Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education

Abstract

An essential component of high-quality online courses is faculty satisfaction. The goals of this study were to(1) determine what characteristics influence online faculty satisfaction at a small research institution and(2) create and test a tool to quantify faculty satisfaction in the online learning environment. All professors who have taught an online course at a small US research institution in either the autumn of 2007 or the spring of 2008 were asked to fill out the online faculty satisfaction survey (OFSS). The web-based survey was filled out by 102 people. Faculty satisfaction in an online setting is influenced by three factors: those pertaining to students, those pertaining to instructors, and those pertaining to the institution.