Comparison between on- and off-campus behaviour and adaptability in onlinelearning: a case from China

More and more universities and colleges are providing online courses not on ly for on-campus students but also for off-campus students. Tutors have to consider the diferences between on- and of-campus students in order to impr ove effective instruction. Comparisons are made in this paper between on- a nd off-campus performances in online learning from four areas: learning tim e, path of browsing courseware, intercommunication and adaptability towards online learning. The last two areas are emphasized. Multiple approaches we re adopted to collect data, which include questionnaires, posted documents, online logs, interviews and observations. This study shows that the rush t ime of online learning, paths of browsing courseware and favourite intercom munication means of on- and off-campus students are similar. But there are also some differences between these two groups such as competence of self-l earning, enthusiasm of interpersonal exchange, dependence on tutors, feelin g of learning stress, etc.