Online vs. Face-to-Face Course Evaluations: Considerations for Administrators and Faculty
The purpose of this study was to determine whether students evaluate courses differently, and perhaps more critically, when delivered online vs. face-to-face (F2F). Course evaluations are associated with the instructor that taught the course. Course evaluation continues to be a significant assessment vehicle of faculty performance used by many administrators. This analysis attempted to control for variations in instructors and courses, by comparing student course evaluations, where the same instructor taught the same course, in both modalities. Moreover, the study attempted to understand the contributing factors to the course rating. The results of this study confirm that courses taught by the same instructor, using the same course content, were rated lower when delivered in the online modality. The results of the lower ratings, for online courses, have implications for faculty and administrators. Areas potentially affected by the lower ratings include: 1) a drop in the faculty member’s assessed performance; 2) a difficulty to recruit full-time or tenure seeking faculty to teach online courses; 3) potential unproductive attempts to compensate for deficiencies or ‘student dislikes’ with the Learning Management System; and 4) potential morale issues with faculty experiencing less job satisfaction due to lower online course ratings.
