Posted 11:01 PM by Steve
From Steve's Head...

Tune In...Turn On...Drop Out?!?!?

Whenever any new method is introduced into an established profession, there are questions as to whether this new way is credible, effective, and worth the effort to incorporate. E-learning has been facing this type of scrutiny since its introduction; its supporters have touted e-learning's ability to enhance flexibility and accessibility while managing to deliver as good (if not better) quality of learning as the traditional classroom-based course. One of the areas that e-learning's detractors have focused on is the tendancy of online courses to suffer from high attrition rates. Should educators be concerned about this? Is this a characteristic that is inherent in all e-learning courses?

Personally, I don't believe that this is an area which warrants a "Chicken Little" approach; however, even though the sky is not falling, high attrition rates should cause everyone working in e-learning to re-examine what parts of our e-learning offerings could possibly be causing this particular result. Despite the high demand for this type of learning, building it any which way will not necessarily mean that learners will come, or if they come that they will stay. Content that is limited to text, text, and more text; courses that enroll students and leave them to their own devices without any contact, support, or encouragement; instructors that are "dumped" into online courses without any training; inadequate technical support or an attitude that blames all malfunctions on the user's hardware are all indicative of poor e-learning (and general education) practices. I wouldn't stick around and spend my time and money in that type of setting. Would you?

Perhaps we should look to another poultry analogy and try to act like those silly little Maple Leaf chickens in the TV commercials, who work away in the gym trying to become leaner and healthier - we need to ensure that we are not just jumping on the e-learning bandwagon, but that we are focusing our efforts on making our courses and instructional methods as sound and effective as possible. Here are a few articles that examine the attrition problem in e-learning and that have a number of useful suggestions to help overcome this problem. Happy reading...

Read All About It: Online Learning Facing 80% Attrition Rates

Quote: "Try entering 'e-learning high attrition rates' into an appropriate search engine and you will not be short of hits that offer a variety of perceptions on the effectiveness of e-learning - and many that claim the attrition rate is as high as 80%. Can it be true that as many as eight out of ten people who begin an e-learning course fail to complete it? The answer is 'yes', and there is evidence that some kinds of e-learning are not very successful; however, it depends on what is meant by 'e' and what is meant by learning."

Comment: I believe that George already published this link in one of the earlier editions of ERN. I'm adding it to my list this week, as I think it adds a valuable perspective to the issue of attrition in e-learning. The article provides a brief look at the historical roots of e-learning and then examines the causes of why some e-learning is just not that great - including throwing money at the issue without thinking through what it is that you really need and trying to recreate a teacher-centered model of education in this medium.

Online Drop Rates Revisited

Quote: "If online students typically possess characteristics that research has linked with academic success (e.g., older age and more academic experience), why are they less successful in terms of persisting in a class for the full term? One possible answer is that we may have mistakenly defined "drop rate" as a characteristic synonymous with "academic non-success". However, I believe that many online students who drop a class may do so because it is the right thing to do. In other words, because of the requirements of school, work, and/or family life in general, students can benefit more from a class if they take it when they have enough time to apply themselves to the class work."

Comment: This article examines the characteristics of the typical online student, who the author finds is more mature, more experienced, and more likely to succeed than the average student attending traditional face-to-face courses. So why do online students have a greater probability of dropping out of their courses? Diaz does identify a number of different possible reasons, but more importantly, he focuses on a number of areas online instructors can focus to identify potential risks before these actually cause students to drop out. I think this is an interesting (and valuable) examination of an area that does not seem to get much attention - that of preparing your online students for the experiences they are about to encounter in the online classroom.

Where'd They Go? Retention Issues and Ideas for Online Courses

Quote: "We can take some ideas from business and marketing practices as well. They are concerned with "stickiness," or how long someone stays at the site. While the reasons for their concerns may not be exactly the same as ours in education, the way they approach this issue is illuminating. It is reasonable to assume that making course sites more "sticky" would help engender loyalty of sorts, in this case to the course."

Comment: Here's an interesting take on retention in e-learning - an academic looking at business Internet practices and extending those to e-learning courses. Meyer examines a number of retention strategies, some of which are well-established educational practices while others come from the customer service side of business, all of which the online instructor should consider putting into practice. This article shows that the idea of simply putting material online does not a good e-learning course make; it takes a significant amount of time and planning in order to create an engaging online course. The reward is learners will put in the time and effort necessary to stick around and successfully complete the course.