Service Quality Assessment of Online Sport Education at a Sport-Specific Graduate Institute

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

This study assessed the service quality of United States Sports Academy 's online course curriculum and examined the factors, which affected the students' overall satisfaction of their educational experience with the Academy. The results generated were based on 449 responses (male = 331, female = 118) of the student evaluation survey that were collected from January 1 to August 31, 2004. The evaluation questionnaire contained 41 fixed-variable and 5-point Likert scale items. The student evaluation survey was filled out via electronic method after each student had completed the last unit assignment. The exploratory factor analysis identified five specific service categories, Course Materials (CM), Instructor Traits (IT), Library Resources (LR), Student Services (SS), and Overall Rating (OR) with a total factor loading of 72.3%. Each of the factor categories yielded a reliability coefficient ( a value) greater than .715. The results indicated the male participants perceived to be more satisfied with all of the service categories than females did. The younger participants and students who had taken fewer courses with the Academy tended to have a higher satisfactory rating. The stepwise factor analysis also confirmed both CM and SS were two better predictors of the participants' overall satisfaction. Overall, the participants were fairly satisfied with the service quality of the Academy. In conclusions, more attentions should be drawn to the following areas for improving quality of teaching: (1) fulfilling the students' needs based their characteristics; (2) improving the quality of faculty performance and communication; and (3) facilitating the use the library resources. More directions for improvement of the service quality and future research were further discussed.

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