Case Study of Online Satisfaction

A Case Study of Student and Faculty Satisfaction with Online Courses at a Community College (Abstract)

For my recently completed dissertation (June, 2008), I conducted an exploratory case study of student and faculty satisfaction with online courses at Diablo Valley College. The case study focused on adult students enrolled in 3-4 unit, full-semester, online classes during fall semester 2007. The research included the analysis of three primary sources of data for these online students and all online faculty: (a) Student and faculty focus groups, (b) student and faculty surveys, and (c) student demographics and course grades. The student and faculty data resources were organized around input, process and outcome variables as described in Appendix A and Appendix B.

The data analysis showed a significant difference between student satisfaction/non-satisfaction and student success in online courses. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the success of students based on satisfaction/non-satisfaction with their interactions with their: (a) instructor, (b) content, (c) classmates, (d) interface, and (e) self. There were no significant differences in success based on satisfaction/non-satisfaction with student support services. Also, many best practices were found to provide no significant difference for student success or retention.

These and many other findings are reported in the dissertation and will be highlighted over-time at this website.

Primary Data Resources

1. Focus Group Interviews of Online Students

2. Focus Group Interviews of Online Faculty

3. Student Survey Results

4. Students Survey Results of Students who Dropped after Drop-date

5. Faculty Survey Results

6. Student recommendations and overall satisfaction

7. Faculty recommendations and overall satisfaction

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