Student Satisfaction in STEM: An Exploratory Study

Ossama Elhadary^1,

¹City University of New York

Cite this paper:
Ossama Elhadary. Student Satisfaction in STEM: An Exploratory Study. American Journal of Educational Research. 2016; 4(2):195-199. doi: 10.12691/education-4-2-7

Abstract

This research presents the findings of a survey conducted to measure students’ satisfaction with the Information Systems programs of a public college. The survey consisted of 29 questions. An invitation email was sent to 1244 students (361 Associate degree students, and 883 Bachelor’s degree students). For ease of access to the survey, a web link was embedded in the invitation email. In addition, the students were assured that they will remain anonymous and that their responses can not be distinguished from those of others. The survey was available for 1.5 weeks from Dec 10th to Dec 19th 2012, and students could only take it once. In addition, department faculty were asked to encourage students to take the survey and to dedicate 10 minutes at the beginning of their classes for the students to take the survey online if they wished to do so. By the end of the period, 593 students (47.7%) took the survey. Because the survey responses were anonymous, it is fair to say that the responses reflect the students’ true feelings and perceptions. In this research, the author showed that satisfaction with teaching, skills acquired, program, effectiveness, the availability of an internship program, technological resources, as well as the number of credit acquired, all had positive impact on students’ overall satisfaction with the program. Gender and having English as a first language were not found to have a direct impact on satisfaction though.

Keywords:
STEM student satisfaction internship gender

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