The Impact of Virtual Learning Environments on the Practical Skills of Open Distance Learning Students in Electrical Engineering

Open distance learning (ODL) education has been developing rapidly in South Africa. The main reason behind the growth is the demand for online studies created due to the corona pandemic. The ODL system involves study that is not limited by geographical boundaries and extends to many knowledge areas electronically. In practice the study tends to extend to knowledge areas beyond those offered by the standard contact or traditional universities. At the University of South Africa (UNISA), the adoption of the ODL framework to theoretical subjects has been successful by making use of the Sakai virtual learning environment (VLE). The practical subjects or practical knowledge areas on the other hand have previously been taught face-to-face. Therefore, the practical modules have not been effectively taught online particularly in the electrical engineering curriculum. This issue can contribute to graduates who are unskilled in the practical component of a knowledge area, which can lead to unemployment. Virtual learning environments (VLE's) play a vital role when it comes to teaching and learning online. In this paper, the impact of VLE’s on the practical skills of students and practical knowledge is investigated. This is done by analyzing the change in pass rates of students in a practical subject such as Electrical Engineering when taught face-to-face as compared to when taught through a VLE such as Sakai online. Two groups termed as emerging centered learner (ECL) and a developed centered learner (DCL) are investigated. The method evaluates students who study electrical engineering practical module part-time. In this paper the Sakai platform was used as a VLE to teach and then evaluate students in the electrical engineering practical module. The practical guide with the full set of experiments was uploaded on Sakai under additional resources. The students were given the necessary guidelines and tasks via Sakai online, examined and then the pass rates achieved were analyzed at the end of the program and compared to the pass rates achieved using previous face-to-face teaching method used for the same practical’s. It was determined that a VLE can be used to improve the pass rates of a practical module such as electrical engineering taught online in ODL.