Retention, Progression and the Taking of Online Courses

Abstract

Online learning continues to grow at post-secondary institutions across the United States, but many question its efficacy, especially for students most at-risk for failure. This paper engages that issue. It examines recent research on the success of community college students who take online classes and explores similar comparisons using 656,258 student records collected through the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework. In particular, the research investigated retention rates for students in three delivery mode groups -students taking only onground courses, students taking only online courses, and students taking some courses onground and some courses online at five primarily onground community colleges, five primarily onground four-year universities, and four primarily online institutions.Results revealed that taking some online courses did not result in lower retention rates for students enrolled in primarily onground community colleges participating in the PAR Framework. Moreover, although retention rates were lower for such students taking only online courses than for similar students taking only onground or blending their courses, much of the difference could be explained by extraneous factors. Essentially no differences in retention between delivery mode groups were found for students enrolled in primarily onground four-year universities participating in the PAR Framework, while at participating primarily online institutions, students blending their courses had slightly better odds of being retained than students taking exclusively onground or exclusively online courses. No differences between the latter groups were found at these institutions.Patterns of retention were similar regardless of gender across institutional categories, and were mostly similar regardless of Pell grant status with the exception of fully online students at traditional community colleges. Age, however, did differentially affect delivery mode effects. Older students taking only online courses were retained at higher rates than younger students taking only online courses at both primarily onground community colleges and primarily online institutions. The results suggest that, despite media reports to the contrary, taking online courses is not necessarily harmful to students' chances of being retained, and may provide course-taking opportunities that otherwise might not be available, especially for nontraditional students.

A National Study of Differences between Distance and Non-distance Community College Students in Time to First Associate Degree Attainment, Transfer, and Dropout

“…The higher rates of transfer and subsequent degree completion are also congruent with recent findings in the California Community College System (Johnson & Cuellar Mejilla, 2014 Of importance also is the finding that participation in online coursework does not contribute significantly to more pronounced dropout trends beyond what is considered typical for community college students. These national level findings do not confirm previous investigations indicating higher levels of dropout among students taking online coursework but does align with more recent research by James, Swan and Daston (2016) indicating no significant differences in retention. Contrary to the conclusion that students who took higher proportions of online courses were slightly less likely to attain a degree or transfer to a four-year college than those who took fewer online courses (Jaggars, 2012) we found that online course-taking is associated with higher and faster degree completion and no significant differences in dropout or transfer.…”

Investigating the Impact of Online Classes on Undergraduate Degree Completion

“…Table 1 below provides a brief summary of large-scale studies conducted from 2010 to 2018, providing the institution level at which they were conducted and the primary findings related to course completion and retention/degree completion as appropriate. (2015) Community college Pass rates in online courses lower than traditional on campus Shea & Bidjerano (2016) Community college Significantly more students engaged in online attained a degree than those who did not; women students graduate more quickly when taking online James, Swan, & Daston (2016)…”

Exploring Factors Related to Completion of an Online Undergraduate-Level Introductory Statistics Course

“…In a recent special issue of Online Learning that focused on learning analytics, James, Swan, and Daston (2016) examined variables related to retention in students taking only face-toface courses, students taking only online courses, and students taking both face-to-face and online courses. While their primary purpose was to compare students in these three groups, they also provided data concerning retention rates for students enrolled in different types of institutions with different demographic characteristics.…”