What do students like and dislike about learning online: An investigation of graduates' satisfaction and perceptions of community in online courses

Abstract

The higher education market space has become increasingly competitive during the past few years. For instance, there are now hundreds of fully online master’s programs in educational technology. Given this increased competition, it is more important than ever for those working in graduate education to understand what students, and specifically those who have graduated from their program, like and dislike about the coursework of study they completed. We investigated student perceptions of their coursework once they graduated from an educational technology program. Results suggest that students in the program prefer courses with practical content, continuous interactions, and hands-on projects; they dislike courses that are too theoretical. We conclude with implications for practice and additional research.