Faculty Development, Student Satisfaction and Reported Learning in the SUNY Learning Network

In the Summer of 2001 students in the SUNY Learning Network completed surveys regarding their level of satisfaction and reported learning in an entirely on-line learning environment. A goal of the research was to relate student satisfaction and reported learning in the online environment to established principles of good practice in the "offline" environment. For the most recent term, data was collected from 935 students, adding to the largest ongoing study of on-line student attitudes to date, which includes responses from more than 8000 respondents over a five year period. Results again indicated that a number of variables were significantly correlated with high levels of satisfaction and perceived learning. These included the quantity and quality of interaction with the instructor and classmates, prompt and quality feedback from the instructor and the communication of clear expectations. The report includes an explanation of the results relative to social learning theory and established principles of good practice in higher education. Review of Literature Frequent reports in the popular media decry the lack of hard data on questions surrounding student attitudes and outcomes in internet based distance learning. This study was designed to provide such data, to determine how students who studied online felt about their courses, their learning performance in these courses, and to discover whether the most satisfied students shared any characteristics. These are not new questions and a large body of literature points to similar answers. Most of these studies conclude that, regardless of the technology used, distance learning courses compare favorably with classroom-based instruction and enjoy high student satisfaction. (Phipps, Merisotis, and O’Brien,1999): It has been reported however that research in the area of distance learning suffers from several weaknesses. Phipps, Merisotis, and O'Brien (1999) summarize these: ". the methodology of many of the research designs is weak, with regard to such factors as the populations being compared or otherwise studied; the treatments being given, the statistical techniques being applied, and the validity, reliability, and generalizability of the data on which the conclusions are based. " (Phipps, Merisotis, and O'Brien, 1999; p. 28) Other areas of weakness identified by the authors are "A. The research has tended to emphasize student outcomes for individual courses rather than for a total academic program. B. The research does not take into account differences among students. C. The research does not adequately explain why the drop-out rates of distance learners are higher. D. The research does not take into consideration how the different learning styles of students relate to the use of particular technologies. E. The research focuses mostly on the impact of individual technologies rather than on the interaction of multiple technologies. F. The research does not include a theoretical or conceptual framework. " (Phipps, Merisotis, and O'Brien, 1999; p. 11) The authors conclude that although a great deal of research supports the notion that distance learning compares favorably to classroom based learning, the research is so weak that no clear conclusions can be made. While these criticisms cannot all be addressed by a single work, this study will attempt to account for many of these weaknesses. To address Phipps' et.al. first concern (A) this study will emphasize student attitudes not only for individual courses but also for the entire program represented by the The State University of New York The SUNY Learning Network http://SLN.SUNY. EDU 3 Student Satisfaction and Reported Learning in the SUNY Learning Network SUNY Learning Network. In all the data used in this and previous surveys represents more than 1000 instructors and courses and over 8000 students enrolled in more than 40 complete online degree programs. As such the data in this individual study and in this series of studies represents a very large sample without the weaknesses identified by analyses of students enrolled in individual courses. With a sample of this size it can reasonably be expected that a wide variety of students and learning styles will be represented thus accounting for some of the student differences in (B) and (D). Further, this study will look specifically at student differences such as age, gender, academic level etc. in an attempt to sort out how such differences affect student satisfaction and learning. Inasmuch as these courses utilized a wide variety of technologies (computers, audio, video, the Internet) it does not focus on a single technology as in (E). This study will also present a conceptual framework for understanding student satisfaction with online learning, accounting for (F). Conceptual Framework “Learning, both outside and inside school, advances through collaborative social interaction and the social construction of knowledge” (Brown, Collins & Duguid , 1989). Learning has been defined most adequately as a social process (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978; Bruner, 1990; Brown, Collins & Duguid , 1989; Lave, 1988, 1990) and any learning environment that is meant to foster understanding must account for the social nature of the endeavor. If an overarching framework for understanding student's feelings about working in the relative isolation of a virtual classroom is to make sense, this framework must account for mechanisms that overcome such isolation. Students learning in a virtual environment can be expected to require several support mechanisms in order to feel satisfied and to learn. These include the support of the faculty, classmates, the administration of the environment, as well as the technology, and content. If faculty are trained to recognize the affordances and constraints of virtual learning environments, if students and instructors are offered a variety of support mechanisms for overcoming social isolation, if courses and course content are designed with an understanding of the requirements of learning at a distance, then it can be predicted that student satisfaction and learning will be relatively high. In the absence of these prerequisites students can be expected to experience confusion, frustration and isolation. A brief review of the faculty development, course design and student support processes is provided below. When learning is viewed primarily as a social process a number of predictions can be made about student affect in virtual learning domains. An obvious hypothesis is that interaction between student and teacher and student and student will be of great importance. From this conceptual perspective one would hypothesize significant relationships between students satisfaction with levels of interaction with the instructor and fellow students and their overall satisfaction with the learning experience. We believe that an existing body of literature also provides guidance for discovering principles of good pedagogy in online learning. They are the same principles of good practice that promote high levels of "offline" learning. When these principles of are The State University of New York The SUNY Learning Network http://SLN.SUNY. EDU 4 Student Satisfaction and Reported Learning in the SUNY Learning Network enacted in an asynchronous online environment, we have found that students report higher levels of learning and satisfaction. We also look at survey results that show correlations between the nature of the SLN asynchronous, text-based online learning environments and student's reported: depth of thought in discussions, ability to communicate effectively in writing, feelings of isolation, time on task, and reported learning. We find good reason to believe that long-standing good instructional practice enacted in this environment engenders high levels of interaction, participation, satisfaction and learning. Description of project The SUNY Learning Network (SLN) is the on-line instructional program created for the sixty-four colleges and nearly 400,000 students of the State University of New York. The primary goals of the SUNY Learning Network are to bring SUNY's diverse, highquality instructional programs within the reach of learners everywhere and to be the best provider of asynchronous instruction for learners in New York State and beyond. Strategic objectives for this initiative are threefold: 1. to provide increased, flexible access to higher education within and beyond New York State; 2. to provide a mechanism for maintaining consistently, high quality online teaching and learning across the SUNY system; and 3. leverage the resources of the State University of New York system to contain the costs associated with the development, design, and delivery of online education. The SUNY Learning Network started as a regional project in the Mid-Hudson Valley involving eight SUNY campuses. Initially, the development and delivery of asynchronous courses was a new activity for SUNY campuses and faculty. With generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation combined with enthusiasm and resources from SUNY System Administration and participating campuses SLN successfully met the challenges of an early developmental phase that focused on “proof of concept” and “expansion scalability”. Successful experiences led to an expanded vision and goals for SLN and the scope and objectives of the project have grown substantially. The annual growth in courses, from eight in 1995-1996 to over 1500 in 2000-2001, and annual growth in enrollment, from 119 in 1995-1996 to over 25,000 in 2000-2001, with courses offered at all undergraduate and graduate levels from forty-seven of our institutions, illustrates that the project has met and in many ways exceeded original projections. Faculty Development and Course Design The State University of New York The SUNY Learning Network http://SLN.SUNY. EDU 5 Student Satisfaction and Reported Learning in the SUNY Learning Network All faculty who parti