Instructional Immediacy and Online Course Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysian Higher Education: Mediation Analysis of Perceived Learning

The Malaysian government has decided to halt all traditional classes as part of the pandemic control directives to control the spread of disease, which has a direct impact on institutions, instructors, and students. The sudden shift from a physical to an online classroom is creating the sense of isolation and lack of assistance that is frequently brought up by students when classes have low levels of student-instructor contact. The study used the quantitative method for data collection from 374 postgraduate students in Malaysian private universities. In order to test the hypothetical model, a PROCESS Model Type 4 mediation analysis was conducted. The proportional stratified random sampling technique—being the most straightforward and convenient method—was applied as the sampling technique for the study. The result showed that instructional immediacy is positively related to perceived learning and that perceived learning is positively related to course satisfaction. Furthermore, the result of the mediation analysis confirmed that the relationship between instructional immediacy and course satisfaction is mediated by perceived learning. The findings indicated that when instructors exhibit immediacy behaviors in interaction with students can encourage them to become more attentive, which boosts students’ performance. Immediacy behaviors used by teachers can increase the psychological intimacy between them and their students, which improves student learning and satisfaction. This research has important implications for the design and delivery of online courses for postgraduate students in Malaysian higher education to boost retention and raise the standard of online instruction and learning.