The Adult Student and Course Satisfaction: What Matters Most?

Abstract

Student satisfaction with a course is important because it can contribute to student retention, and it can also be used as one way to assess faculty effectiveness. This investigative work suggests that course satisfaction among non-traditional, adult students seeking business degrees is positively influenced by giving attention to four specific service-based factors. Based on feedback from 1,725 such students and 214 instructors at five institutions of higher education, a service-based model of course satisfaction is proposed. This model focuses on four manageable variables that are observed as influencing adult students' satisfaction with a business course: relevancy of subjectmatter, faculty subject-matter competency, faculty classroom management, and student workload.

Should Gender Differences be Considered When Assessing Student Satisfaction in the Online Learning Environment for Millennials?

“…Another interesting finding was that in Mauritius, the academic credentials of the instructor did not emerge as a factor affecting students’ satisfaction. This is contrary to findings by Howell and Buck (2012) who found that instructor subject matter competency was one of the four main criteria impacting student satisfaction. This may be due to a combination of reasons: students took for granted that instructors appointed by the university would be qualified; the difference between traditional older students and those of millennials; or that the students relied more on course materials to learn autonomously.…”

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“…The significance of student satisfaction is widely reported on in literature [29][30][31]. Satisfied students will among other things make positive recommendations to other students [32], continue their study until graduation [33], provide word of mouth marketing for higher educational institutions [34] and have a general positive influence on the educational process.…”

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“…Los estudios de satisfacción de los estudiantes universitarios son importantes porque van a incidir directamente en la disminución de las tasas de fracaso y abandono y porque, además, va a proporcionar importante información para la mejora de la actividad docente (Howell y Buck, 2012). En estudios que se han realizado en el contexto norteamericano, como por ejemplo el de Tessema et al (2012), se concluye que los principales elementos y dimensiones que infl uyen en la satisfacción de los estudiantes universitarios son, además de la calidad de la docencia en un sentido estricto, la atención y la orientación a los estudiantes y la individualización de la enseñanza; todas estas consideraciones nos hacen retomar el valor de la tutoría universitaria, siendo una de sus grandes aportaciones, como señalan Álvarez-Pérez y González-Afonso (2010), el incremento de la satisfacción de los estudiantes (agentes prioritarios en este escenario).…”