Teaching with Technology

Adult learners have consistently been heavy users of distance education because of other demands on their time. While adult student retention has always been a concern, some community colleges (home for many adult learners), have reported substantially higher drop-out rates for online adult learners than for comparable in-class students.

Steven Aragon and Elaine Johnson surveyed 305 distance education students at a Midwestern rural community college. Roughly 1/3 (116) of the students did not complete the courses successfully, having withdrawn, dropped, or failed the course. The remaining 189 completed the courses with at least a grade of ‘D’. They had two questions as the focus for the study, a comparison of various demographic characteristics as well as the students’ own reasons for non-completion.

Only three demographic characteristics were found to have reliable correlations with success. Female students had a higher success rate as did those with a higher GPA. Interestingly enough, students enrolled in more online courses also had higher completion rates. Student age, ethnicity, and financial aid eligibility had no correlation. One-third of the students contacted for follow-up studies said they failed to complete the courses for personal reasons, while almost half blamed the course design, technology, or communications issues.

Although performed on a small group of students in a unique environment, I think this study may have relevance to some of the work I am doing and I am going to attempt to track down information on drop-out rates for the courses with which I am involved. I have been tracking student persistence within distanced education programs, but have not reviewed withdrawal or grade information.

Aragon, S. R., & Johnson, E. S. (2008). Factors Influencing Completion and Noncompletion of Community College Online Courses. American Journal of Distance Education, 22(3), 146. doi: 10.1080/08923640802239962.