The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status, Course Delivery Method, and Student Success at a State College: A Single Institution Analysis

Abstract

In an effort to improve instruction and better accommodate the needs of students, community colleges are offering courses delivered in a variety of delivery formats that require students to have some level of technology fluency to be successful in the course.This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between student socioeconomic status (SES), course delivery method, and course type on enrollment, final course grades, course completion status, and course passing status at a state college.A dataset for 20,456 students of low and not low SES enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) course types delivered using traditional, online, blended, and web enhanced course delivery formats at Miami Dade College, a large open access 4-year state college located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, was analyzed. A factorial ANOVA using course type, course delivery method, and student SES found no significant differences in final course grades when used to determine if course delivery methods were equally effective for students of low and not viii low SES taking STEM course types. Additionally, three chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were used to investigate for differences in enrollment, course completion and course passing status by SES, course type, and course delivery method. The findings of the chisquare tests indicated that: (a) there were significant differences in enrollment by SES and course delivery methods for the Engineering/Technology, Math, and overall course types but not for the Natural Science course type and (b) there were no significant differences in course completion status and course passing status by SES and course types overall and SES and course delivery methods overall. However, there were statistically significant but weak relationships between course passing status, SES and the math course type as well as between course passing status, SES, and online and traditional course delivery methods.The mixed findings in the study indicate that strides have been made in closing the theoretical gap in education and technology skills that may exist for students of different SES levels. MDC's course delivery and student support models may assist other institutions address student success in courses that necessitate students having some level of technology fluency.

Determinants of e-resource usage by open distance learning university students

“…Fourth, as students from the low income bracket are found to be less likely to utilise LMS compared to their upper-middle income peers, these findings may be reflective of the lack of financial resources to establish external connectivity via the internet (Zhang 2013;Garcia 2014). Hence, it is suggested that ODL university policy-makers interested in promoting LMS use amongst its students should invest in both virtual as well as its physical facilities.…”

“…Previous research has identified income as one of the primary factors in determining differences in access to Internet technology and the knowledge of how to use it (Zhang 2013;Zickuhr 2013;Garcia 2014). This outcome is expected because when affluent levels increase, individuals are able to reap benefits from a broader range of goods and services, including hardware and access to internet services.…”