Quality & Faculty Satisfaction in Higher Education Online

In the last decade, online education has become a fast-growing delivery method in higher education in Italy. According to data provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research during the academic year 2014-2015, 60.000 students were enrolled in a Telematic University, experiencing a 33.7% growth rate in the last three years. Moreover, according to data provided by ANVUR, the 72% of students come from a public university. In this frame it is important to inquire about student and faculty perceptions of quality in online courses in order to assist University leaders in changing policies that will lead to improvement of teaching and learning conditions, if necessary (Bolliger, Wasilik, 2009). Faculty satisfaction is one of the five pillars of quality, together with student satisfaction, learning effectiveness, access, and institutional cost-effectiveness (Sloan Consortium, 2002). Components of faculty satisfaction and its implications on students' satisfaction and outocomes
need to be investigated as online education becomes more prevalent and dynamic forces such as adoption rates, learner expectations, levels of
support, and other conditions continue to change.