Relationship among Learning Needs, Institutional Support and Assessment Experiences of Distance and Online Learners: A Survey Study

The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between learning needs, institutional support, and the assessment experiences of students enrolled in distance and online learning programs. Cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used to collect the data from distance learners. In total, 518 distance learners submitted their responses for this study. The Learning Needs Questionnaire (LNQ) (Ho & Lim, 2021), Institutional Support Questionnaire (Lim & Ho, 2022), and Assessment Experiences Questionnaire (TESA Tools, 2019) were used to obtain responses from students enrolled in various distance education programs. It was found that although there was a moderate and statistically significant relationship among the three variables, the statistical results for the three scales showed different patterns for some demographic variables, i.e., age group, degree program, semester of the study, region, and academic performance. It is recommended that the needs and perspectives of students be taken into account in order to provide them with effective learning services and assessment experiences. For this purpose, comprehensive profiling of students and their feedback on courses every semester with the help of the latest technological resources may be helpful to provide them with relevant support and facilitation in the teaching-learning and assessment process.