Learner Satisfaction in Online Learning: An Analysis of the Perceived Impact of Learner-Social Media and Learner-Instructor Interaction

• Main Author: Andersen, Jeffery C.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2013
• Subjects: online learning; social-media; student-instructor interaction; Moodle; Education; Instructional Media Design
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1115; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2296&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between general course satisfaction, learner-instructor interaction, and the learner-social media interaction scores of participants. This study used an online survey with 60 questions to gather the participants’ demographic data, learner-instructor interaction data, learner-social media interaction data, and general course satisfaction data. Data from the survey were examined through the use of independent sample ttests, one-way ANOVAs, and Pearson Correlations based on 10 participant demographic variables. Of the 10 demographic variables, age, GPA, athletic team participation, and work status were found to have a statically significant relationship with the three constructs. The findings indentified statistical significance between age, work status of participants, and the construct of learner-instructor interaction; between gender, athletic team participation, and the construct of social-media interaction; and between the age, GPA, work status, and the construct of general course satisfaction. Furthermore, learner-instructor interaction and learner-social media interaction had a statistically significant relationship with general course satisfaction. Overall, there was a strong positive correlation between both constructs of learner-instructor interaction and learner social media interaction with general course satisfaction.