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Successful Online Course Retention At Marylhurst University Constructing A Model For Online Course Retention Using Grounded Theory, Vincent Schreck
Successful Online Course Retention At Marylhurst University Constructing A Model For Online Course Retention Using Grounded Theory, Vincent Schreck
Dissertations and Theses
Over the past 6 years, the course retention rate for Marylhurst University's (MU) online courses was 91%, which is within four percentage points of its on-campus course retention rate (Schreck, 2002). This appears to contradict a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that stated, "Although there is significant variation among institutions with some reporting course-completion rates of more than 80% and others finding that fewer than 50% of distance-education students finish their courses, several administrators concur that course-completion rates are often 10-20 percentage points higher in traditional courses than in distance offerings" (Carr, 2000). Recent studies (Beatty-Gunter 2001; …
Involvement, Social Class And Attrition In Higher Education : The Case Of The Stop Out, Terrence Scott Daugherty
Involvement, Social Class And Attrition In Higher Education : The Case Of The Stop Out, Terrence Scott Daugherty
Dissertations and Theses
This thesis tests the validity of three theories purporting to explain the attrition of stop outs -- why students interrupt their studies with the intent to return to school. Data were gathered at two schools, Portland State University and Reed College. Two theories, those of social class and involvement, were tested at each school as contending explanations of attrition by path analysis of parsimonious models derived by factor analysis. These theories were found to explain little of the variance of attendance pattern (less than 4.3 percent) at either school. No particular lines of causation could be demonstrated at either school. …