Andragogy and Online Course Satisfaction: A Correlation Study

This study evaluated the predictive value of 14 predictor variables; six adult learner characteristics and eight instructional process design elements on the criterion variable of learner satisfaction. The population consisted of online postsecondary students who were over the age of 24, who had participated in at least one online course from a Higher Learning Commission or the North Central Association (HLC-NCA) accredited program with at least one physical facility in the state of Missouri. Participants were chosen using stratified random sampling from 4-year public universities, 4-year private universities or colleges, and 2-year community colleges to ensure that the individuals in the sample represented the population as nearly as possible. Data were collected via an online survey adapted from the Andragogy in Practice Inventory (API) and the Learner Satisfaction and Transfer of Learning Questionnaire from the study sample. Internal consistency was demonstrated for the API as well as predictive abilities for online learner satisfaction. Null hypothesis 1 was rejected because a significant regression model revealed the six predictor variables of adult learner characteristics, after accounting for the demographic variables, explained an additional 48.6% of the variance of online learner satisfaction (p < .01). Null hypothesis 2 was rejected because a significant regression model showed the eight predictor variables of instructional process design elements, after accounting for the demographic and adult learner characteristic predictors, explained an additional 8.9% of the variance (or 65.1% of the total) of online learner satisfaction ( p < .01). Practical recommendations included the use of the API so that instructors may improve in their ability to optimize the learning environment and more consciously apply the principles of andragogy in the classroom when working with adult learners, while designers may use the findings to incorporate andragogical design elements into their designs to engender greater learning outcomes. Recommendations for future studies included quantitative experimental and correlation studies to establish causality of the predictor variables considered as to their influence on learner satisfaction. These included duplication and confirmatory studies outside of Missouri; to explore additional criterion variables such as performance, participation, perceived learning, and dropout rates; to explore additional learning settings outside of higher education; and identify behaviors related to each of the instructional process design elements individually.