For the 2009 PSOL survey I have been analyzing the results of our two largest groups who completed the survey; the students pursuing the Associate in Arts degree primarily online and those students pursuing the same degree primarily (but not completely) through on-ground courses.

Out of the 579 students who submitted the survey, 148 indicated that they are completing online A.A. degree while 131 indicated that they are completing the on-ground A.A. degree with an online course or two or three mixed into their schedules.

I’ve previously written about how I don’t find the summary questions to be completely useful, at least not the first one (what WERE their expectations?), but I do think that when you see a very large difference in the ratings that you do need to pay attention to the results. As shown in the slides above, the online A.A. students are clearly far more satisfied than the on-ground A.A. students.

As you can imagine, this is the type of data that almost no one on campus wants to hear about. The only way that this data could be generated is through suspect surveying methods or misleading questions. No way that students think online is better. NO WAY!!