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Conscientiousness | |
| "Many students just did
not have the self-discipline to stick to a regular, frequent schedule of signing online
and working." Source: Hiltz, S.R. (1994). The virtual classroom: Learning without limits via computer networks. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp. Conscientiousness is one of the five major factors of personality measured by the NEO Personality Inventory. Conscientiousness includes such traits as self-discipline, achievement-striving, and deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting). Perhaps more than any other personality trait, conscientiousness is essential for academic performance, particularly in a distance learning environment. For without the physical presence of an instructor, students must rely on themselves to ensure that they meet course requirements on time. Two researchers from the University of Central Florida analyzed the grades, online activities, and behavioral characteristics of 57 students taking a web-based course. Students who came to the course's home page more often than their peers also received higher grades on their final exams. In fact, if a student was lagging in visits to a course's page in the first week of the semester, that student was likely to end up having difficulty in the course. (See Guernsey, L. & Young, J.R. [1998, October 23]. EDUCOM Notebook: Predicting on-line grades. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A24.) "If ever there was an opportunity to procrastinate on
academic tasks, distance education offers that opportunity." Wilkinson and Sherman (1990) estimate that up to 95 percent of all college students engage in procrastination, the needlessly postponing of their school work. It is likely that these students are low in self-discipline. Yet, they write, "the study of academic procrastination in distance education has received only minimal attention." |