A Study on the Predictors of Success and Satisfaction in an Online Higher Education Program in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of success and satisfaction in an undergraduate distance education ELL degree program in Turkey. In this study, the independent variables are instructor support, student interaction and collaboration, personal relevance, authentic learning, active learning, and student autonomy and the dependent variables are student success and student satisfaction. The participants were 85 distance education students enrolled at the English Language and Literature Distance Education Program at Karabuk University. In order to collect data, Education Learning Environment Survey (DELES), developed and validated by Walker and Fraser (2003), was used. This survey includes six psycho-social scales: 1) instructor support, 2) student interaction and collaboration, 3) personal relevance, 4) authentic learning, 5) active learning, and 6) student autonomy. In order to ascertain the relation between the variables, a correlation analysis was carried out. A moderate level of correlation was observed among the variables of the study. In addition, two regression tests were administered in order to measure the influence of the independent variables on both success and satisfaction. The results indicate that the predictors of student satisfaction are instructor support, authentic learning, and personal relevance, whereas the only strong predictor of academic success was authentic learning.