Abstract
This paper focuses on an assessment of an online certification program in K–12 library media which has a near-perfect record of retaining students. Students and graduates of the program were asked to identify reasons for enrolling (and staying enrolled) in the program as well as functions that faculty performed well. These reasons were drawn upon three theoretical models of student retention: Tinto, Bean and Metzner, the Community of Inquiry Model, plus advantages of online programs. Openended questions and Likert-style items provide some support for the academic integration portion of Tinto’s retention model, Bean and Metzner’s retention model for adult non-traditional students, and the importance of the program being available online in explaining why students stayed. Open-ended questions and Likert-style items also support the use of the Community of Inquiry model as a way of identifying what faculty did well in the program and perhaps contributed to the students’ willingness to stay enrolled in the program.
Highlights
This paper will explore why 60 of 62 students enrolled in and either completed or remain enrolled in a 21credit or seven-course online certification program in library media offered by Montana State UniversityBozeman (MSU)
While there are additional theories, these three were chosen because Tinto has focused on reasons for student attrition [6], Bean and Metzner focused on adult learners [7], and the Community of Inquiry [8, 23, 24, 25] focused on online learning
The Tinto model may not be completely appropriate for explaining the retention of the adult students in the online certification program that is the focus of this study
Summary
This paper will explore why 60 of 62 students enrolled in and either completed or remain enrolled in a 21credit or seven-course online certification program in library media offered by Montana State UniversityBozeman (MSU). The program, originally developed as part of a Learning Anytime, Anywhere Partnership (LAAP) grant, offered its first course in Fall term, 2001 and since that time, only two students have dropped out of the certification program due to job changes and family financial concerns This success was intriguing to the funding agency as well as the program personnel, and an in-depth evaluation of the reasons for this near-perfect record of retaining students was undertaken. These projects improved “drop-failure-withdrawal” (DFW) rates from 28% to 19% in an introductory psychology course at the University of Southern Maine, from 49% to 38% in a computer programming course at Drexel University, from 45% to 11% in a fine arts course at Florida Gulf Coast University, from 39% to 25% in an introductory sociology course at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Given such variation in experience with retention rates, it remains important to ask what keeps online students enrolled?. It does assess the extent to which various theories of retention can be applied to this special group of adult students with near-perfect retention in an online certification program
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