Predictors of Student Success in an Online Learning Environment in the English-Speaking Caribbean: Evidence from the University of the West Indies Open Campus

Abstract

This paper investigated success rates and possible predictors of success among students at The University of the West Indies Open Campus. Archival data were mined from admissions and academic records of students from the 2008 intake to explore retention and completion rates, and for students enrolled in two online undergraduate courses in Semester 1 of the 2012/2013 academic year. The two courses had consistently high failure rates. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. The results indicate that among the 2008 cohort, the retention rate was high (>75%) and the completion rate compared favourably with other similar institutions. Significant predictors of programme completion included sex and location of the students as well as cumulative GPA at the end of the first year of study. Predictors of success for individual courses included the location of the students and engagement with course resources.

Online learning satisfaction in higher education: what are the determining factors?

“…This helps their readiness to take online lectures continuously during mobility restrictions during the pandemic. These results are in line with Fogerson (2005) and Warrican et al (2014) who stated that experience is one of the factors that influence online learning readiness. The results of this experience also confirm what has been conveyed by Warner et al (1998) that students' readiness for online learning requires students' confidence in electronic competence/internet skills, and independent learning abilities.…”

Fixing the ‘Ready’ in E-Learning Readiness

“…In an educational context therefore, e-readiness is defined as the capability of e-learning users to adapt to a new learning environment, using new technologies, and be involved in self-directed learning [14]. However, there are students who have returned to further their education tertiary level, are doing so for the first time using an unfamiliar interface such as an ELS [17]. An e-ready student should be capable of efficiently and effectively applying the essential technology tools in an ELS in order to satisfactorily interact with the content and engage other students [13,18].…”

“…An e-ready student should be capable of efficiently and effectively applying the essential technology tools in an ELS in order to satisfactorily interact with the content and engage other students [13,18]. Additional reports of an underutilization of ELSs by students in developing countries, also identifies a need to understand why and how this can be addressed [17,19].…”

“…A relationship was found between e-readiness and factors such as students' self-directed learning, and self-motivation [20], as well as use of technology [23]. In reality, many students most likely have experienced traditional classroom environments for most of their primary and secondary education, but may not have sufficient experience with ELSs as they pursue higher education [17,24]. Some researchers therefore proposed that students be assisted in more accurately gauging their readiness for online learning before they start a course [4].…”

Introduction to <i>Open Praxis</i> volume 8 issue 3

“…Before joining the Editorial Board, some of its current members had contributed to Open Praxis in different ways: three of them had published in Open Praxis in its new stage: Tynan and James (2013), Tait (2014) and Warrican et al (2014); and Hemlata Chari had been a reviewer in 2013 and 2015.…”