STUDENTS' EXPECTATION AND

SATISFACTION IN POST-GRADUATE

ONLINE COURSES

Susana Lemos

Neuza Pedro

Institute of Education - University of Lisbon

Rhodes, Greece, July 2012

E-learning practices are now becoming a reality in

Portuguese Higher Education

There is still reduced knowledge regarding this

experiences from students perspective

Only a few studies have focused on students’ general level

of satisfaction and even less on their previous expectations

There is still a gap in evaluation studies that identify the

advantages of a e-learning courses, through students point

of view.

1. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH

2. RESEARCH GOALS

To know the reasons by which students opt for a online program

To identify levels of students ‘expectations regarding the e-

learning Masters Degree

To analyze student satisfaction at a general level and

specific indicators

To understand how each dimension of the course relates to

another.

To identify the main strengths and weaknesses on the course

indicated by the students

3. METHOD

PARTICIPANTS

Group of students who attended the first e-learning

post-graduate program in the University of Lisbon – a

Master degree in ICT and Education (N=33)

Their ages varied between 28 and 55 years, and all of

them had Portuguese nationality

39% had no prior experience in e-learning courses

33.3% prior experience as students

3. METHOD Descriptive-correlational study

INSTRUMENTS

─ The study was based on student responses to online

questionnaires applied at the beginning and at the end of the

courses.

─ The questionnaires allows to collect data about:

• Students level of expectation

• A global satisfaction score

• A general satisfaction score (of each dimensions)

• A specific satisfaction score (of each indicator)

─ The 1st questionnaire was constituted by 9 dimensions

─ The 2nd questionnaire was constituted by 93 items

─ All of the items revealed high levels of consistency

3. 1 METHOD

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

This presentation focuses on the first and second moments of

the research

Both constructs,

expectations and

satisfaction

were analyzed from a

multi-dimensional

perspective

and 9 dimensions

were considered:

DIMENSIONS

Coordination

Faculty and tutors

Curricular program

Resources

Learning Methodologies

Evaluation system

Support services

Technological infra

structures

Course Design

4. RESULTS

STUDENTS EXPECTATIONS

General Expectations Highest Expectations Lower Expectations

Scale: 1 – 7

Favorable levels of

expectation

(m = 6.06)

‘Resources’

Dimension

(m = 6.36)

‘Course Design’

Dimension

(m = 5.55)

4.1 RESULTS

STUDENTS SATISFACTION

GLOBAL score (m= 3.71) GENERAL score (m= 3.77)

Favorable levels of satisfaction

Highest

satisfaction

level

(D4) - Curricular program

• D4Item6 – Easiness of

access to curricular content

D5Item6 – Etical and legal

issues

(D3) - Faculty and tutors

Lowest

satisfaction

level

(D8) - Support services

• D8Item6 – Centralization of

services that maintain the

technological infrastructures

D6Item6 – Adjusted distribution

of time for completing tasks

(D8) - Support services

4.2 RESULTS

Expectations Satisfaction

The different dimensions present strong and positive correlation with each

other

Dimensions most strongly correlated:

D2 – D3; D3 – D5; D3 – D8; D3 – D9;

D4 – D6 e D8 – D9

- Strong and significant correlations

were found between the curricular

program dimension and the

resources dimension

- Highly significant correlations was also

found between infrastructures and

support systems

Dimensions most strongly correlatd:

D2 – D6; D3 – D6; D4 – D5; D6 – D7;

D6 – D9 e D7 – D9

- Strong and significant correlations

were found between the learning

methodologies dimension and

coordination, faculty and tutors,

evaluation systems and infra-

structure

5. CONCLUSIONS

– High level of student expectations and satisfaction

regarding the course.

– The students showed higher expectations for the

‘resources’ dimension – focusing on providing simple,

useful, diverse and attractive materials.

– High level of student satisfaction – not only in a global

perspective of analysis but also in a descriptive approach

when 9 dimensions were distinguished

5. CONCLUSIONS

– The students were mostly satisfied with ‘curricular

program’ and ‘faculty and tutors’ dimensions and

specifically with indicators as

• ‘easiness of access to content’

• ‘ethical and legal concerns regarding resources used’

– The ‘Support services’ dimension revealed the lowest

level of student satisfaction

– The lowest satisfaction indicators levels were

• ‘Centralization of services that maintain the

technological infrastructures’

• ‘Adjusted distribution of time for task completion’

6. CONTRIBUTIONS

– To understand the impact of the distinct dimensions of e-

learning courses in students’ expectacion and satisfaction.

– Each particular dimension needs to be seen through its

direct and indirect effect on student satisfaction.

– E-learning courses should be seen through a

multidimensional perspective.

– It is essential taking into account the dimensions and

indicators with the highest levels of expectation and

satisfaction.

• quality of faculty and tutors

• suitability of resources and curricular program.

6. CONTRIBUTIONS

– Improvement of the dimensions and indicators with the

lowest levels of student satisfaction:

• support services.

– Aspects that need to be reviewed:

• student feedback

• appropriate workload.

• articulation between curricular units

• technical and academic support services

Construction of a guiding framework for e-learning

courses

THANK YOU

Susana Lemos (silemos@ie.ul.pt)

Neuza Pedro (nspedro@ie.ul.pt)

Institute of Education - University of Lisbon

Rhodes, Greece, july 2012

ICITE 2012: International Conference on Information

Communication Technologies en Education