Evaluation of an academic satisfaction model in E-learning education contexts

Abstract

The urgent imperative to “move online”, caused by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, has led to an in-depth study of the psychological factors involved in designing successful online learning experiences. The social-cognitive model of academic satisfaction has been widely researched in conventional educational contexts in different countries. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the adequacy of this model in e-learning education contexts. The method used was path analysis, including as independent variables: social support, informational support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and progress in goals. The results indicated that the model adjusted satisfactorily, explaining 45% of the variance in academic satisfaction. As a specific finding of this study, in an e-learning context, it can be mentioned that a greater contribution of socio-emotional support was demonstrated with respect to informational support. On the other hand, a weak contribution of outcome expectations on academic satisfaction was verified, aspect that requires furthers research and the development of specific measures for e-learning education context. In summary, the results of this research together provide preliminary evidence favorable to the social-cognitive model of academic satisfaction in virtual environments of university education.