Student Satisfaction and Learning in Online Classes: The Case of a US Midwestern University
Samit Chakravorti
Western Illinois University
The author is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Western Illinois University. He got his PhD in Business Administration-Marketing from Florida International University, Miami Florida. The author’s research interests lie in the areas of customer relationship management, and pedagogy. The author has published a book on customer relationship management and received the Marvin Jolson award for best paper in 2009 from Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.
Abstract
This paper explores the factors impacting business undergraduate student’s perceptions of learning and satisfaction in a US midwestern public university. Data collected through a survey was statistically analyzed. Results show that satisfaction and learning are impacted by different factors with some overlap. These factors lie in the areas of course content, compatibility of technology with learning style, preference for online classes over face to face classes and degree of comfort in approaching instructors for help and advice. The paper also showed that there are distinct differences between students who said they have learned a lot and are satisfied with online classes and those who said they have not learned or are not satisfied, respectively. These differences lie in students’ perceptions of course contents, teaching effectiveness technology, and preference for online classes.
