143.
Wang, C. M., & Reeves, T. (2004). Cultural considerations in online education: A review of the literature. In World conference on e-learning in corporate, government, healthcare, and higher education (Vol. 2004, No. 1, pp. 2460–2465).
Wu, H. K., Hsu, Y. S., & Hwang, F. K. (2008). Factors affecting teachers’ adoption of technology in classrooms: Does school size matter? International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 6(1), 63–85. doi:10.1007/s10763-006-9061-8.
Acknowledgements
Many people have generously contributed their time and effort to making this chapter a reality. In particular, the author would like to thank Chuing Prudence Chou for her assistance with coordination and providing opportunities for networking and feedback from others in the international educational research community, the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University for conducting the survey, the expert reviewers and pre-testers at National Chengchi University and Academia Sinica for their comments on earlier versions of the questionnaire, the participants at the 2nd Conference of the Higher Education Research Association (HERA) at Seoul National University for their feedback on the study, and the survey respondents who took the time to complete the questionnaire.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spangler, J. (2016). Impacts of Online Education on Existing Education Models: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan. In: Chou, C., Spangler, J. (eds) Chinese Education Models in a Global Age. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 31. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0330-1_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0330-1_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0328-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0330-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)