Iranian University Students’ Learning Satisfaction with Online Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-methods Study

With the abrupt emergence and development of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face classes have been replaced with online classes (OCs) on an unprecedented scale in Iran. To improve the quality of OCs, it is quite essential to examine to what extent students are satisfied with them. With this aim, the current mixed-methods study purported to examine university students’ learning satisfaction with OCs at Ayatollah Borujerdi University. For the quantitative part, a total of 509 university students, including males (N=34) and females (N=475) filled out a modified version of the Satisfaction with Online Classes Survey (SWOCS) developed and validated by Bolliger and Martindale (2004). For the qualitative part, a sample of 20 students, consisting of males (N=9) and females (N=11) completed a reflective written statement disclosing their perceptions of OCs. Findings evidenced that the participants are moderately satisfied with OCs. In addition, the results of Friedman test documented that all the sub-factors of SWOCS played an important role in the participants’ learning satisfaction with OCs. Complementary with the quantitative findings, the qualitative results yielded five overarching themes: “instructors are a critical factor for students’ learning satisfaction’, ‘familiarity with technology affects students’ learning satisfaction’, ‘course set-up shapes students’ learning satisfaction’, ‘interactions with others are vital’, and ‘students’ learning satisfaction is closely correlated with outcomes’ Finally, a range of implications is proposed for different stakeholders.