Students’ Satisfaction with Interactions in Online Courses at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Abstract

Student satisfaction is an important factor when analyzing online courses. Research has shown that student interactions in online courses are linked to overall satisfaction and success in their courses. However, student satisfaction in online courses at HBCUs has not been evaluated in great detail in relation to interactions. The researcher in this study used regression models in order to determine the best predictors in HBCU students’ online course satisfaction in relation to gender, age, classification, number of online courses taken, learner-instructor interaction, learner-learner interaction, and learner-content interactions. An online Qualtrics survey was used to collect data from a sample of 184 undergraduate and graduate students. Three regression models were tested and compared for predictive power. All learner interactions were positive significant predictors in students’ satisfaction in their online courses, with learner-content being the strongest predictor. Age was also a significant predictor in students’ online course satisfaction, which indicated a negative correlation. In sum, results suggested that students over the age of 22 were dissatisfied with online courses, emphasis in learner-content interactions in online courses at HBCUs would strengthen student satisfaction, and learner-learner interactions were not as influential in online courses.