End of Semester

WebCT-Vista Professional Opinion Survey

East Georgia College

Spring 2003

 (Partial findings of a formative evaluation of the

implementation of WebCT VISTA at East Georgia College)

 

Prepared by

David L. Strickland

Office of Institutional Research

East Georgia College

http://www.ega.edu/irp    (478) 289-2037

 

 

Contents

 

List of Tables

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This report presents findings from the End of Semester WebCT-Vista Professional Opinion Survey.  Faculty, administrators, and computer services personnel were surveyed at the end of spring semester 2003.  This survey was part of a formative evaluation of the implementation of WebCT VISTA at East Georgia College.

Beginning Spring semester of 2003 East Georgia College launched WebCT-VISTA campus wide.  All courses were entered into WebCT-Vista and enabled as potential hybrid courses (i.e. class meetings with online activities and support).  Faculty were expected to use the course email and syllabus tools as a minimum level of participation and they were encouraged to use as many other tools within the program as they wished.  All but four faculty members used Vista.  The five most commonly used tools (used by at least half of the faculty) were syllabus, calendar, grade book, announcements, and email.

Surveys of faculty disposition were conducted twice during the semester and once at the end of the term.  This end-of-semester survey was administered during the last week of classes and during final exam week.  This survey was conducted as a follow-up to the formative evaluation surveys that were conducted during the semester and was intended to measure faculty opinion about the educational value for WebCT-Vista and the general disposition of faculty toward the program at this point in time.  Basic research questions included the following.

·        To what degree (how often) did faculty use WebCT-Vista?

·        To what degree did faculty feel that WebCT-Vista added educational value to the course?

·        What did faculty, administrators, and computer services personnel like about the program?

·        What did faculty, administrators, and computer services personnel dislike about the program?

·        What was the disposition of faculty, administrators, and computer services personnel toward the program after having used it all semester?

 

METHODOLOGY

 

A convenience sample of 27 faculty, administrators, and computer services personnel responded to the anonymous 17 question survey.  Questionnaires were distributed to faculty mailboxes and emailed to everyone on the faculty-staff email distribution list between April 24 and April 30, 2003.

The one page questionnaire contained 14 closed-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions.  The first two questions collected demographic information so that the data could be disaggregated by the respondent’s primary position and frequency of WebCT-Vista useage.  A series of statements measured on a Likert scale were presented in questions 3 through 14 to measure opinions about the educational value of WebCT-Vista.  The three concluding questions were open-ended and asked respondents to identify what they like and dislike most about WebCT-Vista and to describe their general disposition toward the program at this point in time.

 

RESPONDENTS

 

There were 27 total student respondents.  Nineteen (70.4 %) were faculty members, five were computer services personnel (18.5%), and three (11.1%) were administrators.  Table 2 presents the frequency of WebCT-vista use for each type of respondent.  Nearly eighty percent (77.8%) of respondents reported that they had used WebCT-Vista regularly (defined as 4 to 10 occasions) or frequently (defined as about once a week or more).  Four (14.8 %) reported rare use and two (7.4 %) reported no use.

 

Table 1. Respondent Position

 

Number

Percent

 

1  Administrator

3

11.1

 

2  Faculty

19

70.4

 

3  PC Service

5

18.5

 

Total

27

100.0

 

 

 Table 2.  Degree of WebCT-Vista Use

Respondent Type

Total

 

 

Administrator

Faculty

PC Service

 

 

Frequently

Count

2

8

4

14

 

 

% Respondent type

66.7%

42.1%

80.0%

51.9%

 

Regularly

Count

1

5

1

7

 

 

% Respondent type

33.3%

26.3%

20.0%

25.9%

 

Rarely

Count

0

4

0

4

 

 

% Respondent type

.0%

21.1%

.0%

14.8%

 

Never

Count

0

2

0

2

 

 

% Respondent type

.0%

10.5%

.0%

7.4%

Total

Count

3

19

5

27

 

% Respondent type

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

 

 

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF WEBCT-VISTA

 

Respondents were presented with a series of 11 statements about the educational value of WebCT-Vista and asked to register agreement on a four point Likert scale.  The statements addressed course functionality, level of interaction, critical thinking, and general attitude toward the program.  Each statement and the mean response is presented in Table 3.  Cases in which respondents had never or rarely used WebCT-Vista were removed from the sample for the analysis of educational value (questions 3 – 14).

Based on the response to these agree-disagree statements, the overall disposition of respondents toward WebCT-Vista was positive.  These findings were consistent with the open-ended responses given to questions 15, 16, and 17.

 

Table 3. Assessment of Educational Value

 

MEAN

SD

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

WebCT-Vista enhanced my course.

3.06

.725

5/27.8%

9/50.0%

4/22.2%

0

WebCT helped me to organize my course better.

2.78

.732

3/16.7%

8/44.4%

7/38.9%

0

WebCT can be used to increase or enhance faculty-to-student interaction.

3.32

.671

8/42.1%

9/47.4%

2/10.5%

0

WebCT can be used to increase or enhance student-to-student interaction.

3.00

.612

3/17.6%

11/64.7%

3/17.6%

0

WebCT can be used to increase or enhance student-to-resource interaction.

3.28

.461

5/27.8%

13/72.2%

0

0

WebCT rarely works correctly.

2.11

.809

1/5.3%

4/21.1%

10/52.6%

4/21.1%

I believe that I can use WebCT to stimulate student thinking.

2.89

.567

2/10.5%

13/68.4%

4/21.1%

0

I believe that I can use WebCT to improve my level of feedback to students.

3.28

.669

7/38.9%

9/50.0%

2/11.1%

0

I have found WebCT to be a useful tool.

3.16

.765

7/36.8%

8/42.1%

4/21.1%

0

I would like to learn to use more of the features of WebCT.

3.16

.898

8/42.1%

7/36.8%

3/15.8%

4/5.4%

I believe that most of my students like WebCT.

2.72

.826

3/16.7%

8/44.4%

6/33.3%

1/5.6%

I hope we continue to use WebCT in future semesters.

3.37

.597

8/42.1%

10/52.6%

1/5.3%

0

 

Question 3 presented respondents with the statement, “Vista enhanced my course.”  The count and percentage for each answer value disaggregated by respondent type (administrator, faculty, or computer services staff) is presented in Table 4.

 

Table 4.  Frequencies for Question 3. 
Vista enhanced my course.

 

Type of Respondent

Total

 

Administrator

Faculty

3PC Service

 

Strongly Agree

Count

2

2

1

5

 

 

% of Respondent Type

66.7%

15.4%

50.0%

27.8%

 

Agree

Count

1

7

1

9

 

 

% of Respondent Type

33.3%

53.8%

50.0%

50.0%

 

Disagree

Count

0

4

0

4

 

 

% of Respondent Type

.0%

30.8%

.0%

22.2%

Total

Count

3

13

2