Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Beyond Certification: Innovative Strategies To Tackle The Teacher Shortage, Abbigail Lp Morris

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

This article challenges educational leaders to look beyond alternative routes for teaching certification and more towards an increased collaboration between districts and universities to help alleviate the teacher shortage issue in Kentucky. It specifically highlights the works of Omaha Public School District and the University of Nebraska Omaha as a model for proactive teacher pipeline.

Perception Of Social Media As Seen By Educational Leadership Online Graduate Students, Todd Emma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand student perceptions of social media as they relate to the programs of study for online graduate students participating in an educational leadership department (hereafter referred to as EDLR) in Tennessee. As institutions of higher education are being affected by declining enrollments, increasing tuition, rising numbers of nontraditional students, global events, and continuing budget cuts, understanding student perception of the educational experience is a fundamental element for understanding ways to address the uncertain future of higher education. Through a series of in-depth interviews, data were collected and analyzed to provide a framework …

Predicting Online Course Success From Usage Of An Online Tutoring System, Brett Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As online learning continues to grow in higher education, quality online support services must also be offered in order to meet the needs of online students. This study sought to investigate the relationship between the use of an outsourced online tutoring system and course success in select University System of Georgia eCore introductory online gateway courses to determine the extent of the relationship between tutoring usage and course success. The researcher employed logistic regression analysis to determine if using online tutoring increased the students’ probability for course success. Further, the researcher also studied the amount of usage to understand if …

A Comparative Exploration Into First Time In College Student Academic Performance In Face-To-Face Versus Remote Learning Environments, Ashley Click

Theses & Dissertations

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced educational systems to transition into an emergency remote learning modality. This quantitative study compared retention and productive grade rates of two 16-week academic semesters and compared face-to-face (fall 2019) and remote (fall 2020) emergency remote instruction. The study sample was drawn from the core courses of History, English, and Speech at San Antonio College. Those courses were selected in part due to the high proportion of first time in college students who were considered a vulnerable population regarding performance and persistence. Additional variables (i.e., gender, veteran status, first-generation status, and socio-economic status) were …

Exploring The Effect Of Online Course Design On Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge Transfer And Retention Through Learning Analytics, Yasemin Gülbahar, Mohamed Ibrahim, Rebecca Callaway

Faculty Publications - Curriculum & Instruction

There is a vast amount of data collected on e-learning platforms that can provide insight and guidance to both learners and educators. However, this data is rarely used for evaluation and understanding the learning process. Hence, to fill this gap in the literature this study explored the effect of online course design on students’ transfer and retention of knowledge through learning analytics. The aim was to reveal study behaviours of participants over a short time while exploring their academic performance. Using a mixed method approach, this research is conducted in two different countries in a limited time. The results showed …

Meeting The Psychosocial Needs Of Online Learners In Social Work Programs And Four-Year Universities: What Is Being Addressed And The Many Areas For Improvement, Kathryn Gould

DSW Capstone Projects

Almost half of social work students enter their program with a history of mental health diagnosis and exposure to multiple childhood traumas. Over half of students at four-year institutions are enrolled in one or more courses online, yet retention in online coursework is much lower than in in-person courses. As online programs continue to grow in the field of social work it becomes a vital requirement to address the psychosocial needs of online learners. The call of this capstone is to examine how universities and colleges of social work can meet the increasing need to improve course work and service …

Identifying Key Success Indicators In Student Letters For Reinstatement From Suspension, Angela Bowlus, Jamaica Delmar

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Retaining and graduating students continues to be an issue that higher education institutions are longing to solve, especially for the growing non-traditional student body whose list of competing priorities continues to grow. As academic suspension hinders persistence, this article examines a key aspect of the reinstatement from suspension process for students: the letter of appeal. The narrative provided is impacted by how the writer expresses their acknowledgment of what went wrong and what changes will be made to ensure administrators of future success, it too is impacted by the interpretation of the institutional decision maker. By reviewing a sample of …

The Relationship Of Peer-Mentoring And Online Undergraduate And Graduate College Student Retention, Stephen W. Pray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the strength of the relationship between peer-mentoring and retention rates of online undergraduate and graduate college students. Extant literature has reported consistently lower retention rates within the online college student community when compared to the retention rates of on-campus students. One possible means for countering low retention rates is providing a mentoring program to online students, which has had a positive effect on the retention rates of on-campus students, as reported by various studies. This quantitative correlational study examined the association between peer-mentoring and retention rates of online undergraduate and graduate students. The study utilized a sample …

The Impact Of The Online Learner Advising Model On Retention And Grade Point Average, Julie Delich

Doctorate in Education

As more students experience online learning environments, the academic community must invest more energy into improving retention of these learners. The purpose of this research was to study the impact of an advising model designed to support online learners, the Online learner advising model (OLAM). This study examined new student retention in the first 3 terms and GPA outcomes to measure the impact of the advising approach. OLAM was designed to address the specific needs of online learners through bringing together elements of proactive advising, shame resilience theory, and appreciative advising.

The sample was selected from Concordia University, St. Paul …

Impact Of Online Education On Student Success Outcomes And Institutional Effectiveness: Study Of Florida State University System, Maria Graham

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Online education has been around for several decades, but only recently has there been a boom in it integration into the public higher education sector on a larger scale. It proved instrumental to student education continuity and progression toward graduation during the COVID-19 health crisis and campus closures. Technological advances produce higher quality online courses that keep students engaged and allow for greater flexibility and accessibility, evident by its dramatic enrollment increase that outpaced the total enrollment at postsecondary institutions. Nine public universities in the State University System of Florida are analyzed to determine if greater enrollment in undergraduate online …

Examining Changes In Learning And Engagement Of Higher Education Students In A Fully Online Flipped Learning Distance Education Classroom, James David Riel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The challenge of implementing effective online distance education courses for academics and institutions is a centuries-old task. We can look across early developments in the 18^th century with the creation and delivery of correspondence courses; into the 20^th century with teaching and learning across analog methods such as audio and video; and now in the current era of digitized mechanisms that enable the online classroom. This includes advances in internet technologies and computing abilities that are the empowering the backbone processes, bridging connectivity between the student and the instructor. As society has trended toward massive increases in online …

Dnp Final Report: The Flipped Classroom: An Evidence-Based, Course Redesign To Increase Retention Rates In A Vocational Nursing Program, Jennifer P. Hauger

DNP Final Reports

Over the past three decades, Vocational Nursing has been taught using a conventional didactic method that is content heavy and lecture focused. Despite having a group of highly qualified professors and an excellent student pass rates on the National board examinations, student retention in a Vocational Nursing Program in central Texas remains below the National benchmark. With a unique student demographic that is identified as non-traditional (over 21, full-time working adults, English Second Language and single parents), we embarked upon the redesign of a Medical-Surgical Nursing course using the flipped pedagogical framework to increase retention rates. Therefore, in 2019 we …

How Student Perceptions Of The Online Learning Environment And Student Motivation Predict Persistence, Completion, And Retention In Developmental Mathematics Courses, Samuel K. Gedeborg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Online developmental mathematics courses have high dropout rates. The focus of this study is to improve understanding of how students’ perceptions of the online learning environment and student motivation from course design predict student drop out. This understanding will benefit faculty and institutions on student support for online developmental mathematics students.

The study included 330 undergraduate students enrolled in online developmental mathematics courses during the Fall 2018 semester at eight public universities and colleges in the Utah State Higher Education (USHE) system. Participants completed a survey with questions measuring their perceptions of the learning environment. They also completed a survey …

A Grounded Theory Study Of The Ideal Components Of An Orientation For A Distance Education Doctor Of Education Program, Kristy Ann Motte

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a model for a distance education (DE) Doctor of Education (EdD) program orientation based on the perspectives of students, non-persisters, alumni, faculty, and administrators. As students pursue a DE EdD, they must navigate a variety of stages and may require different levels of support at each stage. To develop a model that bridges the different stages of the EdD, this study sought to answer the following research questions: (a) How do DE EdD students persist in each stage of the doctoral journey? (b) How do DE EdD students integrate (socially, …

Is Utilization Of University-Sponsored Social Media Associated With Increased Social Integration And Retention Among Online Students?, Gary C. Eaton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the growth of online higher education, online student retention remains a problem for many colleges and universities. The seminal higher education retention models developed for residential students also explain the contribution to retention resulting from connecting online students with other students, faculty, staff, and connecting with the daily life of the university in order to create a sense of belonging and community. The difficulty for the university is that online students may live at such distances from the school that participation in on-campus activities or even a singular campus visit is impractical. Further, online students are often non-traditional students …

The Effect Of Motivation On Student Persistence In Online Higher Education: A Phenomenological Study Of How Adult Learners Experience Motivation In A Web-Based Distance Learning Environment, Kevin Lucey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of motivation in the persistence of adults enrolled in online higher education. Since the 1990’s, online courses and programs have proliferated across higher education, with adults (ages 25 and over) currently making up the largest portion of online enrollments. Online courses, however, suffer from a higher rate of student attrition than their hybrid and face-to-face counterparts. Although it is difficult to attribute the high rate of attrition in online education to any one factor, research has identified a lack of motivation as a primary cause of student dropout. Likewise, studies …

The Impact Of Learning Preferences On Retention Of Adult Students In An Online Degree Program, Juliann Mcadoo

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Adult students choose online courses for flexibility and convenience and educational institutions are providing more options to meet demand, but online courses have higher rates of attrition that can lead to lower retention. Low retention of students has consequences for students, colleges and universities, and society as a whole. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between learning preference, based on a multiple intelligences model, and choice of major, student satisfaction, and retention of adult students in a fully online degree program. A review of literature found that learning preference has been correlated with student performance in …

Online Course Enrollment In Community College And Degree Completion: The Tipping Point, Peter Shea, Temi Bidjerano

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

Recent research indicates that certain students are at risk of lower levels of academic performance in online settings when compared to peers who study only in the classroom. Community college students have been a population of particular concern. In this paper, we hypothesize that online course load and institutional quality may impact outcomes for such students at risk for lower levels of degree attainment. Using comprehensive data from the 30 community colleges (n=45,557) of the State University of New York (SUNY), we conducted a state-wide study to examine whether there is a "tipping point" at which online course load becomes …

A Causal Comparative Study Of Student Success And Retention In An Undergraduate Program Offered Online And On Campus, Daniel David Tudor

Online Theses and Dissertations

Online education has grown significantly both in the number of courses offered and the number of degrees offered. The delivery format is being fueled by a student population that is growing more non-traditional. Work and family obligations dictate that classes are offered in a format that meets the needs of the students. The growth of universities toward online courses and degrees has brought opportunities to students, but it has also given institutions of higher education new income streams. In the case of public universities in Kentucky, this has helped offset reductions in state support. The viability of this format for …

The Online Student Experience: An Exploration Of First-Year University Students’ Expectations, Experiences And Outcomes Of Online Education, Melanie Henry

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Online higher education presents a critical opportunity to extend and diversify the student body. The Online Student Experience (OSE), and online student outcomes, however, remain shrouded in ambiguity. The literature presents conflicting reports of online education (OE) quality, confounded by a lack of appreciation for potential differences between online and on-campus education, and a diversity of interpretations for what constitutes OE. The present research conceptualises OE as representing university courses that require students to interact with instructors and course materials via the internet, with no expectation of attending a university campus. A broad student-centred perspective is notably lacking from the …

Designing For Universal Success, Nicole Martin, Trey Conatser

Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning

Dr. Deb Castiglione is the Universal Design and Instructional Technology Specialist at CELT. She has worked to get a campus-wide license at the University of Kentucky for the software Read&Write Gold, which follows principles of universal design for learning. We asked Dr. Castiglione about what the software can do for learners, and why we should think more about inclusive practices such as universal design in our teaching.

Retention Of Community College Students In Online Courses, Sarah Krajewski

Dissertations

The issue of attrition in online courses at higher learning institutions remains a high priority in the United States. A recent rapid growth of online courses at community colleges has been instigated by student demand, as they meet the time constraints many nontraditional community college students have as a result of the need to work and care for dependents. Failure in an online course can cause students to become frustrated with the college experience, financially burdened, or to even give up and leave college. Attrition could be avoided by proper guidance of who is best suited for online courses. This …

Beating The Odds: Teaching Italian Online In The Community College Environment, Giulia Guarnieri

Publications and Research

This study analyzes data collected from Italian language online classes during the course of four consecutive semesters at Bronx Community College in order to measure the impact that distance learning has on students’ retention and success rates in elementary courses. The results reveal that reconfiguring the online meetings to a lower percentage and implementing social pedagogies reduce course abandonment and favor the creation of strong learning communities. Furthermore, the data relative to the grade distribution shows no substantial difference between online courses and face-to-face instruction.

Students’ Motivations And Barriers To Online Education, Vladimir Abramenka

Masters Theses

The problem explored in this study stems from the paradox between the growing number of online classes and the decreasing retention rate of students who take online classes. In order to understand the reasons behind this decreasing retention rate the study is aimed at revealing barriers students encounter when taking online courses. The second main area of the study is to determine whether or not differences exist between students who want to take online classes and those who do not want to take online classes. Answers to the first research question were obtained by gathering and analyzing survey responses.

Multiple …

“Warming Up” In The Developmental Sequence? Upward Transfer Conditional On Dependency Status, Cody Davidson, Kristin B. Wilson

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

The purpose of this study was to determine predictor factors of upward transfer for Kentucky community college students enrolled in a developmental algebra course. For independent students, a mother with a college degree, a declared major, a federal work-study position, greater adjusted gross income, and a higher grade point average was positively correlated with upward transfer. For dependent students, a father with a college degree, a declared major, and a higher grade point average was positively correlated with upward transfer.

The Effect Of Web-Based Learning On Retention Of Non-Traditional Students In A Rural Comprehensive University, Treva Gail Macy

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects web-based courses effect retention of nontraditional students. Gender, student classification, first generation, and ACT composite scores were used as predictor variables for the purpose of this study. Data were collected from the university's BANNER system. The analysis of the results revealed that the retention rates of students who participated in online courses were higher than their in-person counterparts. Recommendations for policy and implications for future research are provided.

Efficacy Of Hybrid Coursework On Retention Rate In Online Higher Education, Kevin Struble

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Recent developments and technological advances in online education have provided the adult learner with new opportunities to obtain a college education. However, online coursework offers new challenges particularly for online student retention, as these rates are lower than traditional students on a college or university campus. The following research outlines a quantitative study for the perceived effect of social learning for adult online learners through hybrid coursework on undergraduate retention rates through two research questions using a causal-comparative design for research question one and a correlational design for research question two. This study examined retention theory in regards to social …

An Institutional Approach To Developing A Culture Of Student Persistence, Gary J. Burkholder Jr, Jim Lenio, Nicole Holland, Alan Seidman, Diane Neal, Jimmy Middlebrook, Rebecca Jobe

Office of Institutional Research and Assessment Publications

There continues to be increasing focus on college student retention and persistence. This focus is coming from the United States federal government, accrediting organizations, and from students, parents, and the public. Given the spiraling costs of education and the fact that retention rates have not improved over time, various stakeholders are concerned about the value of a higher education credential. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the efforts of a for-profit, distance education institution to focus its resources, in an evidence-based manner, on retention and to develop a culture of retention and persistence throughout the institution. The literature …

Job Embeddedness Theory: Can It Help Explain Employee Retention Among Extension Agents?, Jeffery A. Young, James Stone, Oscar Aliaga, Brad Shuck

Faculty Scholarship

The study reported here examined Job Embeddedness theory, as introduced by Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, and Erez (2001), which offers a method of discovering why people stay in an organization. Extension agents in two states (N=454) reported significantly different levels of job embeddedness during the study period. Regression analyses showed that job embeddedness was significantly correlated with and predicted unique variance in intent to stay.

Understanding And Responding To The Needs Of Nontraditional College Students, Joyce Hickson

Perspectives In Learning

The statistical profile of today’s American college student indicates that this sector is overwhelmingly “nontraditional”. The nontraditional student possesses at least one or more of the following characteristics: married; a parent; 25 years or older; returning to college after having been out of school for a number of years; financially independent from parents; attending school on a part-time basis (U. S. Department of Education, 2002). According to the Columbus State University Fall, 2002 Enrollment Report (Wallman, 2002) the average age of undergraduate students is 25 years, while the graduate student mean age is 37 years. Additionally, large numbers of CSU …