Teleconference Sessions in Distance Learning Courses: The Influence of Psychological Factors

Literature Review

Stress is defined as the expected pressure that exceeds a person’s perceived ability to cope with (Palmer, Cooper & Thomas, 2003). Stress is in any case a situation that concerns one person at a time and not all participants of a distance course (Allan & Lawless, 2003). Each factor that affects distance learning may result in different kinds of stress, such as computer anxiety or concept-specific anxiety (Saade & Kira, 2009). Research on online learning concludes that this practice may cause stress among learners when there are time constraints, high dependence on their performance or on the performance of their peers, and the co-dependence on assignments submission (Allan & Lawless, 2003). It is worth noting that computer anxiety may bring a significant disadvantage to the individual in relation to his/her peers (Saade & Kira, 2009) in order to complete the course. Sun, Tsai, Finger, Chen, and Yeh (2008) suggest that people who are familiar with technology will approach e-learning with a positive mindset, resulting in a less stressful experience. So, we can conclude in relation with the source of stress, its existence could have a negative influence on the learner. The provision of information, explanations and special tools adapted in the context of distance learning is considered as a fundamental element in the completion of studies. The need for interaction and communication is also highlighted (Lionarakis, Niari, Apostolidou, Sfakiotaki, & Ligoutsikou, 2019).