Assessing Quality of Instruction, Student Learning, and Satisfaction for Student at a Distance

The purpose of this study was to describe how assessing interactions in a distance course impact the quality of instruction, student leaning, and satisfaction with the course. This study, further describes how interactions can be enhanced with certain technologies.

The population for this research was both undergraduate and graduate students of the college of Agriculture and Natural Resources in National Chung-Hsing University (NCHU), in Taiwan. There are twelve departments under the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources including eleven departments and one graduate institute.

Data was collected from students at NCHU (Taiwan) by using Qualtrics (an online survey platform) through the Internet. All data of this research collected via Internet and used SPSS 20.0 to analysis data results. It is an anonymous survey that participants just receive the survey web address from email or academic platforms of each department. There is no any identification information for each participant.

According to the findings, there are some relationships between transactional distance theory, technology, and online education. The results of the regression model point out that the learner to the course content interaction is a significant predictor for satisfaction toward online classes. Learner to the course content interaction and learner to the instructor interaction are significant predictors for quality toward online classes. Learner to the course technology interaction and learner to the instructor interaction are significant predictors for learning toward online classes. Learner to the course content interaction and learner to the instructor interaction are significant predictors of enhanced interactions in online classes. However, there is no interaction effect in learner to leaner interaction to enhance the satisfaction, quality, and learning. From the above data, the learner to the instructor interaction and the learner to the course content interaction are two important factors that influence learners? satisfaction, quality, and learning of online courses.

More participants involving in this research recommended increasing the reliability and the diversity of opinions. Besides, using the same instrument for diverse populations such as differences of culture, background, and majors may find more relationships in interactions and technologies in online education. Also, do more researches for enhancing the interaction between learner to learner and learner to the course technology. It is important to find more effective technologies and media for instructors to enhance learners? satisfaction, quality, and learning of online education.