From the draft of the Proceedings of the Workshop 2000 on Asynchronous Learning Networks which is available for purchase:  http://www.scole.olin-babson.org/bookorder/index.htm

Measures of Learning Effectiveness in the SUNY Learning Network
The State University of New York

Peter Shea
Eric Fredericksen
Alexandra Pickett
William Pelz
Karen Swan
 

Among respondents certain variables were significantly related to satisfaction and reported learning. When asked to rank their response to the statement "Overall, I had a great deal of interaction with my instructor" the following results were found.  Twenty-four percent (24%) of the students "agreed strongly".  Another thirty-six (36%) "agreed". Nineteen percent (19%) "neither agreed nor disagreed".  Thirteen percent (13%) "disagreed" and eight percent (8%) "disagreed strongly". Thus a total of sixty percent (60%) of the respondents felt that their level of interaction with the instructor was very high in the online environment. When the students level of satisfaction and learning are compared to their level of interaction with the instructor we find, as predicted, a significant relationship between these variables.  Students who reported the highest levels of interaction with the instructor also reported the highest levels of satisfaction and learning....

Relationship of satisfaction and learning with other variables

As mentioned, a focus on the social nature of learning allows one to make specific predictions about correlations between reported learning and student and instructor variables. When course instructors provided prompt feedback and high quality feedback significant correlations were found with high satisfaction and high levels of reported learning.  The same can be said of faculty who provided clear expectations of what was expected of the students.  When students perceived clear expectations significant correlations were found with high levels of satisfaction and learning.  When students reported high levels of interaction with classmate and high levels of participation in the courses, significant correlations were found with high levels of reported satisfaction and learning. All of these factors point to the centrality of the social nature of learning in this environment.
 

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FACTORS RELATING TO THE
SATISFACTION OF FACULTY TEACHING
ONLINE COURSES AT UCF

JOEL L. HARTMAN
BARBARA TRUMAN-DAVIS
University of Central Florida

Abstract

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has committed to asynchronous learning networks as an institutional strategy to increase flexibility for students, improve student learning outcomes, and make more efficient use of classroom space.  Components of the university’s online learning initiative include extensive faculty training and support, and ongoing assessment of outcomes.
A successful, sustained effort must depend on faculty and students’ willingness to make the transition from the classroom to the online environment.  Thus, faculty attitudes (faculty satisfaction) regarding online learning are a critical success factor.
In this study, a survey of faculty teaching online courses at UCF and demographic information from institutional databases are combined to develop a detailed portrait of faculty teaching online.  Numerous factors are tested to determine their relationship to faculty satisfaction, and the results discussed in the context of existing literature.
The most important findings are that the quantity and quality of interaction in online courses are the factors most strongly related to faculty satisfaction, and that virtually no other factors have a statistically significant relationship...

Although interaction is often lacking in traditional face-to-face courses, especially large lecture sections, effective interaction is considered to be a critical success factor in the online environment.  Accordingly, various studies have found interaction in online courses to be another important factor related to faculty satisfaction (Loeding &Wynn, 1999).  Almeda & Rose (1998) and Hyslop & Atwood (1999) report that a lack of face-to-face interaction can prevent some faculty from becoming involved in online instruction.  The importance of interaction in the online environment is echoed by Fredericksen, et. al. (1999), who note that at least half of the faculty teaching in SUNY online courses found the level of student interaction in the online environment to be higher or much higher than in a live classroom (p. 18). Fredericksen, et. al. (1999) further reported that the factor that most influenced faculty satisfaction was a high level of interaction between students (p. 25, p. 41).  High interaction levels also support not only positive faculty attitudes, but also the attitudes of student regarding learning in the online environment (Turgeson, DiBiase & Miller, 1999).  The nature of online interactions is also a factor.  In a live class, faculty are accustomed to interacting with the brightest or most outgoing students, whereas in the online environment all students interact, including less able students who may burden instructors with questions on the mechanics of course delivery rather than course content (Arvan & Musumeci, 1999).

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Faculty Satisfaction in Penn State's World Campus

Melody M. Thompson
M. Lee Upcraft

Factors Contributing to the Quality of Faculty Members’ Experiences

As the focus of the interviews shifted to the quality of the respondents’ experiences in teaching in the World Campus, broad generalities fragmented into specific factors that influenced faculty members’ assessment of that experience.  Seven distinct factors appeared to contribute to faculty members’ assessment of their experiences.  Of those, the following four were primarily seen as contributing positively to these experiences:

· Increased access to students
· Increased knowledge of and experience with educational technologies
· Increased opportunities for interaction with students
· Positive student outcomes

...

“I’ve exchanged email with every student in every class I’ve taught. …It’s very important to them to have direct access to the instructor for clarification and assistance that they might get from other students, but maybe not as well, in residential instruction.”

“Once you get used to it, email really gives you the chance to treat each student individually.  …I think students see that as a major advantage to our program.”

“This program allows a more personal connection with the students and identification with the content that goes beyond traditional distance education. … My independent learning students generally never directly contacted me…all my World Campus students email frequently. They know who’s teaching the course.”

Faculty satisfaction is related not just to the opportunity to interact, per se, but also to interact with motivated, experienced, high-performing students:

“[This program] has students who know more about the practical application and theories involved than I do.  This is much different from the on-campus [program].  …It makes the interactions, the program, and me, personally, stronger.”

“Many of my students are more expert in some areas of [program] than I am, but this program helps them round out their interpretive skills and knowledge and find just the right solutions to on-the-job problems.  That can make the difference in a career opportunity.”