Data Driven Retention Strategies for Online Students

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Data Driven Retention Strategies for Online
Students
2003 League CIT
Dr. Jeffrey P. BartkovichMarie J.
FetznerOctober 21, 2003
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Purpose of Presentation

• Provide an overview of MCCs online research
  agenda
• Review research that impacts online student
  retention
• Services
• Policies
• Discuss online retention strategies that are
  informed by research data

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MCCs Online Program

• Joined SUNY Learning Network (SLN) in 1997
• Fall 2002 1,716 non-duplicated headcount
• 44.2 FT 59.8 PT
• 37.4 online only 62.6 OL and other
• OL represents 10.7 of MCCs enrollment
• 71.3 Female 28.7 Male
• Over 120 course sections

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MCCs Online Research Agenda

• Level 1 Descriptive
• Basic demographics
• Basic production
• Basic enrollment
• Basic finance

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MCCs Online Research Agenda

• Level 2 Evaluative
• Basic performance
• Student and faculty satisfaction
• Integration with campus IR
• Modify existing surveys to fit

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MCCs Online Research Agenda

• Level 3 Comparative
• Statewide benchmarks
• National benchmarks
• Complete surveys-be a case study
• Level 4 Theoretical
• External in the literature
• Internal on the campus

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Data-Driven Retention Strategies

• Part I Services
• Characteristics and Attitudes of Non-Retained
  Online Students
• Office of Educational Technology Services
• Monroe Community College
• Jeff Bartkovich and Marie Fetzner

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The Problem

• Why are certain MCC online students (those with
  grades of F/W) not succeeding in their online
  courses?

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MCCs Online Retention Research

• Archival Data Analysis
• Past three years grades and demographics for
  students in online courses retrieved from student
  records database
• Student Survey
• Survey created and administered to sample of
  students who received an F or W in an online
  course for the Fall semester in 2000, 2001 and
  2002

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Study Limitations

• Overall response rate is lowdifficulty in
  obtaining responses from the target population
  (contact information)
• Small sample size (especially for Hispanic and
  Asian students)
• Ability to generalize
• Good News feedback was received from
  non-retained online students

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Basic Student Demographics OL and Site-based, By
Percent

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Overall Grade DistributionOL vs. Site-based, By
Percent

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Grade RatesOL vs. Site-based, Fall Semester

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Success Rates in Comparable Online and
Traditional Courses
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Top 10 Reasons for MCC Non-retained OL students

• When asked to identify the one reason why they
  were not successful in their online course,
  students reported that they
• Couldnt handle the balance between school and
  other responsibilities (15)
• Got behind, couldnt catch up (13)
• Course was too unstructured (13)
• Lacked the needed computer skills (13)
• Personal problems (10)

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Top 10 Reasons, cont

• Course was too hard (9)
• Lacked motivation (5)
• Course took too much time (5)
• Space opened up in a campus-based class (5)
• Didnt like the instructors teaching style (3)

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Reasons for Taking an OL Course

• Reasons for Taking Course Online
• Conflict with Personal Schedule 49
• Family Responsibilities 23
• Distance or Transportation 10
• Other 10
• Course Not Offered on Campus 5
• Interest in Technology/Internet 3
  Retained Students

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Reasons for Taking an OL Course MCC vs. all
other SUNY Students

• PRIMARY Reason MCC SUNY
• Personal Schedule Conflict 49 31
• Family Responsibilities 23 16
• Distance or Transportation 10 20
• Other 10 12
• Not Offered On Campus 5 15
• Interactive Technology 3 7
• Retained Students

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Retention Data

• Conducting further analysis to investigate the
  relationship between online student reasons for
  non-success, and satisfaction variables for
  successful online students
• Services that were implemented as a result of the
  retention study to be discussed after information
  is presented in Part II

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Data-Driven Retention Strategies

• Part II - Policies
• An Analysis of SLN Students Performance and
  Differentiation
• Office of Institutional Research
• Monroe Community College
• Angel Andreu

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The Problem

• It is observed that the failure and withdrawal
  (F/W) grades for online students are increasing
  in number and percentage.

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The Observation

• Percentage of F/W Grades, Fall Semester
• 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
• Online 19 25 26 30 30
• College 17 20 21 21 21
• N in 1998 was 409 2002 was 2,473

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The Research

• Previous research identified characteristics of
  students at risk of F/W grades in online courses.
  These were
• First time students
• Full-time students with less than 30 earned
  credits
• Students under the age of 25
• Minority students

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The Research

• The MCC Andreu study affirmed these
  characteristics and looked specifically at
• Time of registration
• Basic academic skills

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The Data Time of Registration

• Only 7 of the C or better students registered
  during the first week of classes, compared to 16
  of the F/W students
• Students who registered during the first week of
  classes had a 50/50 chance of earning a grade of
  C or better
• The odds of getting C or better decreased by 13
  for each week closer to the first week of classes

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The Data Age

• 65 of the F/W grades were among students under
  the age of 25
• Between the ages of 21 and 22, a student had a
  50/50 chance of earning a C or better

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The Data Age
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The DataAge and Time of Registration

• Age and time of registration are each significant
  contributors to grade performance
• Their interaction is not significant
• The best chance of getting a C or better
• Register 5 weeks before the start of the semester
• Be age 25 or above

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The Data Experience(i.e. number of accumulated
credit hours)

• The rate of F/W grades between first and second
  year students is significant
• Experience is not significant when combined with
  age or time of registration

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The Data Part/Full Time Status

• Part/Full time status is not significant
• The interaction of status and age was significant

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The DataPart/Full Time Status
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The DataBasic Academic Skills

• MCCs ACCUPLACER tool
• The variables used included reading and sentence
  scores
• The metrics are placement scores at the college
  English level (78 for reading, 83 for sentences)

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The DataBasic Academic Skills

• For students to have a 50/50 chance of earning a
  C or better in an online course, their basic
  academic skills should be at the college English
  level

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What Does the Analysis Show?

• Factors important to success in online courses
• Time of registration
• The age of the student
• The academic preparedness of the student

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What Does the Analysis Show?

• Factors in the decision model
• College is enrollment driven
• The online program is supporting enrollment
  growth
• The demographics of enrollment growth for the
  College are the same demographics of non-success
  in online courses

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What Does the Analysis Show?

• Policy Factors
• Should policy account for motivation
• At what odds of failure do we restrict
  enrollment
• Should online growth be allowed to continue to
  support college enrollment growth
• What is the balance between student success and
  online enrollment growth

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Policy Development 1

• In all cases, a student with an ACCUPLACER score
  below 78 (reading) and/or 83 (sentence) is
  prohibited from taking an online course at MCC.
  
• This prohibition is lifted at such time that the
  student successfully completes the Transitional
  Studies coursework appropriate to address the
  deficiency.
• All online sections will be closed to
  registration one week before the start of class.
  Qualified students (see definition on next slide)
  who wish to enroll after this date will be
  allowed to green slip in until the Colleges
  Add deadline.

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Policy Development 1

• Qualified students include mature students with a
  record of success in college-level coursework.
  Student must also have satisfactory ACCUPLACER
  scores to have successfully completed the
  Transitional Studies coursework appropriate to
  address any deficiency. Students who have
  successfully completed an online course
  previously are also considered qualified. Note
  that data indicate that students 22 years old or
  older have a significantly greater chance of
  success in online coursework.

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Policy Development 2

• Considerations
• Forget policy, make it a course prerequisite
• Must be programmable
• Cannot rely upon faculty involvement for
  exceptions due to availability
• Does resolution of the online problem become a
  standard

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Policy Development 3

• Draft X
• Students in remedial English courses are
  prohibited from enrolling in online courses
• All registrations for online courses are closed
  on the first day of classes

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Research to Inform PracticeStudent Advice

• Question to online students who received F/W
  grade on their online course
• What advice would you give a fellow student
  considering registering for an online course?

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Research to Inform Practice Student Advice

• Results Top Five Topics
• Be ready for independent learning. Must be
  self-motivated.
• Once you get started, stay on track.
• Online courses require lots of reading, homework
  and research. Get ready for the demands.
• Must develop a schedule to go online, must manage
  your time.
• Talk to other people, other students before you
  take the class and during the class

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Research to Inform PracticeStudent Advice

• Practical Use of Online Student Advice
• Integrate into brochures, orientation seminars
• Do mock testimonies for video displays
• Share with Counseling and Advising staff
• Share with Faculty

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Research to Inform PracticeManaging Services

• Manage the Expectations
• Additional pre-start information sharing
• Additional orientations offered
• Manage the Support Services
• Greater integration with support team
• Additional points of access to services
• Manage the Academics
• Faculty course design issues and training
• Emphasis on multiple interactions

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Research to Inform PracticeManaging Services

• Manage the Expectations
• Welcome Letter from Academic Vice President has
  been expanded
• Face-to-face student orientations offered
• MCC Online Orientation CD distributed
• Phone Calls made to all Fall 2002 Online Students
  and 1st-time Spring 2003 Online
  Studentsadditional analysis conducted

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Research to Inform PracticeManaging Services

• Manage the Support Services
• Student Services web page expansion
• Revisions made to the service gateway to online
  learning web page
• Brochures at Records and Registration and at the
  Counseling Center

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Research to Inform PracticeManaging Services

• Manage the Academics
• Retention strategies integrated into faculty
  trainings
• Discipline-specific retention studies
• Discussions on other academic supportonline
  tutoring, writing centers, etc.
• Pilot test CourseSpace (use of online template
  for web course enhancement)

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Research to Inform PracticeOn-campus Orientation

• Question
• Is there value to an on-campus orientation
  course for online performance?

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Research to Inform PracticeOn-campus Orientation

• On-Campus Orientation Results
• Most students felt they had the necessary skills
  to be successful
• Skill preparation is not related to performance
• Students who attended the on-campus program were
  more likely to earn a C or better
• C/Better F/W
• On-campus Orientation 78 18
• Online Orientation only 64 30

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Research to Inform PracticeOn-campus Orientation

• To Continue the Course
• Practice Demonstration Course
• Structure not Skills
• Market the grade differential
• Keep faculty involved in the program to provide
  authentic experience

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Research to Inform PracticeOn-campus Orientation

• Question How do you define retention?
• It depends
• Researchtwo basic presentations
• As an enrollment statistic
• As a performance indicator
• Policy
• Be consistent, clarify your statistics

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Defining the Retention and Withdrawal Rates
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Online Retention Rates
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Defining the Retention and Withdrawal Rates
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Withdrawal RatesAll MCC and Online
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Next StepsThings to Consider

• Services
• Policies
• Definition of Retention for data collection
• Replicate studies at other institutions

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Contact Information

• Dr. Jeffrey P. Bartkovichjbartkovich_at_monroecc
  .edu
• Marie J. Fetznermfetzner_at_monroecc.edu
• MCC Web Page www.monroecc.edu
• MCC Online Learning pagehttp//www.monroecc.edu/
  depts/distlearn/index.htm