The Results are In...
And here they are!
In order to change and improve our processes here at the Office of Global Outreach and Extended Education (GOEE), we welcome your feedback in the form of a survey. There are many factors that play a role in the success of our online students, and GOEE would like to do its part in creating successful students. The results of the mid semester survey of GOEE online students are in. Contained in this summary are a few highlights of what the survey addressed. The survey questions were divided into five different areas:
- Basic Information
- Future Improvements
- Student Services
- Online Delivery
- Administrative
As an online student, you may often wonder how other online students are incorporating time management skills and best practices to be successful at completing their Masters Degree Online. In this survey, we have asked our online engineering students if they would be interested in forming or joining a student organization dedicated to online learning. About 54% of students are interested in forming such a body or an organization. Even more (61%) respondents were interested in participating in a forum or community for online engineering students. This forum will create a sense of community and the feeling of belonging for our students.
Program of study (POS), this you will hear over and over again throughout your graduate degree program. The POS is the blue print and road map for our students to completing their Masters Degrees. An important question asked in the survey with regard to our continuous improvement plan was whether there was a preference for a highly structured or a flexible POS. In a highly structured POS, courses from any POS will be available to be taken. As for a flexible POS, the courses contained in this area will be available when there's enough interest but is subject to cancellation when enrollments are insufficient. This may force changes in the plan etc. The majority of those surveyed preferred the flexibility (63%) over highly structured plans of study (3.7%), with a sizable group (33%) choosing a semi-structured option where the core courses of the program would run on scheduled dates and others would remain flexible.
Another portion of the survey addressed student satisfaction from student services, online delivery and administration. According to past surveys and the most recent, there has been an overall progress over previous years. With the good marks comes with areas of improvement. The recent survey showed that improvements were needed in the process of registration from advisement to payment of fees. Thirty-five percent of the respondents found this process of registration cumbersome. The quality of classroom audio was also mentioned as needing improvement by 28% of our participating students. The administrative area needed improvement in returning the graded materials promptly. Results showed that 23% of the respondents found the homework/exam process to be too slow.
The online delivery of engineering courses is growing in popularity. With the maturing market, students will expect higher quality and convenience. It is our goal to provide both.