Factors Affecting Students’ Satisfaction with Synchronous Online Instruction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

A large number of institutions of higher learning at all levels transitioned hurriedly to remote and online learning in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, recent studies have concluded that university-level students prefer learning in face-to-face settings. This study seeks to understand the factors that are driving students ' rejection of remote and online learning options and to provide insight into future efforts to implement strategies and tools to mitigate these adverse factors. The results show factors that contribute the most to students' perceived satisfaction in the remote instructional setting are less interaction during live lectures, more distractions, less engagement in virtual classrooms, less effectiveness in understanding lectures, delayed responses and inability to get immediate assistance. A theoretical framework was developed to classify the contributing factors into three desirable learning related dimensions.