ELearning/Course design/Student retention issues

As an introduction to the articles, we summarize here those individual characteristics and circumstances associated with student retention and dropping out, progressing and stalling out, and graduating or falling short. We then examine the actions instructional designers, instructors, institutions, and the individuals themselves can overcome the issues. The authors cited below include extensive literature reviews.

Individual characteristics and circumstances

Learners enter the educational setting with a variety of characteristics and circumstances that affect their willingness or ability to persist through their programs.

Motivation to complete their education, sense of challenge, sense of personal responsibility (Hart, 2012)
Satisfaction with online education
Anxiety over the high cost of college (NY Times, 2013)
Work and family obligations: hours worked, childcare, financial standing
Peer and family support: encouragement, financial support, helping with family obligations
Time management skills
Declaring a major: students who enroll in a specific program of study early in their college careers are more likely to complete a degree and will take less time to graduate (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012)
Time of registration: students who enroll five or more weeks before the semester begins are more likely to succeed while those enrolling a few days before or after the semester begins are more likely to drop (Fetzner, 2013)
Age, in that students over age 25 are better able to manage the flexibility of the online environment (Shanley, 2009)
Number of current courses: lower number associated with higher chance of dropping out
Cumulative GPA is not the best predictor of success or non-success (Fain, 2016)
Engagement is the best predictor of success (Fain, 2016)
Class standing (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) and accumulated number of credit hours: higher and more predict success (Cochran, 2013; Fetzner, 2013; Wilson, 2012)
Participation: more active participation in discussions, more communication with instructor predicts higher achievement

Survey results of unsuccessful online students by Fetzner (2013) are shown below. Figure 1 lists the most common reasons for dropping online courses. Figure 2 shows the self-reported likelyhood of taking another online course.


1. Student reasons for dropping online courses (percent)	2. Likelihood of taking another online course (percent)

Using LMS data, Strayer University (Fain, 2016) found the following:

Persistence (remaining enrolled after the first year):

88% overall
76% for students logging onto the LMS five or fewer days during the first two weeks
48% for students logging onto the LMS one day or less during the first two weeks

Intervention (contacting the student by phone or email focusing on their well-being, not on academics: "Are you OK? How can I help?")

5% increase in attendance
12% increase in number of student passing the course
8% decrease in dropouts

Course and instructor characteristics

Some characteristics of courses and instructors that can impact retention:

Welcome messages and self-introductions (Gleason, 2004)
"Clear and robust actions on the part of instructors can catalyze the triggering events of student cognitive presence." (Wilson, 2012)
"Designing triggering events that stimulate intellectual curiosity is not sufficient without effectively guiding students through exploration, integration, and evaluation." (Ice, 2011)
Sense of isolation or inclusion: social presence, community building (Shanley, 2009)
Perception of being technically unsupported: perception is more important than fact (Hart, 2012)
Clear expectations: course topics, assignments, deadlines, grading criteria (Wilson, 2012, Ice et al., 2011)
Content relevancy and accuracy: interest
Instructor preparedness and responsiveness: online students are more sensitive to response and grading times
Student control: flexibility, assignment options, student feedback influence on the course

Institutional practices

Preeble, Hargraves & Leach (2004) discuss two philosophies of institutional retention efforts reflected in the sorts of information and services provided by individual colleges and universities:

Integrative philosophy: integrating the student within the institution

Adaptive philosophy: the institution adapts to and accommodates diverse students

In reality, most institutions adopt practices reflecting both philosophies, but this classification system is useful for examining institutional strategies.

"Intrusive academic advising or more personal contact with the instructor, regardless of means, may be critical to the success of students with marginal cumulative GPAs." (Wilson, 2012)
"Interventions that targeted social identity threat (wrestling with feeling unwelcome while trying to learn and, therefore, underperforming) caused substantial improvements in MOOC persistence and completion rates among learners." (Kizilcec et al., 2017)
Outreach to potential students
Support services: online admissions, career advice, tutoring, academic advising, library, technical support
Social activities: student affinity sites for online learners, online student newspaper
Orientations to online learning (face-to-face or online)
Monitoring and early contact with non-participants

Sample online practices: