Mixed Methods

Their primary findings was that participation and communication is certainly a requirement for successful completion of online courses. When instructors are involved and encourage students to participate it motivates students to not give up or drop the class. They were able to classify students into different categories, and they found these types of students in the online class:

The authors analyzed statistics of online learning to determine what they mean. They looked at the growth of online options in institutions. They also compared online learning with traditional learning to determine if it was as effective.

With all the publicity over online courses, great professors alike have been determined to find out whether online courses are just as effective as face-to-face classes. There have been some controversies over the situation; therefore, several studies have been made. One study by Adam Driscoll, Karl Jicha, Andrea Hunt, Lisa Tichavsky, and Greatchen Thompson shows that given the appropriate pedagogy or instruction, online courses is just as an effective teaching format as face-to-face classes (Driscoll, Jicha, Hunt, Tichavsky, & Thompson, 2012). The study showed that when comparing online courses against face-to-face courses, the midterm scores for both teaching platforms are the same. Given that the GPA of the students is taken into consideration, the test grades do not improve or become worse when the class is taken online. The same study showed that when comparing online courses to face-to-face courses, the student satisfaction does not increase or decrease when

A number of studies found that student background and pre-college experiences can affect attrition rates in online classes (Atchley et al., 2013; Gregory & Lampley, 2016; Harrell & Bower, 2011; Kaupp, 2012; Palacios & Wood, 2015; Smart & Saxon, 2015; Stanford-Bowers,

Attrition is the rate in which students disenroll from a post-secondary institution, which was defined in O’Keeffe’s (2013) article. Past research has suggested that the lack of participation and the culture shock of some students have contributed in such high attrition rates (O 'Keeffe, 2013). From the outcomes of these researches, universities have implemented programs to retain and increase retention rates. However, when it comes to attrition rates, it seems that one population of students goes unnoticed.

Furthering our education is proving to be more and more on demand, ever since the crash of the economy and a rising number of job losses in the United States. We find that going back to school to higher educate ourselves will result in a better resume and experience to finding a career that works for us and our families. Some online learners will probably feel that online learning just isn’t right for them, due to not enough communication with our instructors, or online courses becoming more challenging than being in an actual classroom. Maybe some students think there is no time in their busy schedules for school, making them feel like it is nearly impossible to pursue any kind of

In conclusion, learning online comes with the unique perk of flexibility and pitfalls related to flexibility. Juxtaposing the classroom with my dining room ( traditional vs. nontraditional learning environments) reveals the only difference between the two environments a personal state of mind. Meaning, I must remain focused, humble, and fearless because my success is ultimately my responsibility. When I accepted this responsibility in 2005 and I started by taking one class at a time until I gained enough confidence to enroll full time. Graduating next year is going to prove that how you start is not as important as how you finish; I plan to finish stronger and wiser than when I began this

Lin and Tsai (2008) used a quantitative approach to understanding student retention; however, they used their research to understand students’ loyalty. As fast as

In today’s society, so many people are continuing their education beyond high school. We realize that in order to make a decent living, a degree is most likely a requirement. In some cases even a bachelor’s degree is not enough to qualify for many positions. Nevertheless, thanks to technology, we now have the option to learn online or in a traditional classroom setting. There are very few differences between the two, and students need to understand that as much time and energy will need to be devoted to the online courses as on a campus. “A 2010 meta-analysis and review of online-learning studies concluded that online learning was as good as or slightly more effective than traditional face-to-face instruction” (Mendenhall, 2011).

According to Barbara Means, the study’s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International, online education ultimate goal, is to provide learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful.

Nowadays, institutions of higher education are becoming more concerned about attrition and retention rates. While receiving a post-secondary education is becoming more popular, remaining at the same institution throughout the completion of the degree is becoming less popular. According to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (2005), 32% of first-year students who were enrolled full-time in the fall of 1999 did not return to the same institution the following fall. However, of the 32% of students who did not return to their previous institution, 40% of them enrolled at a different institution the following fall. This means that 13% of first-year students enrolled full-time end up dropping out of higher education as a whole. Many studies have been done to determine the many factors that influence whether or not a student will remain at the institution of their choice, whether they will transfer to another institution or just withdraw from college all together. While each individual’s choice depends on a number of different factors that are specific to his/her situation, researchers have been able to conclude which factors contribute more significantly to an individual leaving a college and

Technology is changing every aspect in our lives, even the way we learn. Online classes are a rapidly growing trend it today’s society. Online classes are a cost-effective substitute for traditional courses and more convenient for many, so more schools and universities are offering this option. Due to the increase in online course enrollment, people are questioning if students truly learn something from online classes because it’s not a traditional learning environment. Online classes are just, if not more, effective as traditional classes because grades have increased and online discussions provide students with the chance to interact through networking while earning a degree for less than what it would cost to enroll at the same university.

The intent of there work was to investigate the relationship between student satisfaction and retention as it relates to online undergrad programs. Page and Kulick concluded noting that satisfaction of online students is not a significant predictor of student retention.

Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria:

Over the past few years there has been a significant increase in the number of students enrolled in online graduate programs. Before online graduate programs existed, an undergraduate student could only receive a graduate degree if they physically attended a university. However, with the improvements in technology, students can now receive a graduate degree from their home by simply attending lectures online, and submitting their work through email to the professor. Although there are conflicting ideas about whether or not a student can retain the same amount of information from an online program as opposed to attending a graduate school, research shows that online graduate programs are equally as effective as