Why do nontraditional students who are enrolled in online programs decide to dropout - Research Paper Example

? Why do non-traditional drop out of online s? 11-10 Introduction: “We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, that we need when we come to man’s estate, is the gift of education.’’ so broadly understood from what we learn “from nature, from men, and from things,’’ the gift if education may make us who we are, but is not ours to give. (Gutmann, A.1987). Unlike traditional educational ways involving a classroom and a teacher, online learning does not involve direct confrontations with a teacher and does not provide the environment of a traditional classroom. In most cases, distance learning involves a media center or a computer laboratory. Therefore, distance learning is a field of education that combines technology with teaching methods and techniques to provide an opportunity for students to learn without being physically present in a classroom. (Briel, H. J. 2011). Due to technological advances, there have been a recent explosion in the field of online education but the history of distance learning dates back to as early as 1728, when Caleb Phillips, who was a teacher of Short Hand method, published an advertisement in Boston Gazette to seek students to whom he would send lectures on weekly basis. An Englishman, Isaac Pitman, is regarded has an early pioneer in providing distance education. In 1840s, Isaac Pitman taught Short Hand using correspondence in the Great Britain. The importance of education in modern democratic society is beautifully portrayed by Amy Gutmann in the following words: “When citizens rule in a democracy, they determine, among other things, how future citizens will be educated. Democratic education is therefore a political as well as an educational ideal. Because being educated as a child entails being ruled, ‘You cannot be a ruler unless you have first been ruled.’ Because being a democratic citizen entails ruling, the ideal of democratic education is being ruled, then ruling. Education not only sets the stage for democratic politics, it plays a central role in it.’’ (Gutmann, A.1987). Now adays, the world has transformed into a global village and with the passage of time, online learning has become the best possible learning source. Due to increased commitments in life, it is hardly possible for everyone to physically attend a school in order to increase their educational qualifications. The only viable alternative remains are, online courses. Although the growth rate in online programs is high but yet the dropouts have been of great concern to many organizations and higher institutions. (Briel, H. J. 2011). Magnitude of drop out crisis: The non traditional students dropping out of online education fall into various categories: I. Non-starters, II. Students who did not even make an effort to complete the official withdrawal procedure are classified in the category of informal withdrawals, III. Students who completed the official withdrawal procedure fall into the category of formal withdrawals, IV. Academic failures, V. Non-continuers. (Darrow, R. W. 2010). Online education is more flexible and ensures that students can learn and progress to advanced levels at their own pace. Online courses provide more effective learning opportunities than traditional schools because they provide an access to a broad curriculum so that students can enroll in multiple courses which they cannot in traditional brick and mortar schools. Most virtual schools provide courses that are enriched with challenges to help their students to attain high quality and flexible education. However, according to the retention literature concerning online education, the rate of non traditional students dropping out of online courses occurs at much a faster pace than the number of drop outs from on-ground or traditional brick and mortar classes. According to a report in Meister-2002, 70 percent of the online learners registered for online programs failed to successfully complete the course. The Corporate University Xchange (2000) clearly represent that the most difficult challenge in online learning is to retain the students. A number of other studied have also proved that a higher percentage of online students tend to dropout as compared to face-to-face class room students. (Congressional record 1994). Some of the studies consider that high degree of dropout is a failure at planning and execution level whereas few advise careful interpretation of the issue owing to unique characteristics of different types of online learners. The high degree of dropout is not merely an academic failure, but it involves a number of un-controllable factors. There are no specific statistics for different countries around the world, but a recent report in Chronicle for Higher Education found that the institutions only report 20-50 percent of total dropouts, in order to maintain their reputation. This report clearly indicates that rate of dropouts from online programs is even higher than it is reflected by the organizations and virtual institutions. Institutions offering distance education would greatly benefit if they make an effort to understand the factors responsible for the recent alarming rise in the number of dropouts. Once these reasons are successfully identified, virtual institutions can then revise their online curriculums accordingly in order to enhance persistence and therefore retention for their online courses. Furthermore, to increase student persistence and retention in virtual education, institutions need to determine the key factors related to completion and non completion of online courses, so that at-risk remedial students can be successfully identified and provided support services. (Newman et al 1987). Reasons for the alarming decrease in retention in online education: The three ways to determine the reasons of high rate of dropouts have been assessed by Morgan and Tam (1999) is discussed below:- I. Scrutinize the dropout rates by looking at the students’ characteristics such as age, gender, status of employment, marital status and previous education, II. Thoroughly examine the features and format of the programs, III. Collection of students’ perspectives. A common reason for high drop-out rate is the false assumption that taking online courses is an easy way to earn a degree. Some of the reasons provided by non-completers are listed below: i. Situational reasons: Problems posed by a student’s personal life such as family obligations or employment status. ii. Institutional reasons: Obstacles or hurdles posed by the institution such as lack of support services. iii. Dispositional reasons: Ingrained behavioral problems which directly affect academic performance such as lack of motivation. iv. Epistemological reasons: Obstacles faced due to difficulties in apprehending online curriculums. (Willging et al 2009). Unfortunately, it has been observed that a large number of students who register for online courses, fail to submit assignments and thus informal withdrawals originate right at the beginning of the course. A large number of students fall into the category of non-starters, who successfully enroll in an online course, receive all the study material but then fail to maintain any further contact with their virtual institution. The increasing number of informal withdrawals and non starters reflect the need of revising the starting point of a course in an effort to eliminate factors that lead to lack of motivation among the students. On the other hand, some students successfully complete and submit all the assignments on time, but due to some reason they fail to reach the required standard in final assessments and thus fail to complete the course. In most cases, such students lack patience and choose to drop out rather than retaking the course. Another reason for the high number of informal, formal withdrawals and non starters is the lengthy off time provided in between the individual credits, by the virtual universities. Unsatisfied with the support services provided by their virtual institution, some students decide to discontinue their online education and transfer to another online institution. In most cases, the latter institution grants credit for the modules of the course completed in the initial institution. However, problems with research designs originate when these students with credit, start to behave differently in comparison with students who start with no credit. In most cases, the virtual institutions fail to serve the special demands of the students who start with credit, thus these students are again not satisfied with the support services and finally choose to drop out online education. (Diamond et al 1998). Another reason provided by non traditional students choosing to drop out is that their misconception that virtual teachers fail to provide the same quality of education that is provided by traditional teachers in conventional schools. This concept is wrong because all accredited virtual institutions employ certified teachers, counselors and other educational personnel to provide high quality online education through active engagement with their students. Research conducted by various institutions such as The Open University of United Kingdom, reveal that certified ‘virtual teachers’ provide the same quality of academic and non academic services, as provided by teachers in traditional on ground classes. A small number of non traditional students register with an online course without the intention of completing the course. These students claim that they chose to drop out after completing certain modules which they considered necessary for their career needs. Online courses are supported by a large amount of online material and jotting down notes proves to be a new challenge for non traditional students, who fail to keep abreast with their course and chose to drop out. A large number of non traditional students skip the ‘notes taking’ process all together and choose the simpler method i.e. print out the online material. This process intensifies the problem of not apprehending the course as everything passes from the computer and on to the page, without anything retaining in their brain because most non traditional students do not consider the print outs as textbooks. Hence, non traditional students miss the chance of memorizing new concepts and idea by restating the material in their own words. Another reason associated with non traditional students dropping out of online education is that these students never perform a trial run with the technology used in online education. These students never verify their access to the Websites that provide online course support materials and rarely participate in online tutorials. Non traditional student never ask their Web instructors for additional support materials, web sites, email addresses and passwords. Therefore, they fail to access PowerPoint presentations, reading material, bulletin boards, quizzes and chat rooms and these are the reasons why non traditional students do not submit assignments because they never make an effort to learn and therefore are not able to reproduce the content in the form of an assignment. This inevitably leads to a decrease in motivational levels which force students to consider dropping out of the course. The Murphy’s Law of computer crashes states that modern day advanced technology has the tendency to break at the moment of greatest need or inconvenience. Therefore, most non traditional students fail to prepare themselves to efficiently deal with cases of technology breakdown. Non completers never make an effort seek a ‘technology buddy’ in their online classes, who is a person which will inform the virtual teacher, if you face any computer problems or lose your internet access. In addition, non completers fail to understand the importance of creating back up copies of their courses and face serious problems if their computer system breaks down. Moreover, non traditional students never keep extra printer supplies handy and mostly they run out of paper or ink cartridges just before an assignment if due. All these mismanagement issues force non traditional students to give up hope of attaining an online degree. Apart from technological issues, non completers also face other issues due to their lack of management sight, such as setting up files and folders for easy and quick reference before an assessment. (Kember, D.2000). Most students choose online education because they believe that it provides an easy way to earn a degree. However, this illusion soon disappears when they start their online education. These students drop out when they discover that online courses are not easy but are in fact difficult and over demanding educational programs that require immense self restraint because studying at home proves to be the greatest distraction. Some of the other problems faced by non completers are change in job responsibilities during the course of the program, de-personalized learning environment, information overload, and lack of adequate support from the technical staff, sense of isolation, lack of interaction and communication with other individuals taking the course and last but not the least, course schedules conflict with personal obligations. (Hutchinson et al 2010). Recommendations: To eliminate the drop out crisis, effort has to be made at both institutional and individual student level. The foremost step to be taken by a virtual institution is to create a learner friendly community which will enable the students to recognize their achievable objectives and responsibilities. Virtual institutions need to direct their attention to discover ways in which online learning environments would satisfy the social and psychological needs of people who come together virtually to learn. Moreover, institutions need to relax the attendance laws a bit. Therefore, competency should be demonstrated by students through self assessment and formal quizzes. The competency vs. seat time represents an important ideological shift in virtual school systems and should be implemented because this approach is more flexible. In addition, competency based learning encourages students to progress at their own pace as it enables the students to master the subject rather than progressing after spending a fixed seat time in the classroom. Moreover, proficiency based learning will equally benefit students with different intellectuals and will ensure that gifted students are able to progress at an accelerated rate and remedial students receive extra preparation time before advancing on to the next level. For the companies, who offer online courses for their employees, one way to retain students in their courses would be to offer reward at the completion of certain course. This way student will be motivated to stick till the end and complete that particular course. In addition, virtual institutions should focus on the following listed five aspects in an effort to decrease the magnitude of dropout crisis: I. Formulating curriculums in such a way that they effectively build academic skills II. Provide financial support to needy students III. Create communities that will identify remedial students and work with them to help them clarify their respective academic direction IV. Foster a personalized medium for academic support services V. Do not offer long time off between individual credits Another effective strategy, institutions can follow to cope with the problem of drop out crisis is to create special discussion forums, where remedial students would be cordially informed about the drastic consequences of dropping out, on their future. At- risk students should be informed about disrupted educational trajectory and its consequences, which are most likely to be implemented on their transition into adulthood. Institutions should also ensure the establishment of correct time parameters, utilization of every available medium for teaching effectively, setting of correct curriculum, identification of areas of agreements and disagreements between virtual teachers and virtual students and promote discussions and interactions. (Ellis et al 2006). In order to effectively decrease the magnitude of online education drop out crisis, students need to work hard to eliminate their weaknesses. Non traditional students should focus on taking notes as this greatly enhances their ability to retain information. Students can jot down review notes in different quick reference formats such as Cornell, mind map, flow diagrams and concept maps. However, students who want to skip the process of taking notes and employ the print out strategy, should treat their print outs as textbooks. Students can decrease their tendency to drop out of online education by creating a contingency plan such as seeking a ‘technology buddy’. To enhance learning outcomes and guarantee a great performance in assessments, it is necessary that students should create easy to refer folders and files for each online class. This saves time wasted in searching for lost files a day before an assignment is due or a final assessment. In addition, students should take responsibility and work hard to manufacture their own motivation. Ways to increase motivation include, being clear about what you will be able to achieve after successfully completing online education. (Cartelli, A.2006). A major reason for non traditional students to drop out of online courses if procrastination. In most cases, online courses become invisible in a virtual students weekly schedule due to procrastination. There are various ways to effectively deal with procrastination such as, creating an early detailed weekly academic schedule, list the deadline of all assignments and actively interacting and asking questions with their online instructor. Most traditional students need to focus their attention on education ad should avoid listening or catching television while studying online material or making assignments because such habits reduce learning outcomes and force your grades to gravitate downwards. In order to eliminate the chances of technological breakdowns affecting work performance, students taking online courses should make a habit of creating back up files and folders and keeping extra supplies of paper and ink cartridges. To learn the most from online education, students need to periodically request performance feedback from their virtual teachers. Another way to reduce the chances of drop outs, virtual students must be encouraged to interact and communicate with other virtual students through discussion forums and chat rooms. In this way, students can interact and help each other by sharing notes, assessing each other by taking quizzes and perform other cooperative learning tasks. The academic and non academic support provided by other students help non traditional students to succeed as a virtual learner. (Wang, J., & Wu, E.2004). nontraditional students who are enrolled in online programs decide to dropout?” Paper makes a practical recommendation for educational practice that will promote learning in a diverse society. A large part of the paper will resemble a Literature Review with conclusions and recommendations at the end. 7.5 pages and 12 scholarly references (scholarly journals/books, not online sources) in APA style. If possible, need quotes from: Democratic Education by Amy Gutmann.   Pages: 3.5 - 4 (2000 words) Style: Harvard Sources: 30 Deadline: 11 October 1 AM (20 Hours) Conclusion: The specific reasons such as technology issues, lack of human interaction and communication problems vary for each online program. For the dropout students, the much proclaimed adage of “learning anytime, anywhere” does not seem to apply. Researches confirm that the decision to persist or dropout from an online program is a complex phenomenon that cannot be easily described with quantitative variables, at least not with the demographic variables selected for analysis in the study. Having a survey ready to complete by recent dropouts can help to get valuable data can be used to improve retention. Caution needs to be taken when generalizing the results of the study. Each online program is unique and the reasons given for leaving a program may be specific to the nature and uniqueness of the program. Further, the reasons given by the students for leaving the program may be masked, due to personal issues, by an attempt to place the burden of their leaving on external factors beyond their control. Analysis of the perceptions and experiences of the instructors regarding the reasons their students left the program could help to create more complete description of the dropout phenomenon. It would also be beneficial to include a survey of the persisting student’s reasons for staying in the program. (Svedberg, M. K. 2010). References: Svedberg, M. K. (2010). Self-directed learning and persistence in online asynchronous undergraduate programs. Blacksburg, Va: University Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Ellis, D. B., Toft, D., Mancina, D., & McMurray, E. L. (2006). Becoming a master student. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. United States., & United States. (1994). Congressional record. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (1987). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Chicago, Ill: Dorsey Press. Cartelli, A. (2006). Teaching in the knowledge society: New skills and instruments for teachers. Hershey, PA: Information Science Pub. Kember, D. (2000). Action learning and action research: Improving the quality of teaching and learning. London: Kogan Page. Diamond, R. M., & Diamond, R. M. (1998). Designing and assessing courses and curricula: A practical guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Hutchinson, A., & Henry, L. A. (January 01, 2010). Internet Use and Online Literacy among Middle Grade Students at Risk of Dropping out of School. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5, 2, 61-75. Willging, P. A., & Johnson, S. D. (October 01, 2009). Factors that Influence Students' Decision to Dropout of Online Courses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13, 3, 115-127. Darrow, R. W. (2010). A Comparative Study between Online Charter High Schools and Traditional High Schools in Wang, J., & Wu, E. (2004). Recommendations for Reducing Dropout from Distance Education Courses. Briel, H. J. (2011). Implementation and outcomes of a pilot virtual school in the first state. Gutmann, A. (1987). Democratic education. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Read More