National Evidence of the Impact of First-Year Online Enrollment on Postsecondary Students’ Long-Term Academic Outcomes

Increasing Success in Higher Education: The Relationships of Online Course Taking With College Completion and Time-to-Degree

“…Huntington-Klein et al (2017) found that participating in online courses led to a smaller probability of successful graduation in community college settings. Other prior work found that students who enrolled in an online course early in their college path graduated several months sooner than their counterparts (Ortagus, 2018;Sublett, 2019).…”

“…Although Rovai's model focuses specifically on student progression within courses, we follow past work (e.g., Ortagus, 2018) that has extended the model to examine related outcomes (probability of graduation and time-to-degree). The model's focus on salient background student characteristics related to student success informs our covariate selection and subgroup analyses (i.e., first-generation college students, low-income students, students with weak academic preparation).…”

“Like Having a Tiger by the Tail”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Provision of Online Education in Higher Education

“…Although a large number of quantitative studies have compared the outcomes of students enrolled in online courses versus the outcomes of students enrolled in face-to-face courses (Figlio et al, 2013;Means, Toyama, Murphy, & Baki, 2013;Ortagus, 2018;Shea & Bidjerano, 2014;Xu & Jaggars, 2011, extant literature has limited value for higher education administrators and policymakers seeking to better understand how to navigate financial and quality considerations related to the provision of online education. As a result, this study focuses on how faculty, instructional designers, and higher education administrators reconcile the seemingly opposing motivations of increasing revenue and maintaining quality when offering online education.…”

“…To do so, we ask the following research question: How do leading universities reconcile financial and quality concerns when providing online education? CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND Previous studies have examined the extent to which online education can offer financial relief to colleges and universities (Bowen, Chingos, Lack, & Nygren, 2012;Meyer, 2006;Miller, 2010) or the quality of online education in higher education (Figlio et al, 2013;Means et al, 2013;Ortagus, 2018;Shea & Bidjerano, 2014;Xu & Jaggars, 2011, but the literature is lacking any studies that consider both financial and quality dynamics at the same time (Cheslock et al, 2016). Although online education has the potential to reduce labor costs and consequently increase net revenue through less face-to-face interaction and larger class sizes (Bowen, 2013), little is known about how to navigate these revenue-enhancing strategies without sacrificing high-quality teaching and learning.…”

“…However, Shea and Bidjerano (2014) reported a positive relationship between online enrollment and student achievement, claiming that online students had a better chance of earning a postsecondary credential than their peers enrolled solely in face-to-face courses. Additional quasi-experimental work has shown that students who enroll in some online courses are less likely to drop out of college when compared to their otherwise-similar peers enrolled solely in face-to-face courses (Ortagus, 2018). These studies serve as examples of the varying narratives and lack of conclusive evidence pertaining to the quality of online education in higher education.…”