An aid to transition? The perceived utility of online resources for on‐campus first year management students

This paper aims to be a response to the “Call for Papers” on challenges for the practice of, and new modes of questioning and delivery in, business education. The authors seek to do this through an investigation of the disadvantages and benefits associated with the move towards using online technologies in an on‐campus undergraduate first year management subject.

The authors conducted a survey of 362 first year students undertaking a blended learning course in management.

Students prefer interactive tutorials over lectures or online material they can access themselves as needed. They also mainly access the online material they believe will be most useful in achieving higher grades, and prefer online material that is related to assessment outcomes, rather than that designed for greater understanding.

The findings suggest that the community of inquiry framework, although designed to evaluate online learning, can also be used to frame the comparative utility of online and other teaching strategies. The paper also explores issues related to the Technology Acceptance Model's prediction that ease of use of online learning resources is important, and finds that many students are restricted by the cost of downloading and printing online learning material in university libraries and laboratories.

The research focuses upon first year management students, and transition implications of the findings are discussed.