Measuring Student Acceptance and Satisfaction

1. Measuring Student Acceptance and Satisfaction An Online DistanceEducation Class Case Study

2. Researchers Ralph Gabbard, Indiana State University and Indiana University School of Library and Information Science Andrew Dillon, Indiana University School of Library and Information Science Julia Newcome, Community College of Beaver County

3. Presentation Overview • Brief overview of research Environment • Identification of first and second research questions • Discussion of method and preliminary results • Identification of third research question • Discussion of method and preliminary results • Study limitations • Further Research

4. Research Background • Setting • Community College of Beaver County • Two English Composition Classes • Traditional class • Online class

5. Web Site

6. Class Dialogues • These dialogues are extremely important and form the basis of the online experience. • They were sent out as emails as well as posted on the Web site. • Example

7. First and Second Research Questions • What kinds of attitudes and perceptions do students’ have about online classes? • How do students’ attitudes and perceptions change over the course of their learning experience?

8. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) • The developers of TAM were Fred D. Davis, Richard Bagozzi and Paul Warshaw • TAM is based on Ajzen and Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)

9. TAM Continued

10. TAM Questions (1) • Perceived Ease of Use • I would find learning online easy • Learning online would be easy for me • I would find it easy to learn online • It would be easy for me to become skillful at learning online

11. TAM Questions (2) • Perceived Usefulness • Enrolling in a distance class would improve my performance in college • Enrolling in a distance education class is a(n) _____ • Enrolling in a distance education class would increase my productivity in college • I would find distance education useful in college

12. TAM Questions (3) • Attitude Toward Using • Enrolling in a distance education class is a(n) _____ idea • A distance education class would enhance my effectiveness in college • I ____ the idea of distance education • Learning online would be _____

13. TAM Procedure • TAM-based questionnaire was given 3 times to online students

14. TAMS Preliminary Data Analysis

15. TAM Validity and Reliability • Morris and Dillon report that in the TAM variable Perceived Usefulness has a reliability of .92; the variable Perceived Ease of Use with a reliability of .90; and Attitude toward Using with a reliability of .85

16. Third Research Question • How do student attitudes about the effectiveness of the instructor and the course compare between traditional classes and online classes?

17. Student Disconfirmation Model (SDM) • Two goals • To satisfy and delight the customer • Delight is defined as the most extreme form of satisfaction • Disconfirmation is defined as the difference between perceived and expected service quality

18. SDM Components • Divided the instructional experience into three main components: • Instructor • Knowledge, Organization, Fairness; Courteousness, interesting,Enthusiasm • Content/text/notes • Text, Examples, Handouts, Lecture (dialogues) • Grading • Difficulty of tests, Material on tests, Writing assignments

19. SDM Questions (1) • Instructor Component • The instructor’s knowledge of the subject matter was: • The instructor's fairness was: • The instructor's courteousness was: • The instructor's ability to make the course interesting was: • The instructor's enthusiasm was: • The course material organization was:

20. SDM Questions (2) • Content Component • The readability of the tests, quizzes, and worksheets was: • The usefulness of class examples was: • The usefulness of handouts was: • The usefulness of the lecture(dialogue) material was: • The amount of material covered in the course was:

21. SDM Questions (3) • Grading Component • The level of difficulty of tests, quizzes, and worksheets was: • The difficulty of the writing assignments was: • The type of material covered on the tests was:

22. SDM Procedure • SDM-based questionnaire was given 3 times to both online and traditional class students.

23. Levelof Disconfirmation Response Satisfied Delighted Much better than expected 1 1 About as expected 1 0 Much worse than expected 0 0 SDM Scoring

24. SDM Preliminary Data Analysis

25. SDM Preliminary Data Analysis

26. SDM Preliminary Data Analysis

27. SDM Preliminary Data Analysis

28. SDM Preliminary Data Analysis

29. Study Limitations • No randomization; students self selected • TAM may be too simplistic • Questions about the validity of SDM

30. Further Research • More analysis of TAM data and comparisons between semesters • More analysis of SDM data

31. Presentation can be found at http://odin.indstate.edu/level1.dir/cml/ALN/aln.html • Examples of questionnaires can be found at http://odin.indstate.edu/level1.dir/cml/ALN/tam.html http://odin.indstate.edu/level1.dir/cml/ALN/sdm.html • Bibliography of Sources can be found at http://odin.indstate.edu/level1.dir/cml/ALN/bib.pdf