Identifying critical factors of quality: Perceptions of continuing education students who have taken both on-campus and off-campus credit classes at four-year private institutions.

Abstract

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121 p.

The general purpose of this study was to determine if students perceive their off-campus credit class experience to be significantly different from their on-campus credit class experience.One hundred and eleven students from four private institutions in the state of Illinois who had taken both on-campus and off-campus credit classes responded to a 20-question survey which asked their agreement or disagreement to the presence of instructional dimensions for both their on-campus and off-campus credit class experience. The respondents were also asked to rate the relevancy of each of the 19 instructional dimensions (Dimension 20 was not an instructional dimension) to the quality of their classes. In addition, they were asked to identify and rank order critical factors of quality for their off-campus and on-campus credit classes.The seven critical factors of quality identified for on-campus had a 79% commonality with those critical factors identified for off-campus. Instructor Expertise was ranked highest on both lists and was rated as the most relevant to the quality of the class (whether on-campus or off-campus). The other critical factors identified are Adult Learning Environment, Curriculum Relevance, Instructor Enthusiasm, Instructional Methodology, Physical Parameters, and Resource Materials.When the responses to the 19 instructional dimensions were compared by the secondary variables of age, gender, G.P.A. and major and location (off-campus and on-campus), there were few significant interactions between the secondary variables and location. However, 12 out of the 20 dimensions (60%) were reported as being present more frequently off-campus.All stakeholders in higher education, administrators, faculty, students, and governing boards, now have empirical data from students who have experienced both on-campus and off-campus classes. The students' perceptions support off-campus credit classes as comparable to on-campus credit classes.