Satisfaction Level of B.Ed. Students of Bangladesh Open University: An Analysis

This study was carried out to assess the satisfaction level of the B.Ed. students in different study centers of Bangladesh Open University (BOU). School of Education (SoE) of Bangladesh Open University has 26 study centers to conduct the B.Ed. programme. This programme helps teachers to become more proficient in the classroom. Similar to other academic programmes, the B.Ed. programme's strengths and areas for development can be determined by student satisfaction. The educational experiences, administrative and other relevant programme activities, and the facilities that Bangladesh Open University offers its students during the learning process are the main factors that determine the level of student satisfaction. By using two different tools (survey questionnaire and FGD schedule) data were collected from the students of six B.Ed. study centres of Bangladesh Open University. The survey questionnaire used a Likert-type rating system, with five points ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" against each statement. The number of B.Ed. students to whom the questionnaire and FGD schedule were administered were 180 and 48, respectively. So, the total sample size was 228. The major findings from the quantitative data revealed that the agreed response obtained a satisfaction level (M>3.00) from 2 out of 4 areas of. It further indicated that the highest agree response (M=3.56) belonged to the statements outlined under the area "Tutor performance" followed by “Student-tutor interaction” (M=3.22). Contrarily, the lowest response (M=2.48) belonged to the statements related to "Infrastructural facilities and support services" followed by “Course evaluation” (M=2.76). The study's qualitative data discovered that although students were happy with the tutors' performance, they were not satisfied with less number of tutorial sessions. It was also apparent from the qualitative data that students’ satisfaction level was very low regarding the existing physical facilities of the study centres. Exam-related complications and insufficient support services were also addressed by the students.