Where Have All the Students Gone: What Instructors and Institutions Can Do to Minimize Attrition in Online Courses
Margaret C. Mayfield
California State University, East Bay
Introduction
As the semester begins at my community college, instructors are thrilled to see class rosters with high enrollments. But as time progresses, students fade away, and the class numbers dwindle. Against the backdrop of a state that has serious budget problems, public institutions are taking a very close look at course efficiencies and costs. Courses that consistently have high dropout rates get very close scrutiny, and future offerings of these courses and their programs are at risk of being cancelled or eliminated.
Online courses have higher dropout rates when compared to face-to-face classes. Carr (as cited in DiRamio & Wolverton, 2006) reports that attrition rates for online courses are typically 10% higher than for traditional courses. Other studies find even higher dropout rates among online courses. Lynch (2001) reports dropout rates ranging between 35-50% for online students while students in face-to-face classes have dropout rates of 14%.
Retaining students is an important goal of all colleges and universities. When students dropout of courses, institutions lose money, and both students and instructors may feel that their time and efforts have been wasted. High dropout rates can also affect an institution or program’s reputation and credibility.
Why do students drop out of online courses?
Studies reveal that there are typically multiple reasons that students drop out of online courses, and there is no one major reason that the online students drop out of a program. Instead reasons are described as “complex, multiple, and inter-related†(Willging & Johnson, 2004).
The most common reasons students report for dropping out of
online classes are:
• Feelings of isolation, disconnectedness.
• Dissatisfaction with the learning environment, the lack of a personalized learning environment, the lack of one-on-one interaction with students and instructors, doubts about successful online communication.
• Financial difficulties, including the realization that the costs of the courses or program outweigh the benefits.
• Personal factors, including low confidence levels in distance learning, lack of time to complete assignments, schedule conflicts, and family problems.
• Academic factors, including a difficult and demanding academic program, too many low-level assignments, the difficulty of working in groups, lack of interest in the material, or a program that does not meet expectations.
• Job related, such as a change in job responsibilities, lack of support from employers, and the challenges of working full-time and taking online courses.
• Technology related, including students’ lack of necessary technology skills, and a lack of technical support (Willging & Johnson, 2004).
What can instructors do to improve retention in their online courses?
The reasons listed above are quite varied and it is not reasonable to expect online instructors to resolve all these issues. However many of these reasons may be addressed by creating courses that promote student engagement and create a sense of community among students through communication, discussion, collaboration, and interactive learning opportunities.
Listed below are practical suggestions that contribute toward building community in online classes while addressing issues that lead to student attrition.
• Create a welcoming and safe online classroom.
o Set a friendly tone right from the start to encourage students who are new to online learning and who have low self-confidence.
o Use icebreakers as a way to introduce students, to add a sense of fun, and to provide interaction and enhance engagement. “Communication or social interaction between students and between the teacher and the students represent a major factor in the decision to withdraw from a web-based course†(Astleitner as cited in Willging & Johnson, 2004).
o Write a welcome letter to students, provide clear instructions about getting started with the course, and make expectations known.
o Establish rules and introduce students to netiquette. Students must feel safe and have trust that their thoughts and opinions will be respected.
o Simpson (2003) found that the most substantial number of students who drop out of courses, do so before the first assignment is due. It is critical to develop connections with students and between students at the very beginning of a course.
• Increase the level of instructor presence in the course; put a human face on your class.
o Include personal information about yourself on the class web site, including a photograph. Information about hobbies and personal interests may lead to discovery of shared interests, and promote connections between instructor and students (Overcoming facelessness, 2005).
o Give frequent and timely feedback to students. Instructors say students learn faster and retain more when there is frequent communication between instructors and students (Stephens, 2005).
• Provide space in the CMS or course Web site where students can gather outside of class, to share experiences, stories, or ask non-class related questions.
o A “cyber café†offers an optional setting where students can get to know each other better and build relationships that aid in developing the online class community.
o Offer tools for students to access each other–email, online chat, VoIP. By providing communication tools, it is easier for students to stay connected.
• Use multimedia to address students’ different learning styles and to build connections between students and instructors.
o Include short video clips (5 minutes or less) to teach specific skills and to build community (“Overcoming Facelessness,†2005; Burns, 2005).
o Hearing an instructor’s voice and seeing him or her teaching in a classroom, can contribute to feelings of being more connected to the class.
o Net Gen students prefer learning with multimedia (Oblinger, 2007).
• Incorporate synchronous chat sessions into your course.
o Be available for online office hours via online chats. Net Gen students may prefer chat and text messaging over email as a communication tool (Oblinger, 2007).
• Be supportive of students’ academic and informational needs, and offer links and referrals to appropriate college services that are needed.
o Invite guests from the college community to visit the online classroom discussion forum to discuss services they offer, answer questions students may have, and to receive feedback and suggestions from students.
o Integrating college student services into online courses helps students feel less isolated, and makes them feel a part of the larger college community.
• Make teamwork a regular part of the course.
o A high level of social interaction has a positive effect on learning outcomes.
o Net Gen students are motivated by problem solving and like to learn by doing (Oblinger, 2007).
What can institutions do to assist in retention of online students?
There are several ways that institutions can work to reduce the dropout rate among online students. One successful strategy is to establish orientation courses that introduce students to online learning. Students who complete orientation courses have increased levels of self-confidence, improved skills in time management and technology, and their levels of tension and anxiety are reduced (Gaskell, 2006). Lynch (2001) found that after students completed a comprehensive Web-based orientation course to online learning, student retention in online courses improved significantly.
Another step institutions can take to improve student retention in online courses is to review student support services that are available at their institution. Do online students have online access to academic advising, tutoring, career counseling, library services and resources, bookstore services, and technical support? The University of Texas System developed a centralized student support system infrastructure for distance education at fifteen University of Texas campuses before offering online programs (Robinson, 2001). Completion rates for their online academic programs range from 91-95% (University of Texas, 2007).
Conclusion
High dropout rates among online students are a cause for concern among online instructors and institutions. Instructors who create online courses that are welcoming, engaging, collaborative, and interactive, will address many of the reasons that students drop out of online courses. Institutions also need to find ways to provide comprehensive online student support services along with orientations or workshops to adequately prepare students for online learning. Working together institutions and online instructors can create an online community where the social, academic, and technology needs of students are met, and the dropout rate among online students is effectively reduced.
Author
Margaret C. Mayfield is a graduate student at California State University, East Bay, working toward a M. S. in Education with an option in online teaching and learning. She also holds a M. A. degree in Librarianship and she has worked as a community college faculty librarian for 21 years.
References
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DiRamio, D. & Wolverton, M. (2006). Integrating learning communities and distance education: Possibility or pipedream? Innovative Higher Education, 31(2), 99-113. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database.
Gaskell, A. (2006). Rethinking access, success and student retention in open and distance learning. Open Learning, 21(2), 95-98. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database.
Lynch, M. M. (2001). Effective student preparation for online learning. The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina. Retrieved October 24, 2007, from http://www.technologysource.org/article/effective_student_preparation_for_online_learning/
Oblinger, D. G. (2007). What growing up with Google may mean to graduate education. Communicator, 40(6). Retrieved February 8, 2008, from http://www.cgsnet.org
Overcoming facelessness in the online classroom (2005, November). Online Classroom, 6-8. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database.
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Simpson, O. (2003). Student retention in online, open and distance learning. London: Kogan Page.
Stephens, E. (2005, December). Why communicate with your students? Online Classroom, 1. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database.
University of Texas. (2007). UTTC TeleCampus. Retrieved November 10, 2007, from http://www.telecampus.utsystem.edu
Willging, P. A. & Johnson, S.D. (2004). Factors that influence students’ decision to dropout of online courses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 8(4). Retrieved
January 27, 2008, from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v8n4/v8n4_willging.asp