Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

King, Stephanie

Committee Member

Oswalt, Katie

Committee Member

King, Stephanie B.

Committee Member

White, Carol Cutler

Committee Member

Fincher, Mark Edward

Date of Degree

11-25-2020

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Community College Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership

Abstract

This study sought to determine students’ satisfaction with technology, particularly Wi-Fi, and how it may impact retention at one university in the southeast. Differences in satisfaction were analyzed for students who planned to stay versus those who planned to leave, transfer versus native students, and for students of various ages, genders, races, and classifications. Analyses were done to examine the data quantitatively. Significant differences were found between the perceptions of satisfaction with Wi-Fi internet services of native students and transfer student in several categories. Most of the students examined in this study (88.0%) planned to return to the same school with approximately 12.0% of students indicating that they did not plan to return to the same school. The students also provided the reasons for their unwillingness to return to this school. The reasons provided by the students were personal finances, location, family reasons, issues with faculty, staff, or student, tuition cost, graduated, feeling of loneliness, COVID-19, internship, personal problems, decided to transfer, needed a break, and the fact that they did not like the school. Technology is a major factor in the academic structure as faculty, staff, and students rely heavily on technology. Investing in stable Internet/Wi-Fi in the classroom and offices can support enrollment and retention. Retention of students is considered one of the greatest weaknesses in distance education. Retention is a function of collaboration of institutional, personal, and social factors. Retention is a major factor when measuring an institution’s accountability, effectiveness, and quality. Overall, students were very satisfied with the quality of Wi-Fi on campus, and no differences in satisfaction were found between students who planned to return and those who did not. Transfer students were more satisfied with W-Fi on campus than were native students. Satisfaction with Wi-Fi on campus was higher for older students, female students, and graduate students. There were no differences in satisfaction with Wi-Fi on campus for students based on race.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20866

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