Assessing Facilitator Performance as an Influence on Student Satisfaction.

Growth in class size within the online environment has resulted in a facilitator model in which an instructor teaches the class with the assistance of facilitators who interact with students in smaller groups. This research sought to determine the effectiveness of a structured performance evaluation for facilitators and the correlation to student satisfaction. Background While planning to expand an on campus graduate program to include a fully online degree option, the faculty of one southeastern regional university believed that “if we build it, they will come” (Robinson & Puopolo, 1989). Subsequent to translating the curriculum for an online environment, marketing the program, and making the necessary course corrections, they did come. Enrollment in the program escalated from 12 to a current enrollment of approximately 300 students. With the rapid growth of the online program came a new challenge; that being the need to ensure ongoing quality of the online educational experience. The program has drawn students from a wide range of employment and levels of experience. Students include: 1. Firefighters 2. Police officers 3. Workplace safety professionals 4. Workplace security professionals 5. Healthcare professionals 6. Military personnel The caliber of these students placed a great expectation of quality on the educational experience. Though they had come, there was a need to ensure that the experience was positive and encouraged them to keep coming, both in the form of student retention and recruiting new students. Class enrollments have grown to as many as 150 students in a class. If enrollment exceeds 20 students, one facilitator is added for each additional increment of 20 students and students are randomly assigned to groups. Each facilitator is responsible for directly engaging with students in their respective group and grade work that is submitted. The professor is responsible for similar work within his or her group as well as being accessible to all students within the class and to ensure the facilitator groups are functioning effectively. The use of facilitators creates a significant issue when seeking to ensure the quality of online courses. Students will primarily interact with the facilitator as the class unfolds, so the execution of responsibilities by the facilitator can have a great impact on student satisfaction and success. Literature Review Though the use of facilitators in an online environment may be necessary based on an academic program’s strategy, it creates an area of critical concern in ensuring the integrity of the educational process. Facilitators play a critical role in executing the objectives of an online course. Wang (2008) identified four roles of facilitators in managing online discussions: 1. Intellectual – lead online discussions through such activities as initiating questions to develop the intellectual ability of the student to analyze pertinent issues 2. Social – create a comfortable environment in which open and constructive communication can occur 3. Managerial – lead practical issues of online discussions, such as following up on those who have not participated and providing feedback to students 4. Technical – assist students in using the online forum that is used to conduct the course Curran et al. (2005) researched the use of facilitators by evaluating the volume of discussion board posts made by facilitators and students, and to what degree posts were accessed by students. They found: “The overall mean postings made by participants in the MDcme programs was 8.8, and mean postings per participant on an individual program basis ranged between 1 and 33. The mean number of postings accessed by participants was 71.3, and the mean postings accessed by participants on an individual program basis ranged between 5 and 177. ” (p. 243) A Pearson r indicated a correlation between the volume of posts made and the number of discussion topics that were addressed. This research indicates the value of the facilitator in directing online discussion. Braidman, Regan, and Cowie (2008) researched the use of student facilitators and online portfolios among first and second year medical students. Facilitators were selected from among third year medical students. Upon reviewing online interaction they found that the level of discussion became increasingly more complex and advanced. An analysis of student responses to the experience was very positive. Purpose The research presented here sought to expand the discussion of the effectiveness of facilitators in online graduate courses. This research was driven by three themes that tended to surface in student evaluations of previous courses: 1. Facilitators were not present in weekly online discussions 2. Sufficient feedback was not provided for student assignment submissions 3. Grades were not posted in a timely fashion