Student Perception of Online Instructors at a Florida Public University

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in online student
perception of the quality of instruction between online instructors who did and did not
complete faculty training for online instruction. There has been very little research
identifying the factors influencing online students perception on quality of instruction,
specifically at Florida public institutions. This research is important in establishing if
public universities should require some level of training before an instructor can teach
online. Experiencing poor quality of instruction can negatively impact an online student
academically, which can, in turn, be detrimental to a university’s student retention and
graduation rates.
This study adds to the current body of research regarding improvement of the
quality of instruction in online courses based on the online students perception of faculty
and the completion of faculty training for online instruction. The results of this study demonstrated no significant difference overall in student perception of quality of
instruction between online instructors who did and did not complete faculty training as
measured in courses with five or more student respondents. Additional results revealed
that multiple academic colleges demonstrated a significant difference in student
perception of quality of instruction. This study also discovered a slight negative effect of
online faculty training on other areas of student satisfaction that did not include quality of
instruction. Recommendations for future research are provided, including those for the
improvement of online faculty training, university policy, and faculty and student
preparation for online teaching and learning, respectively.