INTRODUCTION:

Despite the preponderance of literature describing the impact of stress in the workplace, few studies exist examining ways to reduce stress. Behavioral health problems are some of the most burdensome of health problems worldwide. For example, smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the USA. Depression is the number one cause of disability worldwide. Both of these problems can be addressed with cognitive behavioral approaches, which are essentially learning-oriented approaches. Such approaches could be implemented via the World Wide Web. Though their impact might not be as powerful as that of face-to-face methods, the large number of people that can be reached via the web would allow for much smaller effect sizes that would still benefit a sizable number of individuals.

We seem to be in the midst of an Internet revolution and entering an era of enhanced digital connectivity. The pace of social change resulting from the diffusion of this technology globally is, by many accounts, dramatic. In less than ten years, the Internet has become indispensable to many people in their daily lives.

Increasing work hours and concomitant increases in work stress are becoming hallmarks of modern society. According to Schor (1991),

Capitalism has brought a dramatically increased standard of living, but at the cost of a much more demanding work-life. The stress engendered by a frenetic work pace and a burdensome workload can actually pose a threat to the health of workers, and, in turn, to that of organizations. (p. 8)

It is important that organizations develop easily implemented interventions designed to reduce work stress.

Empirical evidence suggests that work stress can have a detrimental psychological and physiological effect on employees. A recent meta-analysis of 21 studies on the impact of hours at work on physical and psychological health revealed a significant series of correlations between hours at work and psychological and physical health symptoms and complaints (Sparks, Cooper, Fried, & Shirom, 1997). A high level of perceived workload also has been associated with general health complaints (Barnett, Davidson, & Marshall, 1991) and high levels of psychological distress (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Increased workloads were shown to correlate with high levels of anxiety and depression in one study in which workloads were objectively measured (Rose, Jenkins, & Hurst, 1978). Work stress also has been found to impair an individual’s ability to function optimally (Barlow, 2001); Houston and Allt (1997) reported a relationship between stress and significant medical errors by physicians.

In the past, college students had to rely almost exclusively on the resources that were physically on their campus to enhance their program of study. The knowledge of their instructor, the participation of the students in their classes, and the holdings of their campus library dictated their learning sphere. Today, the Internet extends any student’s learning resources to schools and organizations around the globe. Students can read articles and text stored on computers as easily as they can access materials in their campus library. They can collaborate with students in different areas or just about the ways of campus life in different locations.

Northern Ireland’s universities and colleges have completed the rapid implementation of a broadband network to support education in the province. The publicly funded Northern Ireland Regional Area Network (NIRAN) links 23 education institutions to the Internet and to the UK-wide academic network Janet, at speeds of up to 1Gbps. Among those benefiting from the higher speeds are the University of Ulster, Queen’s University Belfast and St Mary’s University College Belfast. (Computing, December 14th)  

Facilitated by modern technologies, such as CMC (Computer-mediated communication), the concept of learning community, or community of learners (Brown, 2001; Wegerif, 1998), is recently applied to online settings known as online learning communities (OLCs). The notion of learning community is constructive.

   

The e-procurement market place was developed collaboratively in the UK higher education sector with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The aim of the project was to develop a procurement system, which could be used by any university and operated on a non-profit basis. At a time when e-learning is at the forefront of curriculum innovations in schools, colleges and universities, the use of technology for procurement brings it into modern ways of working that will benefits learners, staff and organizations. (Computer Weekly, December 14th)

 

“Today the need for systems modeling in public health has increased because the delivery of public health function is being re-engineered with an additional layer of complexity. The service is now more distributed and as a consequence there is a demand that information and communication technologies (ICT) should be employed to a greater extent in ensuring public health provision.” (Fahey et al 2004, p.635)

Online Learning refers to the broad range of education activities that can be conducted primarily or partially online using computers connected by networks such as the Internet and Intranets (Harasim et al, 1995). Today schools, colleges, Universities & training institutions worldwide are looking to the Internet as an environment and a vehicle for course delivery and course enhancement, thus many valuable models and lessons are emerging as a result. Online learning is now becoming ubiquitous at all levels of education, in all institutions of learning, and in the workplace. Within many educational institutions across the world, the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate courses is facilitated by online learning technologies. The development and transformation of traditional academic courses for online learning delivery provides a number of opportunities for both the academic institution and prospective students.

Time and stress management through Internet may be strange, but it is a possibility and a great chance for the online users to develop their personality along with fun in computers. Time is one thing that we are all given in equal amounts but often misused. But stressors are external demands on the internal attitudes and thoughts that require us to adapt.

The increasing use of online learning tools especially in risk and stress management has dramatically changed our thinking how students might try to learn and practice course content. The diversity of learning tools (from interactive, online textual materials to streaming video to chat rooms and discussion boards) means that students have many more choices in an online or hybrid course than they had in a more traditional, face-to-face environment.

“Hybrid courses are a blending of the face-to-face and completely online formats. The distinguishing feature of a hybrid course is that it reduces face-to-face contact hours. Completely face-to-face courses may use online materials or communication tools but continue to meet for the full number of contact hours for the course. An online course has no face-to-face instruction but may use the face-to-face setting for assessment.” (Brown, Lied Holm, 2004, p.491)

Internet research is not only concerned with the study of online behavior, i.e. what people do in virtual and mediated environments. It is also concerned with using ‘Computer-based tools and computer-accessible populations to study human behavior in general’ (Walther, 1999)

Here we explore the theory of student choice in richer learning environments and presents data on how students in an online risk and stress management studies actually make choices about a variety of learning tools. These results allow us to offer some prescriptions for ways we can improve learning environments.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

In today’s competitive world, students also need something more than knowledge and that is knowledge coupled with right action. They need to learn how to stand up to life and face its trials and tribulation with more courage, confidence and conviction. The development of human potential is not an algorithm to be taught or learnt. It is an individual holistic process of reprogramming the mind towards a positive mental attitude.

An e-learning system is meaningful to institutions when it has a sound return on investment (ROI), a moderate to high level of learner satisfaction with both the quality of instruction and all support services, and a low drop-out rate.

(Training Mag, 2004) No single software program can achieve both richness and reach but, for the first time in the history of networks, the Internet can! As the Internet evolves from an informational model to a transactional model, it will have the same impact on the way the world does business in the 21st century as the assembly line did in the 20th century. In other words, the knowledge model expanded exponentially through the Internet hierarchy has the same effect on a commerce model. Someone can buy or sell just about anything without having to rely on traditional distribution channels. At one time, these channels more often than not played as great a role in pricing and distribution as the manufacturing of the product itself. (Cooper Smith, 2001)

The increasingly prevalent pressures inherent in today’s work climate make the study of work stress and the study of specific ways to minimize that stress an extremely important topic for organization development professionals (Ivancevich, Matteson, Freeman, & Philips, 1990; Keita & Jones, 1990; Kelley, 1995; Murphy, Hurrell, Sauter, & Keita, 1995; Pelletier & Lutz, 1991). Job stress surveys have shown that one fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives (Northwestern National Life Insurance Company, 1991) and three fourths of employees believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago (Princeton Survey Research Associates, 1997). Work stress has been associated with physical health decrements, psychological problems, reduced productivity, and absenteeism (Vagg & Spielberger, 1998; Repetti, 1993b; Aldred, 2001; Besecker, 2003; Rojas & Kleiner, 2001).

The Management Information System (MIS) Field requires its participants to engage in continuous education to remain up to date. One approach to meeting this demand is through the use of a Web-based virtual learning environment (VLE). One type of VLE is totally Web-based education (TWE), which requires no class meetings and little instructor contact. When we consider the conveniences of TWE courses to today's globally expanding firms, the ever-increasing bandwidth of the Internet leading to improvements in TWE course interactivity and quality, and the pennies-to-dollars cost of operating TWE course offerings, it is obvious that TWE courses are necessary, and will be more pervasive with each passing year. (Tsichritzis, 1999)

In an online risk and stress management course, we endeavored to make available an especially wide variety of learning tools for users. In particular, using traditional textbooks, a very large catalogue of media-enhanced PowerPoint slides, Streaming Video lectures, some interactive practice problems and a large file of repeatable, low-stakes practice questions similar to examination papers.

Designing valid learning tasks requires a sound knowledge of both the relevant academic subject matter and, as far as possible, of how learners learn. The learning task is in itself the specification for the ensuing learner activity. The specification of the learning task must be sufficiently detailed to avoid the possibility of the learner engaging in inappropriate or unproductive activity, but should not be so detailed as to stifle a creative response by the learner to completing the task.

Tasks may include providing valuable notes and further exercises like,

a) Ways to win people to our way of thinking.  

b) Discussing golden principles of Human relations.

c) Time Management.

d) Fixing up Goals.

e) Rapid reading.

f) Assertiveness Training.

g) Stress Management

Learner activity is the process whereby learners interpret the specifications of the learning task and complete the work involved in the task. The designer should specify therefore, in the wording of the learning tasks, exactly what the learner is expected to achieve, the learning activity being the process whereby the learner completes the task. To accomplish the task, learners have to take responsibility for their own learning and decide for themselves how to successfully complete the task. Interpretation of task instructions may in some cases require the learner to take into account previous experience and knowledge to ensure his/her approach is appropriate to the task.

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Structuring an Online Course:

Experienced online instructors and students alike emphasize the need to have a clearly structured and well-planned course when teaching and learning online. Structuring the course effectively means planning the course well in advance of when it is being taught, thinking through the organizational structures and qualities that will help the users learn, and understanding that the online environment presents a number of communication challenges.

Course Planning:

Designing a course always takes a great deal of time and thought. That is no different with online courses. At the same time, the online ...

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