Examination of University Students’ Level of Satisfaction and Readiness for E-Courses and the Relationship between Them

The success of a distance education program can be evaluated according to student satisfaction, aside from comprehensive examinations, projects and presentations. The purpose of this research study is to determine both the relationship between e-course satisfaction and online learning readiness by ascertaining student levels, and the effect of the materials used in e-learning on student satisfaction. A general screening model was used in this study to determine the characteristics of a group and to clarify the existing situation in their own conditions. The study was conducted during the 2014-2015 academic year at Kocaeli University. The E-Course Satisfaction Scale (ECSS), consisting of 35 five-point Likert-type items, and the Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) consisting of 18 five-point Likert-type items, were applied to 352 university students. The data were analyzed by methods of descriptive statistics, independent t-test and regression analysis in the SPSS program. According to the survey the satisfaction level of the students is moderate; when the subdimensions were examined, satisfaction was high in the instructor-student interaction and environment design sub-dimensions while it was moderate in the course content and teaching process, materials used and communication tools, and attitude towards e-learning sub-dimensions. When interaction and communication tools such as a virtual classroom, forum, chat, e-mail, web pages, animation, video, graphics and images as content tools, and questionnaire as assessment tool were used there was a difference in student satisfaction, and satisfaction was higher in these courses. There was not a significant difference in the students‘ satisfaction with the exams and homework as assessment tools, or content of .pdf and text documents as content tools, but .pdf-text documents and exams were among the most-used tools in the courses. Student satisfaction was high when the number of materials used in courses was 7 and over, that is, as the number of materials increased, so did the satisfaction level.