Monitorare la soddisfazione nella didattica on-line: il Quality Assessement In Virtual Classroom (QUAS-VC)

Summary: Based on prior researches on factors affecting customer satisfaction in on-line courses, this research deals with the development of accurate models for monitoring customer satisfaction, given the well documented effects of perceived satisfaction on students’ achievement (Richardson & Swan, 2003) and dropout rates (Levy, 2007). The present paper describes the Quality Assessment in Virtual Classroom (QUAS-VC), a measurement tool aimed at assessing students’ satisfaction in attending “virtual classrooms”. Data were obtained from students (N=237) attending at least one virtual classroom during the 2006-2008 academic years of a Distance Degree Course (Polo Tecnologico Nettuno- Bicocca, Università Milano-Bicocca). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses reveal a model of students’ satisfaction based on three dimensions, namely: e-tutor behaviour, key themes and contents of virtual classroom, and organization of the virtual class. Analysis of beta coefficients obtained from multiple regression shows that key themes and contents (β= .407, p < .000) and e-tutor behavioural domain (β= 0.37, p < .000) are statistically significant predictors of the overall measure of satisfaction.