Commuter Students, Online Services, and Online Communities

Abstract

This chapter reviews student services and community‐building initiatives aimed at serving commuter students online.

A survey assessing the health science students' perception towards online learning at a Saudi Higher Education Institution during COVID-19 pandemic

“…HEIs should consider those commute students and develop more online services. Linking commute students to virtual communities might support them to feel highly engaged with the university campus (Kretovics, 2015). Earlier studies also discussed commuter students' online learning experience (Galanek and Shulman, 2020;Ranga, 2020).…”

Expatriate Students’ Perceptions of Key Factors Impacting Attendance and Persistence at a Private Malaysian University: An Analysis of a 4ps Framework

“…Two part-time expatriate participants concerned the time constraint and wished to attend seminars/workshops to improve their soft skills and better manage their time. The classroom is the only place where the part-time students spend most of their time to meet with faculty, engage PUPIL: International Journal of Teaching, Education and Learning ISSN 2457-0648 the formal learning experience, and built upon their success (Kretovics, 2015). Therefore, it is crucial to ensure those part-time expatriate students fully benefit from the classroom experience.…”

“…Administrators may consider other strategies such as "study group collaboration, online discussion, and group learning activities" (Khiat, 2017, p. 45) to ease the time constraints and enrich part-time students' learning experience. Kretovics (2015) concluded attempting to connect students to the campus community directly impacted on their persistence and graduation rates (p. 73). So, creating both online and offline communities are the first step to help part-time expatriate students connect to the college environment.…”

Giving them what they need: online orientation for the adult learner

“…al., 2022;Stewart, et al, 2013). Accrediting bodies require institutions to offer student services to all enrolled students (Kretovics, 2015), but as previously stated, these services are not always adapted for online students (Bailey & Brown, 2016;Britto & Rush, 2013). Furthermore, the components of what constitutes online student support services continues to vary across the literature and in any modern-day interpretation (Brown & Bailey, 2016).…”

“…While exemplary frameworks for online learning exists, the regulatory environment for quality assurance varies and this impacts how student support services are perceived and subsequently managed in this space (Stewart, Goodson, & Miertschin, 2021;Stewart, Goodson, Miertschin, Norwood, & Ezell, 2013). Although online student support services have been deemed pertinent, and in fact required by accrediting bodies (Kretovics, 2015), they are not always adapted (Britto & Rush, 2013;Ryan, Jonick, & Langub, 2015) and questions about applicability and effectiveness remain (Stewart, et al, 2021). Furthermore, the components of what constitutes online student support services vary across the literature.…”