Mindset Change: Influences on Student Buy-in to Online Classes (Report‪)‬

Online courses allow students greater flexibility in balancing their work, school, home, and social schedules. Although students flock to online courses in an attempt to gain course credit without having to sit in a classroom, they can experience difficulties adapting to this innovation. Content knowledge is no longer the only prerequisite for a class; students must also possess the ability to function effectively and efficiently in an online environment (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena, 1994; Kazmer, 2000; Lim, 2001; McVay, 2000; Stokes, 1999). Three topics are important to this study--student context, mindset, and innovation adoption. Student context and mindset combine to influence how individuals respond when something new is introduced into their world. Student context exerts a great influence over which skills students will use when encountering an unfamiliar classroom setting (Eastmond, 1995; Haythornthwaite, Kazmer, Robbins, & Shoemaker, 2000; Richardson & Turner, 2000). Because students believe they know how to function in a conventional classroom, their mindsets, attitudes, and perceptions can actually work against their successful transition to a new classroom environment (Dringus, 1999; Eastmond, 1995; Harasim, 1989; Langer, 1989, 1997).