Online Learning Engagement Factors of Undergraduate Students’ Learning Outcomes

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the factors influencing the learning experience, using the community of inquiry (CoI) framework, that contribute to students’ satisfaction with online learning and academic performance during the pandemic. Data were collected from 609 undergraduate students at four private universities in Malaysia through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was derived from the community inquiry survey and the satisfaction with the online learning questionnaire. The empirical results indicated that the primary factors influencing students’ satisfaction with online learning were cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence, in that order of importance. The model was further tested with specific measures of online learning satisfaction, including online course interaction, instruction, course management, instructor quality, and satisfaction with the technology used in the course. Factor reduction analysis groups satisfaction into three categories: “interaction, instruction, and course management” were combined into one category, which includes the course instructor and the technology. Stepwise correlation analysis indicated that all the CoI areas had a significant influence on the satisfaction of all three groups, except for the impact of social presence on the satisfaction of online instructors. Among the predictors, cognitive presence consistently played a significant role in all aspects of satisfaction and performance.