Moving a unit online

A quantitative evaluation of student responses

Abstract

In 2005, a unit was converted to ‘wholly online’ delivery mode, where all teaching occurred online. Student evaluation survey data for 2005 suggested that students rated many aspects of the wholly online unit delivery significantly lower than previously. For 2006, ten percent of the unit marks were dedicated to an assessed assignment activity based around an online discussion area. Based on student evaluation items common to the pre- and post-2006 period, overall student satisfaction with the unit returned to the same levels as prior to the introduction of wholly online delivery. These findings suggest that careful thought, but not necessarily major changes, may be required to avoid student disillusionment and maximise student learning outcomes when moving an existing unit to wholly online delivery. During 2005 and 2006, the same unit was included in a large survey to gauge students’ perceptions of studying wholly online units. The sub-set of respondents relating to this unit was found to have a good demographic match to the total unit enrolment. The survey included the following question item, ‘39: How satisfied have you been with this unit being offered wholly online?’, as an overall measure of student satisfaction with studying the unit in wholly online mode. Multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted with survey item 39 as the dependent variable. While the resultant regression model should not be interpreted literally as a formula for student satisfaction, it does suggest some areas for action to improve student satisfaction with studying this unit in wholly online mode.