The Impact of Short Message Service Text Learning Support on Online Course Completion and Student Satisfaction

Online education is increasingly considered a mechanism for potentially opening access and providing flexibility to participants in the higher education domain. Transactional distance theory establishes a broad framework for the pedagogy of distance education and is useful in constructing its core elements. Enabling anytime, anywhere communication, mobile telephones allow individuals to send and receive messages without being connected to the Internet using short message service or SMS. The specific problem is although a growing body of literature surrounds the use of SMS-based text messaging in education, more research on its impact on learner outcomes in online environments is needed to ensure a fuller understanding on the impact of SMS-based text messaging on online course completion and student satisfaction.;The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to compare two groups of learners: those who received SMS text learning support and those who did not, based on their online course completion and satisfaction in an undergraduate first year business online course at a private, for-profit university. The population of this study was first year students enrolled in Introduction to Management, which was an introductory business management course at a private, for-profit university. The study was a quantitative, quasi-experimental, between-groups design. Of the pool of 128 participants, assignment of 64 participants into a control group and 64 participants into an experimental group was performed.;Data for course completion was collected from automated information in the online classroom. Student satisfaction data was collected from responses on the Student Satisfaction Survey (Strachota, 2006) which was specifically designed to capture data regarding students' level of satisfaction online at the course level. Research Question 1, regarding course completion of students, was answered by a comparison between the percentage of students who complete the course in the group who received SMS text learning support and the group who did not receive SMS text learning support. Research Question 2, involving student satisfaction, was answered by comparing the mean of the satisfaction scores between groups at the end of the term. Data for course completion and student satisfaction were analyzed using chi-square analysis and t-test for independent samples, respectively.;Results revealed no statistically significant difference in the course completion or student satisfaction between students who received and students who did not receive SMS text-based learning support in a first year online business course at the private, for-profit university. The researcher concluded that the SMS text-based learning support had no significant impact on student outcomes in the study. Further research extending the transactional distance theory model to SMS texting in online learning may help to formulate theoretical implications and potential applications for facilitating student success outcomes in online courses. Recommendations for practical and future research include allowing students to opt-in to receive SMS text-based learning support and further testing of transactional distance theory in similar settings and populations as well as among alternative populations and settings.