Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
What Online Students Want Compared to What Institutions Expect.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Bailie, Jeffrey L. |
| Copyright Year | 2014 |
| Abstract | The purpose of this study was to examine whether a set of instructional practices commonly prescribed to online faculty in the higher education setting were consistent with the expectations of a group of experienced online student participants. Online faculty performance conventions were collected from 20 institutions of higher learning located in the United States. The collective practices yielded three primary domains related to administrative faculty performance expectations in online instruction: Communication, Presence/Engagement, and Timeliness/Responsiveness. Undergraduate participants representing a cross section of colleges and universities in the United States were surveyed to determine their expectations for online faculty as compared to scaled items derived from the lists of participating institutions. The results of this investigation offer practitioners insight into how administrative instructional guidelines relate to the user demands of an informed group of undergraduate online students. Introduction The continued expansion of online learning throughout the world has prompted the education profession to identify effective instructional practices common to the online learning environment. The vast majority of such protocols have been administratively defined, ultimately becoming the basis for widely applied evaluations of instructional performance in the Web-based learning environment. At the same time, ubiquitous delivery creating an expanding array of higher learning options for today's online learners (coupled with the rising costs associated with post-secondary enrollment) foretells a future in which students will become ever more discerning consumers in search of learning options that are more connected to their own individual needs and interests (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Perceptions of quality are said to be the result of a consumer's comparison of expectations to actual performance (Malik, 2012). O'Neill and Palmer (2004) defined quality in higher education as "the difference between what a student expects to receive and his/her perceptions of actual delivery (p. 42)." While the metaphor "student as consumer" has been a topic of debate in the higher education community for decades, today's institutions of higher learning seem to increasingly recognize the value of being responsive to the constituents they serve by exhibiting more of a focus on meeting the expectations of their student clientele. This is widely evidenced in institutional strategies aimed at improved student retention in what has become a progressively competitive market. After all, retention rates for the majority of institutional types are at their lowest level since mandated gathering of retention data first began in 1983 (ACT, 2009). Accordingly, and consistent with any consumer driven enterprise, student satisfaction with their post-secondary learning experience becomes a pervasive consideration that becomes particularly significant given the enrollment prospects of a growing online learner demographic. An area of interest that is worthy of further review would include an investigation of whether the instructional guidelines, that online faculty are commonly held accountable to by their administration, correspond with the expectations that an increasingly demanding online learner population has for them. In particular, how do student expectations of their online faculty compare to those performance expectations set forth by the institution? The purpose of this quantitative investigation was to determine the extent to which a set of performance protocols prescribed to online faculty at various higher learning institutions were consistent with the expectations of a group of experienced online student participants seated for this inquiry. Review of the Literature For some time, administrators and faculty have recognize that understanding the needs and wants of students (and meeting their expectations) are important attributes to developing environments in which students can learn effectively (Seymour, 1993; Gerdes & Mallinckrodt, 1994). Many contemporary institutions have come to the realization that they have indeed become active participants in a service industry and have, therefore, placed added importance on student satisfaction given the increasing competition for enrollments. After all, student satisfaction has been positively correlated to advancements in student recruitment, persistence, and academic success (DeShields et al., 2005; Helgesen & Nesset, 2007). One theoretical framework that considers how consumer expectation correlates with satisfaction and retention can be found in the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT). ECT contends that consumer expectations, together with perceived performance, lead to post-purchase satisfaction. This effect is mediated through positive or negative disconfirmation between expectations and performance in that, if a product outperforms expectations (referred to as positive disconfirmation) postpurchase satisfaction will result (Spreng et. al. 1996, Oliver, 1980). On the other hand, should a product fall short of expectation (e.g. negative disconfirmation) consumer dissatisfaction is the likely result. Further, ECT holds that people's intention to repurchase a product or service is largely determined by their satisfaction with prior use (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). In response, higher education administrators have focused more attention on influences that reinforce their efforts to attract, support, and retain students. The collecting of detail on student satisfaction has become a major factor in the assessment of quality in higher education institutions (Leckey and Neill, 2001) and student appraisals of faculty have become a common standard for producing useful feedback which may, in turn, be used to improve instruction. In their 2008 study that sought to identify common methods for the assessment of teaching effectiveness, Jahangiri, Mucciolo, Choi, & Spielman concluded that student evaluations encompass a preponderance of the feedback regarding instruction collected in the higher learning setting. The process of gathering student opinion about their satisfaction with teaching practices related to their learning experience, analyzing and interpreting this information, and then responding to the results are considered to be significant for several reasons (Rahman, 2006). Not only can instructors gain an appreciation for how others interpret their teaching methods, thereby offering feedback that might be deemed useful in improving their instructional delivery, but the information can be used by administration to make formative recommendations (e.g., identifying areas for improvement) and summative decisions (e.g., decisions about promotion) (Dunegan & Hrivnak, 2003). The use of student evaluations also affords students an important opportunity to effectively contribute to the teaching-learning process by outlining pre-consumption expectation and post-consumption disconfirmation, as defined by the ECT framework. Although student evaluations tend to encompass a significant measure of how faculty effectiveness is viewed, their validity has been nonetheless challenged as a useful method for evaluating teaching excellence. While the extent to which students should be viewed as consumers has been (and will continue to be) questioned by some, student ratings do provide an important perspective that can be used for inclined faculty to reflect on their approach to instruction (Greenwald, 1997). Of the Sloan Consortium's "Five Pillars of Quality Online Education," student satisfaction is regarded as being a key to the decision to continue learning (Sloan, n.d.). The literature offers evidence that student satisfaction is positively correlated to retention and an individual's decision to take additional courses (Booker & Rebmon, 2005). A 2011 study conducted by Harris, Larrier, & Castano found that when student expectations are consistent with their learning experiences, they are more likely to persevere in online learning. Yet in something of a paradox, while it might be suggested that learner satisfaction is held the highest regard, very few investigations have examined the degree to which student expectations of online instruction are being met. Harris, et. al. (2011) concluded that only a limited number of formal investigations have examined how student expectations of faculty performance influence satisfaction, retention, and persistence in online learning. Joseph et al. (2005) reported that investigations of quality in higher education have disproportionally relied on the views of academic administration, while apparently overlooking direct input from students. Their findings were that "decisions about what constitutes the quality of service (e.g. such as deciding what is 'most important' to students) are exclusively in the hands of administrators and/or academics" (p. 67). The authors contend that "traditional approaches have left decisions about what constitutes quality of service (e.g. such as deciding what is most important to students) exclusively in the hands of administrators and/or academics."They go on to suggest that academic administrators "focus more on understanding the needs of their students, who are the specific and primary target audience" (p.67). Other investigations have established that the majority of student evaluations of teaching are developed based on faculty and administrators' knowledge and experience, supplemented by review of previous research (Marsh, 2007), but excludes students' input (Ory & Ryan, 2001). Oldfield and Baron (2000, p. 86) maintain that "there is an inclination to view service quality in higher education from an organizational perspective". They suggest that institutions of higher learning pay more attention to what their students want instead of collecting "data based upon what the institution perceives its students find important." High |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 17 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer172/bailie172.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
