Factors affecting student performance and satisfaction in distance learning courses

John Carpinelli, Raymond Calluori, Vladimir Briller, Eugene Deess, Kamal Joshi

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

During the past few years, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has initiated several projects to determine best practices in distance learning education and to apply them to courses in the Newark College of Engineering. The engineering college has lagged behind other colleges within the university in developing and implementing distance learning courses, and concerns about the quality of distance learning courses are one of the main reasons for this. The Office of Institutional Research and Planning at NJIT has undertaken a study of distance learning courses offered during the 2003-2004 academic year. The study examines a total of 150 courses, 3, 491 students and 7,701 course enrollments; approximately 1/5 of the enrollments are in distance learning courses and the remaining students enrolled in traditional face-to-face courses and served as a control group. The study examines a wide variety of parameters, including overall course performance, student satisfaction with the course and the instructor, delivery format for distance learning courses (multimedia, text, multimedia + text), instructor rank, instructor training for distance learning instruction, distance learning platform (WebCT® and WebBoard®), and ease of use of technology. This paper presents the results of this study and how they can be applied to produce improved distance learning courses in the engineering college, in all colleges within NJIT, and at other universities. Among its most significant results, the study highlights the need for instructors to receive training in teaching, learning, and technology; the preference of students for courses that use multiple delivery formats; and the greater student satisfaction at NJIT for courses that use WebCT as their asynchronous learning network platform.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
StatePublished - 2006
Event113th Annual ASEE Conference and Exposition, 2006 - Chicago, IL, United States
Duration: Jun 18 2006Jun 21 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Engineering

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