Consumer Behavior In Distance Education

1. Introduction, Background and Rationale:

Consumer buying behavior is defined as the process by which individuals, groups, or organizations search for, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants and economic impacts that purchasing and consumption behavior has on both the individual consumer and on broader society. (Business Dictionary, 2107). Consumer behavior blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, marketing and economics, especially behavioral economics. It examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behavior. (J. Scott Armstrong, 1991)

Education is being one of the main people’s or consumers’ requirements which has been organized and planned

One of the reasons for this growth is related to the ever growing global need for an educated workforce combined with financial constraints of established educational systems. Distance education offers life-long learning potential to working adults and will play a significant part in educating societies around the world. Distance education will become of far greater importance in the United States in the years ahead because it is cost efficient and because it allows for independent learning by working adults. If society is to cope with this growing need for an educated workforce, distance education must continue to make its place in the educational community. Commercial companies are increasingly supporting the online infrastructure of universities, and universities are becoming more corporate. The globalized economy will be an increasing factor in the growth of the alternative education market in the United States, and of major educational development in many countries of the world. These developments should be questioned and examined critically through a scholarly

Over the past few years, blended learning has received considerable attention in both academia and the corporate world and has quickly become the new wave of e-learning. Although some of the definitions of blended learning are fairly simple, the implementation of an effective course and the understanding of the importance of face-to-face interaction are much more complex than we thought. This study supported the argument that blended learning can combine the strengths of face-to-face and online learning and can provide a more effective learning experience. The present comparison of interactions in the various learning environments also confirms that interaction is indeed one of the key variables in the learning process. The finding that the quantity of online interactions in the blended and online courses were not significantly different suggest that blended classes take advantage of the face-to-face interactions as well as enhance students’ interaction with the content and their peers. Blended learning has the potential to improve learning and to engage students in the course