Faculty of Social Sciences Student Satisfaction with Emergency Remote Teaching at The UWI during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The study utilised the Expectation Confirmation Theory as the basis for addressing students’ satisfaction with Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work was prompted by Hodges et al. (2020) who indicated that online/remote learning carries a stigma of being lower in quality than face-to-face and these hurried moves to do remote teaching may confirm this negative perception. Utilising survey design and factor analysis with descriptives and a final sample of 115 students, the study found that student engagement, student access, connectivity, and communication, along with recorded materials and online examinations were the satisfaction areas to be focused on in the ERT environment.
Recommendations were offered in each of the identified areas with focus on student engagement, connectivity, and communication where there were high levels of dissatisfaction. This study provides pedagogical guidance to lecturers who are challenged in the ERT environment.