STUDENT ISSUES IN DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS: DO INTER-INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAMS OFFER STUDENTS MORE CONFUSION OR MORE OPPORTUNITIES?

Authors

  • Susan Fey
  • Mary Emery
  • Cornelia Flora

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v12i3-4.1685

Keywords:

Inter-institutional, Five Pillars, Retention, Student Success, Drop outs

Abstract

The Community Development Master's Program is an inter-institutional, trans-disciplinary degree program that began in 2005 online at five participating universities in the North Central region. This article discusses outcomes of interviews with current and past students in the program to determine if a multi-institutional program, versus a program run by one university, makes for more or different struggles and/or opportunities for the online learner. Sloan-C's five pillars for online learning are used to frame the findings. Through qualitative data collection and analysis, researchers in this study worked to find out if having more institutions involved in a distance education program caused students to leave the program, or if it measured up similarly to online programs offered by one university, in terms of student challenges.

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Published

2019-02-09

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 3-4 (2008)

Section

Empirical Studies

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