Chickering's Seven Principles of Good Practice: Student Attrition in Community College Online Courses

As online enrollments escalate, so does concern about student attrition rates. There is an abundance of literature addressing student success in online courses, particularly using constructivist learning theories to create engaging learning experiences. Also emerging from the literature is the Seven principles of good instructional practice by Checkering and Gamson as an accepted rubric for evaluating effective online instruction. This study focused on whether the use of instructional strategies as measured by the seven principles had an effect on student attrition rates in online courses. Full and part-time faculty at three community colleges in Virginia who taught online course(s) in the last three semesters completed an online survey to determine the extent to which they used instructional strategies reflecting the constructivist-based seven principles in their online courses. Scores from the survey were then compared to the attrition rates in their courses. Results indicated both groups strongly used instructional strategies reflecting the seven principles of good practice in their online courses with full-time faculty scores ranging a bit higher. When the results for the principles were examined individually rather than as a set, both groups scored lower on principles reflecting innovative instructional strategies. No relation between the extent to which faculty reported using those instructional strategies and student success as measured by attrition rates were found. However, a moderate relation was found with the third principle, “encourage active learning.” This indicated that faculty who made strides toward actively engaging students found some success in reducing student attrition.     

Controlling the didactic relation: a case in process engineering education

A case study was conducted during 1994–2013 on several groups of process engineering students to see what was needed to transform a single course from a teacher-centred to a student-centred learning environment (SCLE). Development work was done incrementally, using Herbart's didactic triangle as a theoretical framework. The effects of the changes in learning environment were analysed using quantitative (student attendance, pass rate, attrition, grades) and qualitative data (student feedback). Guiding the didactic relation, i.e. the studying done by students, by continuous assessment was found to be very useful. Using SCLEs that emphasise student responsibility and activity in learning has been found in this case to enhance student learning considerably.     

A Learning-to-learn Program in a First-year Chemistry Class

This article describes a national teaching project which set out to address the problem of high student attrition and failure in a first-year introductory chemistry topic, through the introduction of a student-focused learning-to-learn program presented in context and which uses authentic course materials. The program focused on developing students' understanding of the learning process and of their own learning, both in general and in chemistry in particular. As part of the project the student approach to learning was evaluated and monitored by use of the Biggs study process questionnaire (SPQ). Results indicate that students who participated in the program were less inclined to engage only in surface learning activities, achieved better assessment outcomes and persisted with their studies. The 1997 class as a whole showed an overall increase in pass rate and a decline in attrition rate compared to the 1996 cohort. SPQ scale scores were generally not powerful predictors of academic success but positive correlation was observed with the deep approach and achieving approach scales for the third SPQ trial period.     

The problem of student attrition in higher education: An alternative perspective

Student attrition continues to be a significant and costly challenge for higher education institutions across the globe. In Australia, universities cite the importance of addressing student attrition through strategic statements and policy documents, and expend time and resources on the problem. Despite vast expenditures, they have made little impact on student attrition, which continues to negatively impact reputation and revenue. Using a regional Australian university as a case study, this paper analyses a student exit survey to identify the complex and inter-related array of factors that contribute to student attrition. It was found that attrition would be better conceptualised as a wicked problem, which is one that cannot be strategically addressed using traditional approaches to problem-solving. The practical implications of these findings reinforce that current approaches to attrition are likely to fail. Therefore, the wicked nature of the attrition problem needs to be taken into account when developing strategies or policies within higher education.     

Creating a connection: tackling student attrition through curriculum development

The issue of student attrition (where students leave a programme of study for any reason) is maintaining a high profile across the higher education sector and is a key concern for those delivering nurse education. Many authors have pointed out the cause for concern that student nurse attrition raises and its impact on the higher education institution (HEI), on the student body generally, on partners in practice, and on the student who leaves. The reasons that student nurses leave their programmes of study are similar to the reasons that other students leave (financial, personal, academic, lack of support, etc). For student nurses there are also issues with their experiences in practice. It is clear that with all student attrition, the reasons for leaving are complex in nature. It must be accepted that there are some issues that cannot be addressed by HEIs, but that ways to tackle attrition and to enhance student retention must be high on the agenda of any education provider. Individual programmes of study can utilise approaches to curriculum development that aim to enhance the student experience. The introduction of an enquiry‐based learning strand to the curriculum of one pre‐registration nursing programme aims to address some of the reasons for student attrition, namely: lack of support, poor academic performance, lack of study skills, disillusionment and low motivation, lack of confidence, and the theory‐practice gap resulting in stressful practice experiences. Enquiry‐based learning (EBL) is not seen as a panacea for student attrition, but it is seen as a positive way in which to enhance the student experience.     

Exploring the influences of MOOC design features on student performance and persistence

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) face persistent challenges related to student performance, including high rates of attrition and low student achievement scores. Previous studies that have examined the performance of students in MOOCs have done so using qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis of small samples. This study is the first to examine general course features of MOOCs on a large scale and to quantify the influences of these course features on student performance. Informed by the theory of web-based online instruction, this study used two-stage K-means clustering to analyze more than 200 MOOCs that had enrolled about 300,000 students, identifying three patterns of course features among the MOOCs. A MANOVA test and follow-up statistical tests revealed that these patterns of course features influenced the MOOCs’ dropout rates and student achievement scores to statistically different degrees. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

“Problems and Methods in Research”: A Course for the Beginning Researcher in the Social Sciences

The conventional single‐supervisor model of postgraduate teaching has shown itself to be deficient in a number of areas. In this paper, it is argued that a useful supplement to this model would be a course on problems and methods in research for the beginning researcher. The authors describe their experiences with such a course at Griffith University. Evaluation suggests that the course can provide not only formal research guidance, but also a support system of staff and fellow‐students which can serve to reduce the intellectual isolation of the postgraduate student. This may lead to lower attrition rates and improve the performance and productivity of the postgraduate student.     

Accounting for Student Attrition in Power Calculations: Benchmarks and Guidance

Abstract

Although the research methodology literature includes empirical benchmarks for effect sizes and intraclass correlations to help researchers determine adequate sample sizes through power analysis, it does not include similar benchmarks that would assist proper planning for attrition. To help fill this void, this paper describes how researchers can incorporate student attrition in power analyses and provides empirical benchmarks for the amount of attrition one might expect when conducting a school-based study that follows students over multiple years. The paper incorporates parameters for student attrition in common minimum detectable effect size calculations, presents attrition benchmarks based on student mobility rates in nationally representative longitudinal surveys, and presents benchmarks based on a synthesis of published evaluation studies. The paper includes a demonstration of how researchers can use the attrition benchmarks to take student attrition into account in a power analysis.     

Factors affecting student success at the National Open University of Venezuela

This study analyzed the effect of selected variables on attrition in the Introductory Course of the National Open University of Venezuela. The findings suggested that noninstitutional variables accounted for the largest proportion of variance of student completion. Counseling and course redesign may enhance students’ motivation to persist successfully.     

Identifying at‐risk students in videoconferencing and web‐based distance education

Abstract

Based on the multivariate framework of student attrition developed by leading researchers in the field of distance education and instructional technology, this study centers on a method of assessing the ability of a student to complete a distance learning course. The focus of the investigation is construction and validation of a brief survey instrument to identify at‐risk students enrolled in Web‐based and videoconferencing courses.     

Situational leadership applied to the dissertation process

For more than 40 years, concern has been expressed over the attrition rate of students in Ph.D. programs in American universities. Although there are a number of significant factors at work, attrition of doctoral students in sciences such as anatomy may lead to a dearth of trained teaching anatomists as well as research scientists in the anatomical sciences. Failure to complete the Ph.D. process including the dissertation carries a high cost, not only to the students who fail to complete their programs, but also to society at large due to the expenditure of scarce education resources. A variety of factors have been examined in the various studies, but two stands out of major interest for this article: student personality factors such as perseverance and the level of faculty mentoring/support to the students during the graduate education process. A new approach to providing faculty support based on the needs of the individual student is presented in this article. Situational Leadership® has been developed over the past 40 years by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard and their associates. This leadership model is unique in that when it is applied to the dissertation process, it requires the faculty member to determine the readiness level of the graduate student. Because each student is a unique individual, the faculty mentor assesses each student based on the specific task at hand in order to provide the appropriate style of mentorship each student requires. Anat Sci Ed 1:194–198, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Exploring relatedness to field of study as an indicator of student retention

Currently, tertiary education student retention is an important concern for universities. Prior research suggests that course completion depends on a number of factors, many of which are recalcitrant to intervention. This paper explores one factor: student relatedness to their chosen course and profession, as evidenced within two education courses. The analysis of survey and focus group data from first year, semester one students has found that the respondents relate to their course and their profession more idealistically than pragmatically. We suggest that relative unawareness of the realities of teaching might retain students in the early years, only to cause attrition when harsher realities of classrooms set in during the later years of their course. Two possible interventions are considered: post‐structurally‐derived critical reflection and peer mentoring in the hope that they will facilitate a blend of idealism and pragmatism that will sustain students to course completion and entry into their profession.     

In-class examinations in college-level science: New theory,new practice

Every faculty member knows that exams drive student behavior. Testing and grading are part of every course, but generally of lesser importance to faculty members than course content itself. Recently, instructional methods and pedagogy. But as issues of grade inflation, student attrition, accountability, and authentic assessment grow in importance, we see some interesting innovations in testing methods and some interesting innovations. The authors are publishing a collection of some of these as described in their own words, by faculty themselves. Two questions underlie the study: 1) why is it so difficult to change tests and testing traditions in college-level science and 2) will the enormous efforts underway to reform pedagogy and curriculum in these disciplines have any lasting effect if testing does not have a prominent place on the reform agenda?     

The middle years slump: addressing student-reported barriers to academic progress

First-year university student attrition has been widely explored. However, there is a gap in our understanding when it comes to later years. Why do students who successfully navigate the hurdles of transition into university become at risk of exclusion in the middle years of study because of poor academic progress? This qualitative project develops a student-centred understanding of the problem of attrition through academic failure. It investigates the reasons given by students wishing to avoid involuntary exclusion from their course. Specifically, we address why middle-year students say they fail when they wish to succeed by examining self-reports. We find six main self-reported themes in three categories. The problems faced by mid-degree undergraduates are broader and more complex than those encountered in the first year. Our findings contrast with previous work on first-year attrition, which found that negative expectations of their own ability to succeed were a major factor in students’ decisions to drop out, although our study is constructed differently in that we analyse people wishing to continue their studies. The results expand our understanding of student involuntary attrition in the middle years. The overarching major issues in the themes we identified were financial, family/personal issues and health problems. In particular, mental health issues were remarkably apparent. This has significant implications for future student support. We find that there are commonly multiple reasons underlying each student’s at-risk status and provide suggestions for managers of programs that help students succeed.     

The influence of student problems on student withdrawal decisions: An autopsy on “autopsy” studies

The influence of student problems, which are often cited by students as reasons for withdrawal, is compared with the influence of constructs derived from Tinto's student attrition model. The findings suggest that data from post-hoc attrition studies should be used cautiously.The authors are listed in alphabetical order. Each author contributed equally to the article.     

The Reading Lab: ‘failure’, dynamic teaching and reflective practice in growing the skill of reading

ABSTRACT

University educators have observed the concurrent problems of student attrition, higher than normal or desired failure rates and students struggling to complete assessable and non-assessable work, for instance, set readings. Recent public commentary has pointed to the widening participation agenda with its lowering of university entrance scores and consequent increase in university places as factors contributing to the problem: many students are entering university without the preparation or dispositions that helped their predecessors succeed. University teachers are at the coalface of this problem. These teachers do not set entrance scores or course caps but are tasked with supporting an increasingly diverse student population.

This article offers a case study: a university teacher’s encounter with a university’s Key Accountability Measures around failure and attrition, and offers a teaching response to this policy. In response to these changing conditions, The Reading Lab was designed as a large-group learning and teaching activity in the form of a series of interactive lectures devoted to the practices of reading. The Lab sessions sought to address a problem that many scholarship-of-reading researchers have communicated: our university students are often not resilient readers and as a result often do not complete set readings. This article evaluates what the Reading Lab achieved (and failed to achieve). For instance, if it is possible (in the current climate) that the failure and attrition rates might never radically improve, how can teaching and learning activities be more positively directed towards the student experience, for even minor gains in the inclusion and the retention of students?     

Why lecturers still matter: the impact of lecturer-student exchange on student engagement and intention to leave university prematurely

This research examines the impact of lecturer-student exchange (student-LMX) on engagement, course satisfaction, achievement, and intention to leave university prematurely for 363 students in one Australian university. Survey and grade point average (GPA) data were collected from domestic undergraduate first- and second-year students and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicated that student’s levels of engagement and course satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between student-LMX and intention to leave university, when demographic and socio-economic factors were controlled for. In an era when low student engagement and attrition is often attributed to individual demographic factors, and lecturers are under increasing threat of being replaced by technology, this research offers compelling evidence regarding the role of lecturer-student relationships in enhancing tertiary student outcomes.     

An approach/avoidance behavioral model of college student attrition

We used approach/avoidance theory to develop a conceptual model of student attrition that we estimated using 262 first- and second-year students at a major midwestern research university. We found that we could use psychological theories to enhance our understanding of the retention process; that psychological and sociological factors accounted for 37 percent of the variance in student attrition; and that institutions can enhance retention by developing programs that increase appropriate academic and social approach behaviors and reduce avoidant behaviors.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Pittsburgh, PA, November, 1994.     

Mastery Learning: A model for academic success in urban junior colleges

The Mastery Learning Program was initiated in the City Colleges of Chicago to improve student achievement levels and reduce course attrition rates. During the first year, 37 instructors implemented these new instructional techniques in introductory courses in nine subject areas. Data were gathered from 77 classes involving 2,249 students. Results indicate that in most of the subject areas, students in mastery classes scored higher on final examinations, attained higher course grades, and were less likely to withdraw than students taught by more traditional methods.     

Gender issues related to graduate student attrition in two science departments

This study explored the gender issues that contributed to the differential attrition rate of men and women graduate students in two science departments (biology and chemistry) at a large research university. Departmental records were used to compute the student attrition rate while surveys from 170 students, and interviews with 32 of them, were used to explore students' perspectives on the reasons affecting the attrition of men and women graduate students in each department. Analysis of the data indicated a significantly larger student attrition rate in chemistry than in biology. In each department the attrition rate for women was also significantly larger than the attrition rate for men. The study uncovered different gender issues, in each department, related to the significantly larger attrition rate for women students.