Perceptions of the Persistent: Engagement and Learning Community in Underrepresented Populations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v22i2.1368Keywords:
Attrition, diversity, engagement, first-generation, gender, learning community, online, orphan, race, retention, social presenceAbstract
In an effort to characterize perceptions of learning community and engagement in relation to success for underrepresented populations of online learners at a public institution in southeastern United States, a survey was conducted in Spring 2016. The results of the survey were paired with institutional data to create a baseline engagement and learning community profile for the online student population, which comprised 22% of total enrollments. The subpopulations of interest were: Age, gender, race/ethnicity, disability, Pell grant eligibility, first-generation, and orphan. For all students, a very strong positive relationship was observed between student perceptions of engagement and learning community and student outcomes (grades). This strong and positive relationship was confirmed across the subpopulations, but there were a few noteworthy exceptions: Hispanic and Black students were more engaged than Whites, but earned lower grades. Younger students and students with disabilities were less engaged than their counterparts, but earned equivalent grades. These patterns corresponded to withdrawal statistics, which revealed a higher percentage of young minority males withdrawing from online courses.
References
Allen, I. E. & Seaman, J. (2015). Grade level: Tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/gradelevel.pdf
Appleton, J. J., Christenson, S. L., & Furlong, M. J. (2008). Student engagement with school: Critical conceptual and methodological issues of the construct. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 369-386.
Appleton, J.J., Christenson, S.L., Kim, D., & Reschly, A. (2006). Measuring cognitive and psychological engagement: Validation of the student engagement instrument. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 427-444.
Aragon, S. & Johnson, E. (2008). Factors influencing completion and noncompletion of community college online courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 22, 146-158.
Arbaugh, J. B. (2000). An exploratory study of the effects of gender on student learning and class participation in an Internet-based MBA course. Management Learning, 31(4), 503-519.
Bean, J. P., & Metzner, B. S. (1985). A conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Review of Educational Research, 55(4), 485-540. http://rer.sagepub.com/content/55/4/485.short
Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery. Evaluation Comment, 1(2), n2.
Braxton, J. M., Hirschy, A. S., & McClendon, S. A. (2011). Understanding and reducing college student departure. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, 30(3). John Wiley & Sons.
Carr, S. (2000). As distance education comes of age, the challenge is keeping the students. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(23), A39-A41. Retrieved from http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.db07.linccweb.org/docview/214706028?accountid=10674
Colorado, J. T., & Eberle, J. (2010). Student demographics and success in online learning environments. Emporia State Research Studies, 46(1), 4-10.
Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE bulletin, 3, 7.
Christenson, S. L., Reschly, A. L., & Wylie, C. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of research on student engagement. Springer Science & Business Media.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper.
DePaolo, C.A. & Wilkinson, K. (2014). Recurrent online quizzes: ubiquitous tools for promoting student presence, participation, and performance. Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects, 10, 75+.
Dixson, M.D. (2010). Creating effective student engagement in online courses: What do students find engaging? Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2), 1-13.
Elo, S. & Kyngas, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107–115.
Fredricks, J. A. (2016). Student engagement, context, and adjustment: Addressing definitional, measurement, and methodological issues. Learning and Instruction, 43, 1-4.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P.C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59-109.
Garrison, R., Anderson, T. & Archer, W. (2010). The first decade of community of inquiry framework: A retrospective. Internet and Higher Education, 13: 5-9.
Garrison, R. & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating cognitive presence in online learning: Interaction is not enough. American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3): 133-148. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15389286ajde1903_2
Hanauer, D., Dibble, E., Fortin, J., & Col, N. F. (2004). Internet use among community college students: Implications in designing healthcare interventions. Journal of American College Health, 52(5), 197-202.
James, S., Swan, K., & Daston, C. (2015). Retention, Progression and the Taking of Online Courses. Online Learning, 20(2). Retrieved from http://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/780
Johnson, R. D. (2011). Gender differences in e-learning: Communication, social presence, and learning outcomes. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 23(1), 79.
Joosten, T. (2015). Thinking systemically: A study of course communication and social processes in face-to-face and online courses. http://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1891&context=etd
Katsinas, S. G., & Moeck, P. (2002). The digital divide and rural community colleges: Problems and prospects. Community College Journal of Research & Practice, 26(3), 207-224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/106689202317245419
Keller, J. M. (2009). Motivational design for learning and performance: The ARCS model approach. Springer Science & Business Media.
Kuh, G. D. (2001). Assessing what really matters to student learning: Inside the National Survey of Student Engagement. Change, 33(3)c, 10-17.
Kuh, G.D., Cruce, T. M., Shoup, R., Kinzie, J., & Gonyea, R. (2008). Unmasking the effects of student engagement on first-year college grades and persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(5), 540-563.
Levy, Y. (2007). Comparing dropouts and persistence in e-learning courses. Computers & Education, 48, 185-204.
Liu, S., Gomez, J., & Yen, C. (2009). Community college online course retention and final grade: Predictability of social presence. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(2), 165-182.
Lokken, F. (2015). Distance education survey results. Tracking the impact of e-learning at community colleges. Washington: Instructional Technology Council.
Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. ETR&D, 3, 43-59. http://mdavidmerrill.com/Papers/firstprinciplesbymerrill.pdf
Moody, J. (2004). Distance education: Why are the attrition rates so high? Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 5(3), 205-210,228. Retrieved from http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.db07.linccweb.org/docview/231068512?accountid=10674
Moore, M. (1989). Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1–6.
Muse, H. E. (2003). A persistence issue: Predicting the at-risk student in community college Web-based classes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
National Center for Educational Statistics. (2001). Low-income students: Who they are and how they pay for their education. Postsecondary Statistical Analysis Reports. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000169.pdf
Newell, C. C. (2007). Learner characteristics as predictors of online course completion among nontraditional technical college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Park, J. & Choi, H. (2009). Factors influencing adult learners’ decision to drop out or persist in online learning. Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 207-217.
Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P.T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. https://edocs.uis.edu/Departments/LIS/Course_Pages/LIS301/papers/How_college_effects_students_534-545.pdf
Petrocelli, J. (2003). Hierarchical multiple regression in counseling research: Common problems and possible remedies. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 36, 9-22.
Rovai, A.P. (2002). Building sense of community at a distance. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 3(1). http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/79
Rovai, A.P. (2002). Sense of community, perceived cognitive learning, and persistence in asynchronous learning networks. Internet and Higher Education, 5, 319-332. http://debdavis.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/91768812/rovai-2002-sense%20of%20community.pdf
Rovai, A.P. (2003). In search of higher persistence rates in distance education online programs. Internet and Higher Education, 6, 1-16. http://cmapspublic2.ihmc.us/rid=1150160110784_1923299501_2758/rovai%202003%20persistence%20in%20de%20and%20online%20ed-%20theory.pdf
Shea, P., & Bidjerano, T. (2014). Does online learning impede degree completion? A national study of community college students. Computers & Education, 75, 103-111.
State University System Board of Governors (2015). Online education: 2025 strategic plan. http://www.flbog.edu/about/taskforce/strategic_planning_online_ed.php
Swan, K. (2001). Virtual interaction: Design factors affecting student satisfaction and perceived learning in asynchronous online courses. Distance Education, 22(2), 306-331.
Terenzini, P. T., Cabrera, A. F., & Bernal, E. M. (2001). Swimming against the tide: The poor in American higher education. Research Report No. 2001-1. College Entrance Examination Board. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED562879.pdf
Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2nd ed.
Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623.
Tinto, V. (2006). Research and practice of student retention: What next?. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 8(1), 1-19.
Tsai, M. J., Liang, J. C., Hou, H. T., & Tsai, C. C. (2015). Males are not as active as females in online discussion: Gender differences in face-to-face and online discussion strategies. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology,31(3), 263-277.
Tu, C. H., & McIsaac, M. (2002). The relationship of social presence and interaction in online classes. The American journal of distance education, 16(3), 131-150.
Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2011). Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 31. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.
Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2013). Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas. CCRC Working Paper No. 54. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.
Zhao, C. M. & Kuh, G. H. (2004). Adding value: Learning communities and student engagement. Research in Higher Education, 45(2), 115-138.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
As a condition of publication, the author agrees to apply the Creative Commons – Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY) License to OLJ articles. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This licence allows anyone to reproduce OLJ articles at no cost and without further permission as long as they attribute the author and the journal. This permission includes printing, sharing and other forms of distribution.
Author(s) hold copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restrictions
