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Student
Satisfaction and Perceived Learning via a Course Management
System
Cheryl
Bielema, Ph.D., Instructional
Development Specialist (2003)
Our institution
adopted Blackboard as its web course management system in
the fall semester of 2000, after several years using a
homegrown web course tool. Our customized name for
Blackboard is MyGateway. The faculty use MyGateway largely
as part of a hybrid, or blended, course delivery strategy to
enhance learning and help them manage class activities
(communications, sharing of documents and grade reports).
The current report is
part of a longitudinal study from the first semester of
implementation. The survey instrument is
designed to collect data regarding computing capability and
resources available to students, the degree of use made of
MyGateway in select classes, and the perceptions of students
regarding the use of MyGateway in select classes.
We sampled ten per cent of the courses using
MyGateway. High use classes were distinguished from low use
classes based on the instructor’s use of the course site.
This semester we measured daily instructor access of
12 key content and administrative areas.
Measurement was taken on
September 18, 2002
. The scores ranged from a high of 381
to a low of 1. The mean number of day
accesses was 46 (median 32). Courses
with instructor ranking above the mean were considered
high use courses, and course with instructor rankings
below the mean were considered low use courses.
We especially focused on the degree of use of
MyGateway to make comparisons of learning activities and
student satisfaction among classes that use a course
management system more and those using it less. Highlights
from the survey follow:
-
85% of the students indicated they own
Pentium, Macintosh and “other” personal computers
-
65% of students access MyGateway
primarily off campus
-
37% of students report some form of
off-campus, broadband Internet access (DSL, cable modem,
or work LAN)
Students accessing
MyGateway from on campus were statistically more
likely (p < .05) to:
Students in classes with high use of
MyGateway were statistically more likely (p < .05) to:
-
Review lecture
notes for clarification (Question 9)
-
Discuss ideas
with other students (Question 11)
-
Actively
participate in the course (Question 12)
-
Work on
assignments with other students (Question 13)
-
Complete
assignments on time (Question 14)
-
Access other
online materials related to course content (Question 15)
-
Spend more
time studying for the course (Question 16)
Students in classes with high use of
MyGateway were also statistically more likely (p < .05) to
continue at UMSL, evidenced by their answers to these
questions:
-
Agree that
they are very satisfied with the course (Question 32)
-
Take another
course at UMSL (Question 36)
-
Complete their
degree at UMSL (Question 37)
Students in classes with high use of
MyGateway were also statistically more likely (p < .05)
to indicate frequent
communication and interaction between faculty, content and
themselves:
-
Agree that
they were more able to seek clarification (Question 8)
-
Receive
instructor comments on assignments quickly (Question 10)
-
Communicate
with their instructor (Question 17)
-
Think more
about course topics (Question 21)
-
Understand
concepts and ideas in the course (Question 28)
Students in both high and low use
classes were statistically likely (p < .05) to agree
they would like to have MyGateway used in other courses.
Analysis of the data
indicated several levels of responsibility for increasing
the efficiency of the course management system and for
ensuring greater satisfaction and success as students are
involved in blended course models at UM-St. Louis.
Orientation materials and technical support guidelines are
available to both faculty and students; additional topics
were identified for development by the MyGateway support
team. It was also recommended that
faculty assume responsibility for orienting their students
to MyGateway. Further, responses from these students
indicated that faculty be encouraged to continue integrating
MyGateway features and that future syllabi include
expectations for student work online.
The full report can
be found at
http://www.umsl.edu/technology/mgwhelp/mgwinfo/mgwinfo.html,
MyGateway Student Survey: FS2002.
A copy of the instrument is included in the Appendix.
(NEW!) Annual follow-ups
have been done since this article was originally written; to
see the Winter 2005 report,
please click here.
For further
information about the results, please contact Cheryl Bielema
(314.516.7134), email
bielema@umsl.edu or Robert Keel (314.516.6052), email
rok@umsl.edu.
For Flashlight Online
users interested in using, or modifying, the Bielema-Keel
student survey is now under review for inclusion as a
Flashlight template. It can already be used by all
Flashlight Online authors. Use the "template" button to see
it; It is near the bottom of the list of templates,
ZS18160. If you don't know how to use a template to
draft a survey, consulting the help system online or our
tip sheet for using
Flashlight Online.
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