Predictors of Student Satisfaction and Perceived Learning in Online Distance Learning: The Effects of Self-efficacy and Interaction

Abstract

The increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia forced the Ministry of Higher Education to postpone reopening the university in October 2020. To ensure continuity of learning, universities had no choice but to continue with online distance learning (ODL). Though ODL is not a new experience, the absence of first-time face-to-face meetings is challenging. Due to the importance of student satisfaction and perceived learning as outcomes of online learning, the factors affecting these variables should be considered extensively. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of online learning self-efficacy, learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction on student satisfaction and perceived learning. An online questionnaire survey method was used to collect data among diploma accounting students of University Teknologi Mara, Tapah. By deploying SPSS, 321 surveys were analyzed. The multiple regression results revealed that only self-efficacy, learner-content interaction, and learner-learner interaction were significantly predictive of student satisfaction and perceived learning. The results also found that learner-content interaction was the most contributed predictor of student satisfaction and perceived learning. However, learner-instructor interaction was not a significant predictor of both dependent variables. The findings of the study could be beneficial for educators in designing lesson content and planning for teaching methods and styles to improve the interaction with the students. This study also addressed how educators may practically prepare students for asynchronous online courses by teaching them to learn with a high level of self-efficacy and by encouraging student interaction.