ONLINE STUDENT

RETENTION: ASSESSING WHY

STUDENTS STAY AND WHY THEY LEAVE

Mark L. Parker, Associate Professor/Academic Director, UMUC
mparker@umuc.edu

Agenda
Online Postsecondary Teaching & Learning in the
U.S.
Student Success & Retention
Overview of UMUC: online programs, students, &
retention issues
Examples of success & retention initiatives
Template for evaluating your institutions retention
environment





But first. . .
INTRODUCTIONS
Please chat in the letter of the statement below that best reflects
your institution's current situation regarding a formal online
student retention process.
A. We have nothing formal in place. We are just starting the
discussion.
B. We have started to develop a plan (e.g., we have formed a
committee; we have surveyed faculty and/or students).
C. Weve developed a plan but havent yet implemented any
retention/success initiatives.
D. Weve developed a plan and have retention/success
initiatives underway.
E. Other (give us a brief description of where you are)




Online Postsecondary Education
According to Sloan-ALN, in 2010:
4.6 million students in the U.S. took at least one
online postsecondary course (up 17% from the
previous year);
> 20% of all U.S. higher ed students took at least
one online course.

Online has grown at 19.7% annually (on average)
over the last 5 years (by contrast, overall growth was
1.6 %),


Who are They?
A very diverse group
Somewhat more likely to be:
Older, P/T students, at least P/T workers
First-in-Family college students
Speakers of ESL/EFL
Coming to you with clearer, more pragmatic goals
Pursuing a second credential (or none at all)

Why are they choosing online?

In almost all cases, convenience
Working during the day
Commuting
Family obligations
Proximity to a higher education institution

Student Success & Retention

Now a principal issue in the academy nationwide

Financial aid implications (the new Higher
Education Act)

Affordability

Social implications (e.g. the Achievement Gap)

Student Success & Retention

The Current Approach

Student = Young (18-22 y.o.), resident, F/T,
largely face-to-face courses
Success = Course, Term & Degree Completion
Rates
Retention = Time-to-Degree; returning students;
first-to-second year reenrollment rates
(undergrad); etc.

Student Success & Retention

The Current Approach

Somewhat appropriate for institutions with such
students
Far less appropriate for institutions with
significant numbers of non-traditional students
taking online or hybrid/blended courses


An Example: UMUC
University of Maryland University College

Public institution (part of a state university
system)
Mission: offer higher educational opportunities to
adult students in Maryland, the U.S., and abroad
Extensive use of online course, program, and
services delivery:
In 2011: of 316,348 worldwide enrollments 234,243
were online (headcount = 96,342)



UMUCs Online Students
No surprises here. . .

Median Age = 32
58% are women
44% minorities (35% African-American)
92% work at least P/T
At least 15% are SESL/SEFL
Almost 50% of undergrads are First-in-Family



Why do they stay?
Because they tend to be:
Highly motivated
Pursuing a clear goal
Good at time and task management

And because we provide them with a full package
of online support services:
Technology
Library
Student services


Support Services
Digital Library Services include:
> 230 journal databases (most full-text)
24/7 access to librarians
Training in the use of digital library resources
Technology Services include:
24/7 Helpdesk (chat, phone, e-mail)
Training/orientation in use of LMS and other technologies
Student Services include:
Student Portal (application, registration, advising, FA)
Allied services (e.g. online Effective Writing Center)


Why do they leave?

In a word, BARRIERS
Personal (jobs, health, families)
Financial (availability of tuition remission & FA)
Academic (prior education, technology fluency)

The institution can help students overcome some
(but by no means all) of these barriers
Some examples from UMUC and other
institutions
First, lets define our terms:

Retention = Persistence + Success
Persistence: The continuation by a student in a course for
which she is registered and in which she is maintaining
satisfactory academic progress.
Success: The completion of a course and subsequent receipt
of a passing or satisfactory grade (enabling continuation in
future academic sessions)

(Youll notice that the above definitions address courses, but
the same framework can be applied to programs)
Some examples from UMUC and other
institutions
For purposes of gathering data and analyzing
retention rates:
Persistence is usually signified by a grade other than
W or its equivalent.
Success is usually signified by a grade equal to or
surpassing the institutions minimum level of
satisfactory academic progress (a grade other than
F or Unsat. [U] at the undergraduate level)

Therefore attrition, which is the opposite of
retention, is often calculated as W + F

Some examples from UMUC
UMUCs Formal Retention Initiative
Begun in 2001
Managed by a Steering Committee consisting of the
Provost (chair) and representatives of:
The Schools
Student Affairs/Services
Library
Financial Aid Office
Budget Office
Institutional Research

Some examples from UMUC
The Process at UMUC
1. Gather and analyze data
2. Where attrition is high, identify potential
barriers to persistence & success
3. Develop and carry out interventions to help
students overcome barriers
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions

Some examples from UMUC
UMUC Example 1
In 2003 we discovered that attrition of online
students who enrolled in 1
st
week of class was 13%
higher than that of students who enrolled at least 1
week prior to start of class.
Faculty confirmed that late registrants were
unprepared (e.g. textbooks, technology)
We eliminated the option to register during 1
st

week (except for drop/add)



Some Examples from UMUC
Example 2
In 2003 we found that the attrition rate of new online
students was significantly higher than that of
returning online students.
We also found the number of contacts with the
technology help desk by new students was
significantly higher than those of returning students.
Faculty confirmed that new students were reporting
problems using the LMS.
We implemented a mandatory orientation session
for new online students.
Examples from other institutions
A 2-year Institution
Of the 10 most common 100-level general ed
courses, PSY 100s attrition rate was 58% (average
of other courses was 24%)
Analysis revealed that the course was designed for
majors and had a heavy quantitative research
component
The department created a new 100-level course
more suitable for non-majors

Examples from other institutions
A 4-year Public Institution
(This one is a cautionary tale. . .)
Launched an initiative to re-enroll drop-outs (students
who hadnt registered for class for more than the
allowed 3-semester stop-out period)
Expensive telephone/e-mail/snail-mail blitz to drop-
outs
Re-enrollment rate for 4- to 6-semester drop-outs was
51% (good ROI)
Re-enrollment rate for > 6-semester drop-outs was 9%
(poor ROI)
If theyre out too long, not worth going after them.

Examples from other institutions
A 4-year Private Institution
(Another cautionary tale. . .)
Retention rates across masters programs
averaged 63%, but MBA was almost 96%!
MBA was a cohort-based, lock-step accelerated
program with a boot camp foundational course
Institution attempted to modify other masters
programs to resemble MBA; for a variety of
reasons, it didnt work
Lesson learned? There are no silver bullets.


Bringing it all together

Lets look at a possible framework for you to use at
your institution.
First principles:
The primacy of mission
The role that online teaching & learning play in helping to
fulfill that mission
The extent to which the institution can reasonably help
students to overcome barriers to persistence & success
The extent to which all organizations within the institution
participate in the retention initiative




The Template Document

It is one of many possible guides
Its purpose is to get you and your colleagues
talking about key issues related to retention at
your institution
It is not carved in stone; modify it to suit your
institution, its mission, and its involvement in
online teaching & learning
If used, it should be updated periodically to reflect
changes in the institution, the technology, etc.





The Framework
Stage I: The Background
Mission
Online teaching & learning
Data
Stage II: The Process
Determine student characteristics
Identify barriers
Develop & pilot initiatives
Measure results and modify



Best Practices
. . . or, stuff we learned (usually the hard way) at UMUC

1. Ensure that any retention initiatives are institution-
wide efforts (i.e. involve all actual or potential
stakeholders)
2. Pilot the initiatives first
3. Use empirical data for decision-making
4. To the extent possible, aim for scalability
5. Use a student-centered approach





A Note about Benchmarking
Its tempting to want to conduct external
benchmarking for retention/success
If you choose to do so, think carefully about
whether or not you do in fact have any peer institutions
with regard to online teaching & learning;
whether or not you can obtain reliable retention data from
your peer institutions; and
whether or not such data will really tell you anything
useful about your institution.




Wrap Up
1. Online teaching & learning is here to stay.
2. It allows you to serve not only more students but
different types of students.
3. Those students have different needs when it
comes to ensuring persistence and success.
4. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions; youll have
to innovate and experiment based on what you
learn from your data.
5. Despite some of the challenges, this is very much
worth doing!




Thank you very much, and I would love
to hear your questions/comments!

If you have questions or comments after today:

mparker@umuc.edu