Tips for Improving Online Retention

April 3, 2009

By: Christopher Hill in Distance Learning Administration, Online Education

Retention remains a knotty problem for distance education. Bob Nash manages instructional design for Coast Learning Systems, a division of Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, California. He proposes that online retention is a difficult problem because it is “multi-variant” – there is no single cause that can be addressed by a single solution. So instead of a single magic bullet for attrition, he proposes a multi-variant answer – a series of interventions that he has designed that, combined, have had measurable results in increasing student retention.

Here are just a few of his suggestions. To see the article in its entirety, download a copy of our FREE report, Strategies for Increasing Online Student Retention and Satisfaction.

1. An “early alert” system. If a distance learning student hasn’t been responding the first few weeks of the course the instructor can pass on the student’s name to this automated system. The student then gets an e-mail saying (in Nash’s words) “Hey we haven’t heard from you for a while – is there anything we can do to help you? Here are some services at the institution that might help you succeed.” The instructor follows up with a personal phone call or email.

2. An online tutoring program. Coastline instituted a program that included tutors available both on the phone and online, along with other student success services. “Those student who used it succeeded at higher rates than their peer group,” Nash says.

3. A student success course. “I would recommend a student orientation or a student success course,” says Nash. Coastline developed a three-unit student success course, called “Mastering the College Experience,” teaching learning skills, “life skills” and various aspects of college orientation. Enrollments are good and, in surveys, students have reported they feel more prepared to succeed after having taken it.

4. Learning communities. Nash calls this the tactic that has produced the best student retention rates. “The research recommends [learning communities] again and again,” says Nash. Coastline’s STAR Program is a group of cohorts that move through a program together. It’s an accelerated program so that students get their associate’s degree in eighteen months instead of two years. Classes are smaller and hybrid-style, split about evenly between face-to-face and online.

5. Focus on individual courses. Spotlight the ones that have the biggest problem with attrition. Focus on those while measuring results against the baseline. Pay attention to both the differences in course completion rates and the cost and resources it took to get there. Do a cost-benefit analysis, measuring return on investment.

6. Involve faculty. They are the key service providers. They should be involved in the needs assessment and in the planning because they’re going to have to implement it. You need their buy-in and advice, Nash advises.

Excerpted from 11 Tips for Improving Retention of Distance Learning Students, Distance Education Report, August 15, 2006.