What Students are Telling us about Why They Left Their ICT Course

Abstract

Student attrition is an issue of particular concern in the field of ICT because the industry faces staffing shortfalls. The study described in this paper provides further understanding of the causes of attrition from ICT courses by exploring the reasons students give for leaving their ICT courses. An online survey of early leavers from four Australian universities was conducted. The results show that many factors can contribute to the attrition of ICT students, and that for many students it is a combination of issues that leads to their withdrawal. Only a relatively small number of ex-students had experienced serious life events that necessitated their withdrawal. It was much more common for the participants to cite reasons associated with the university environment, the teaching of their ICT course, and their inability to combine their studies with other commitments. Recommendations are made to address issues that could be mitigated by university action.

What Influences CS Faculty to Adopt Teaching Practices?

“…Underrepresentation in computing is a public concern, affecting the availability of an adequate, stable computing workforce, global competitiveness, defense, health, national security, and social justice. Women in CS leave the major more frequently than men despite their high performance [6,19,31,33].…”

Factors Affecting First Year Retention of CIT Students

“…The primary complaint by students was that classes were boring, and lacked a real-world or workplace focus. 2,3,4 Students also complained about poor teaching, 2 and teaching at too fast a pace. In addition, many students felt that they lacked suitable preparation through prior experience, particularly in programming skills and database concepts.…”

“…In addition, many students felt that they lacked suitable preparation through prior experience, particularly in programming skills and database concepts. 2,3,5,6 A few studies found that the students' ability to integrate into the academic and social environment of the university played an important role in retention. 3 The most important factor in this integration was building a peer group support system through peer interaction in the classroom.…”

“…2,3,5,6 A few studies found that the students' ability to integrate into the academic and social environment of the university played an important role in retention. 3 The most important factor in this integration was building a peer group support system through peer interaction in the classroom. 5,7,8 In addition, student-faculty relationships were also very important to academic integration.…”

Identifying Factors Impacting First-year Persistence in Computer Graphics Technology

“…29,30 A limitation of this study was conducting research with a small sample size. This could show slight inaccuracies with the results in comparison to findings from similar studies.…”