Online Learning and Students’ Satisfaction: A Case of state-owned Schools in Sri Lanka

Abstract

While the COVID-19 pandemic persists, most government schools have shifted to online learning, through various digital platforms to complete their instruction, even though teaching remotely was extremely difficult for teachers. A study of online learning students’ satisfaction was required to assess current performance, identify hazards, and draft online learning regulations and guidelines for a successful learning environment. As a result, this survey was conducted to ascertain the level of satisfaction with online learning among Sri Lankan government school students. It entailed determining the association between online learning and student satisfaction, and the impact of online learning on student satisfaction. Teaching quality, subject design, and technical service quality were used as independent variables to assess online learning satisfaction, while student satisfaction served as the dependent variable. Data were collected from 200 government school children reading in grades 9-13 in Galle District. According to the findings, the three independent factors used in the study, teaching quality, subject design, and technical service quality have a strong positive relationship with student satisfaction and are also significant predictors of student satisfaction. Moreover, the results revealed that subject design and technical service quality had a significant impact on student satisfaction, whereas teaching quality had no significant impact. It also confirmed that developed subject design and technical service quality can improve student satisfaction with online learning; however, students' perceptions of online learning were moderate. The results of the study advised policymakers to develop policy mechanisms to improve teaching quality through online learning as it has no significant impact on student satisfaction. Future researchers can replicate the study with different sampling techniques and a larger sample size to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon.