Summary Of Survey

Online Student Satisfaction Survey Results 1. 08/09 Fall (Semester 1) Student Survey Demographics – The first run of the online student satisfaction survey took place in January of 2009 and was based on student responses pertaining to online courses that ran in the first semester of the 08/09 school year. A self-selected sample of 12 students from several small (highschool enrolments under 50 students) schools in the South East Cornerstone School Division (SECSD) responded to the online survey. Unfortunately, some students were un-enrolled before their responses could be tallied. As a result, only 7 responses were available for this survey summary. Response numbers were low because students were required to bring a signed parental permission slip before participating. The students were mainly in grade 11 (71%) and 12 (29%) and were evenly distributed between boys and girls with one student identifying themselves as aboriginal (14%). Participants took Psychology 20, IP 10, and Physics 20. Responses are also ambiguous because of the unique Physics 20 class situation. Of the 14 who were enrolled, 10 came from the host school. These students took the class online as did others, but their online teacher and their school-based supporting teacher were one in the same. This caused confusion on questions that differentiated the two. Computer skill and comfort prior to class – All students expressed comfort and experience in working with technology before and after completion of the online course. All agreed that they were given instruction on how to use Blackboard before starting. When asked if they felt prepared to handle the technology of a second online class, however, only 57% of students agreed. Support – All students surveyed felt that they were able to ask questions about how to use the technology. When asked about the source of support, only 43% reported support from the school-based staff and 57% from the online teacher. In terms of general support with the course, 71% agreed that their online teacher helped them when needed and 71% agreed that their school-based staff helped them when needed. Only 43% felt comfortable in asking either their online teacher or school-based staff member for help when needed. Only 14% answered that their online teacher travelled to the school to meet them yet 71% of students felt that their online teacher was interested in their learning. Communication – The results of three communication questions showed that 57% of students felt that it was easy to communicate with their online teacher, with their supervising teacher and with the other students in their class. The same percentage agreed that it was easy to work with other students but only 29% felt they were able to get to know students from another community. Similarly, 29% felt that they were able to get to know their online teacher

and only 14% felt that their online teacher was able to get to know them. Sadly, 14% also agreed that they felt alone. Course Access – All students agreed that they were able to access the course from home. 71% expressed that technical problems affected their progress in the class but all agreed that their school had the required technology to run the class. All students reported that they could access all media components Quality – All of the students who answered, 71% of those surveyed, agreed that they received highquality instruction. However, only 43% felt that they received the same quality as they would have in a face-to-face class and the remaining 47% did not commit one way or another. Further to that, 14% agreed that the online nature of the class affected the quality in a negative way and 86% of the students surveyed agreed that the quality of the course depends on the online teacher. Because of this, 29% were unsure as to whether they would receive quality instruction if they were to take another online class, but the remainder agreed that they would. Also, 57% agreed that they would take another class from the same teacher. Course Design – 71% liked the design of the course and 71% found it well-organised and easy to navigate. Satisfaction – When asked if they felt that they would receive a good mark in the class, 57% agreed. The same number of students was happy with their learning in the class and 43% agreed that they found it interesting and 53% enjoyed the class activities. It is interesting to note that 57% of the students thought that they could do better in the class but only 14% agreed that they did not do their best work. The same percentage, 43%, agreed that the class prepared them well and that they would recommend the class to another student Open Response – 1. What did you enjoy about this class? The interesting equations and answers that you get that relate to our everyday activity's. In IP I enjoyed working with the programs on the computers. I enjoyed working on Photoshop and working with photos and using the different tools to create different images. I enjoyed IP class becasue i like Doing Photoshop and working on the computers. No comment i enjoyed the videos but wish they could be simpler explained. I also enjoyed that we could be able to contact our teacher if in need. -photoshop -spread sheets

2. What did you not like about this class? i didn't like that we didn't have many class work. It was mainly online and i believe i could do better

inside a classroom The part of the course that I didn't like was that I din't get to meet my on line teachers. It was sometimes hard to comunuicate with the teacher, If you had a question about accounting, I found it hard to understand the instructions. The lack of information and help received from my peers and teacher. -Ergonomics. In IP10 I did not like doing the resume evaluation and ergonomics. I found those to be very pointless and dull.

3. What do you think needs to be improved? I think the communication needs to be improved. i think that we should have a class work day once a week or two weeks. That would help me keep up because i feel lost in it ip -nothing FIX BLACKBOARD because it does not work when needed the most! The communication skills, and when the teacher was supposed to come meet you plans changed and he never did.

2. 08/09 Spring (Semester 2) Student and Instructor Survey Demographics – The second round of the online student satisfaction survey included students from grades 10, 11 and 12 in SECSD. Of the 35 student respondents, 40% were boys, 3% selfidentified as First Nations. The students were in their final weeks of Accounting 10, Accounting 20, Media Studies 20, Biology 30, Information Processing 20, Math A30, or Information Processing 30. For this installment, there was also a teacher survey that paralleled the student survey. Five of the course instructors completed the survey. Their responses are included after each student response summary. Course Design and Learning Objects – Of the students surveyed, 89% felt that the course documents helped them to learn with the remainder disagreeing. When asked about the educational benefits of other course objects, 69% agreed that external course links helped them learn, 81% felt that the assignments or projects helped them learn, 66% felt that the quiz/exam preparation helped them learn and 69% felt that the learning activities required problem-solving skills which helped them learn but 80% felt that the learning activities required critical thinking which helped them learn. Only 49% of the students felt that the online class experience helped improve their written communication skills.

The online instructors were surveyed on their perception of student satisfaction. With respect to course design and learning objects, all instructors felt that the course documents, websites, assignments or projects, and exam preparation exercises facilitated student learning where applicable. All felt that the learning activities required problem solving skills and critical thinking and that the online experience helped improve written communication skills. Student-Teacher Interaction – For those courses using discussion forums, 62% found that their teacher was an active member who offered direction. Of the four instructors who used the discussion board, three felt that they were active members who offered direction to students in their postings. On a more personal level, 83% of students surveyed agreed that their teacher was able to provide them feedback within 24 to 48 hours and only 20% felt frustrated at the lack of feedback received. This mirrored instructor responses where 80% agreed that they provided timely feedback and 20% felt that their students were frustrated. Only 80% of the students agreed that their online teacher was able to provide individualized attention to them when they needed it while all teachers felt that they did. All teachers felt that they continuously encouraged teacher-student communication but only 88% of the students agreed and 51% said that they felt their teacher’s presence in class even though they could not see him or her while 60% of the teachers felt that their students could feel their presence. Student-Student Interaction – In terms of student interaction with each other, 69% of online students felt that their course provided opportunity for student collaboration while only 60% of instructors agreed. Of the 35 students, 51% felt that the discussion board was a waste of time and 20% (one teacher) agreed. Only 49% of students and 60% of instructors felt that the course created a sense of community among students with 86% of students and 100% of teachers agreeing that students were able to ask for clarification from fellow students when needed. This agrees with the 71% of students who felt they received feedback from their peers but not with the 40% of instructors who agreed. On the student survey, 69% felt that the course encouraged students to discuss ideas and concepts with other students but only 20% of instructors did. Technical Skills and Use of Computers – When asked about their level of technical skill, 74% of the students felt that they are able to deal with most difficulties encountered with computers and 86% find working with computers very easy. 83% agree that they like working with computers and 60% feel that computers make students more productive. However 89% are confident in their ability to use computers and 63% feel that using computers makes learning more interesting. More specifically, 80% of students feel that some software packages make learning easier and 80% feel that computers are good aids to learning. The teacher surveyed showed that all teachers feel their students can deal with difficulties encountered but only 60% felt that students find working with computers easy. All

teachers felt that students enjoy working with computers but only 60% felt that computers make students more productive. Only 60% agreed that students are confident in their abilities to use computers and 80% felt that using computers makes learning more interesting. Instructors felt that computers and computer software packages make learning easier. 80% of all instructors felt that their students were skilled computer users. Student Satisfaction – In general, 71% of the students felt that they were very satisfied with the course however only 57% agreed that they would like to take another online course and 26% felt that the course did not meet their learning needs. Surprisingly, 63% said that they would recommend the course to others while only 49% felt that they learned as much in the course as they would have in a face-to-face course. Only 40% agreed that online courses are as effective as face-to-face courses with 40% expressing that the online environment affected the quality of instruction in a negative way. All instructors felt that their students were satisfied with their online course and that the course met their student’s learning needs. The instructor survey also showed that 80% felt both that students would like to take another and that they would recommend the course to other students. Only 60% of instructors agreed that students learned as much in the course as they would have in a face-to-face course with only 40% agreeing that online courses are as effective as face-to-face courses. Open Response – 1. What did you enjoy about this class? dissecting the pig Learning all the interesting things about everything Learning all the interesting concepts there was and fighting to understand them. i didn't like it I enjoyed being on the computer but it caused distraction and kept me from paying attention. I enjoyed learning about different programs on the computer. By knowing the different programs it has helped me succeed in my other classes in school. I enjoyed using photos in IP20 and I loved learning about the media in today's world in Media Studies 20. It was all very interesting. The end In a way i could kind of work on my own schedule You are able to work independently. I thought some of the assignments were quite interesting, and i learned alot about the media, that i would have never known! Was something new. I enjoyed the media logs... it gave us the opportunity to take whatever topic we wanted and apply it to the class. It made it more interesting. i learned lots of new things and found it interesting relaxing lunch

it was on computers I enjoyed the photography unit. I liked seeing how medai photoshops women, i never relised how much they changed. The fact that we could work at our own pace How I could work on it at home. learning about the reproductive system and dissecting pigs the pig disection The freedom to do what you wanted when you wanted. The teacher was fast with responces so that a person could actually be productive when they wanted to. That i used a computer. Final Project taking it and learning things Learning on computers, because when you needed to ask a question that no one knew you could just look it up on the computer. and it brought your accounting class closer soem what. What I really enjoyed about this class is the great attitude Barb Swallow had. If I asked for help, she would help. Her teaching methods were amazing, her examples, and videos were in depth and helped a lot. I felt like I was sitting in a desk, in her classroom learning one on one with her! Her assignments were helpful, and her hand in assignments were planned well. learning about technology How i can work on it at home. It was a great learning experience for my first online coarse. nothing The photoshop. It was very interesting to learn about editing pictures and creating your own pictures. Classmates and I are always editting pictures in everyday-life circumstances.

2. What should have been done differently? I found nothing wrong with this course. nore video learning nothing, I think the coarse went very smoothly and worked out great. Teaching, feed back Things to be done differently about this course would be to have more instructional videos. I should have went to a differant school and took math face-to-face like its intended to be. No comment have the units on the left hand side with announcements instead of assignments, labs, etc. Our Supervision. There should not be online courses. It makes students frustrated to not have a teacher in the room to ask questions. we should have been able to have more face to face meetings since we only had one face to face. nothing

This class should have been taught in person, it was very confusing to figure it out online. This is not a class that should be taught online. Teacher should have been around more often. I had no problems navigating through the website. No problems at all. If their was a technical server problem with the website, the problem was fixed the same day. Better explanations to understand the difficult concepts. It was frustrating when we didnt get feedback from our teacher. Lots of times our marks took a long time to get back. It seemed like we had to be constantly bothering our teacher in order to get any feedback. Having someone to explain each assignment and how to do them and what they were used for would have helped a lot. Have a teacher come in and explain more about things, instead of reading for information. Everything being explained better in more detail. have a teacher hired to work face-to-face At the beginning we didnt have the upgrade and therefore the vides were slightly confusing nothing keyboarding test and the video project Sometimes i felt it wasn't as clear as it could be, but for the most part, nothing needs to be done differently. Make the accounting course on the computer not so boring in some places. should have done all my media logs The video subject could have ran a bit smoother. Adding the narration was near impossible and we finally had to do a 'alright' job and just send it in because it was too frustrating. I wish our Media Studies teacher would have got our marks back to us faster but I can see how it's hard with so many online students. Have a teacher to actually show you how to do things because its a lot easier to learn that way rather than reading all the time and to always have a teacher by your side so you can ask questions and get the answer right then so you can move on rather than waiting until your next class. I wish the communication would have been better, I like getting my Assign. done but i can't if i don't have a answer back fast enough. Sometimes i felt like i couldn't do anything because I was waiting to hear from the teacher. It sometimes took the teacher a week or more sometimes.

3. Any other comments? Good class all in all. Everything was explained well enough for us to understand. Another plus that everyone was happy about was that we got our marks back after not that long. We got those marks back extremely fast, in fact. nope no comments It was a very fun class, taught me a lot about computers. nope Was a great experience. I enjoyed taking the online classes a lot. They were a lot of fun and very interesting. I'm glad we were able to work and help the other students get the work done. The class itself i found to be very interesting and i really enjoyed it. The only change i would make

would be the teacher involvment. The teacher should have more involvment and presence in the course. We had a great teacher! I found learning online makes it a little harder when the teacher isn't there in person Barb Swallow is an excellent teacher, and I am glad she was teaching the online class. For the reasons stated in question 39. i would prefer face to face I did not enjoy this online course. I basically had to teach myself and others how to do it. It won't be terrible if i never have to experience anything like it ever again. np The online program is not an answer in small schools students need a teacher but they also need other students to collaborate with, not email students in an online class they have never meet before. I think that this accounting course was extremely hard without a teacher present to give instructions. The hand-outs weren't detailed enough and didn't explain everything that needed explaining causing confusion later on.