Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 58

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015
Faculty Training and Student Perceptions: Does Quality Matter?
By Jun Sun and Ramiro de la Rosa, University of Texas – Pan American
ABSTRACT
The authors of this study explore the relationship between faculty training using Quality
Matters™ A standards and the online course quality as perceived by students. The
independent variable is whether a faculty member has participated in Quality Matters
training before teaching the online course surveyed. The dependent variables are student
perceptions of online course quality from different aspects of the Quality Matters standards
including learning objectives, outcome assessment, instructional materials, learner
interaction, and course technology. A total of n = 122 undergraduate and graduate students
were surveyed in the study. Subjects in the treatment group participated in the online courses
taught by faculty members who had attended Quality Matters training, and those in the
control group participated in the online courses taught by faculty members who had not
attended Quality Matters training. Results from student t-tests suggest that faculty training
significantly enhances learner interaction. The effects of faculty training on learning
objectives, outcome assessments, and instructional materials are marginally significant. Yet,
faculty training does not seem to have much influence on the use of course technology.
Keywords: Quality Matters Standards, faculty training, student perceptions, online course
development, quality assessment
Introduction
Enabled by the advances in information technologies, online learning represents a
major, and advantageous, direction for higher education. Compared to traditional inclassroom
courses, online courses provide students with more flexible and economic options
(Twigg, 2003). Yet the quality of online courses is difficult to control, thus contributing to
lower student completion rates over face-to-face courses (Kearsley, 2000; Xu & Jaggars,
2011).
Since the early stages of online education, researchers have recognized the
importance of faculty training and development to reduce potential resistance to online
teaching methods and to also sharpen their design skills when teaching online courses
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A !”Standards and point values of the Fifth Edition of the QM Rubric can be found at
https://www.qualitymatters.org/rubric. The wording and placement of a few standards has been changed from
the 2011-2013 standards used in this study." [for example 6.3.]!
56!