I continued watching the Quality Matters (QM) Research Online Conference. Tonight I watched the session “Student Perceptions of QM Standards on Engagement and Learning” with Daisyane Barreto and Sheri Conklin from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Barreto asked what elements of online course design are important for students. Organization and consistency help with the user experience. Barreto and Conklin conducted a study addressing the questions:
- What are online student perceptions of the impact of QM standards on their learning?
- What are online student perceptions of the impact of QM standards on their engagement?
Their study was all graduates enrolled in non-QM certified programs. Students rated accessibility and usability and assessment and measurement important. These were graduate students in nursing programs. Student perceptions of general standards for engagement highlighted course activities and interaction were perceived as important. Clear instructions and purpose and structure were highly rated by students for their impact on engagement. This was a long survey with 88 questions with considerable drop out. Thus, the response number was relatively low. Nevertheless, it was evident from their findings that students appreciate clarity and accessibility. Their published article is titled “Student PErceptions of Quality Matters Standards on Engagement and Learning.” There two questions for every standard and a couple of open-ended questions. The team noted they had a grant to incentivize participants. One QM member expressed interest in implementing the survey in undergraduate courses. They mentioned they used Qualtrics to deploy the survey and would do something different in terms of survey length next time. This session gave me ideas for our current and future studies.
