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Improving Retention in Online Courses

Tue, September 8, 8:00am to 12:00pm MDT (8:00am to 12:00pm MDT), TBA

Session Submission Type: Pre-conference Short Course Half Day

Session Description

At a time when many colleges and universities are facing enrollment challenges, online courses are an enrollment bright spot. More students—even students who live on campus—are opting to take online classes. Today, more than 30% of all college students in the United States are enrolled in at least one online class. Online classes can also help institutions of higher education reach new student populations—enabling lower income students and non-traditional students to access degrees that previously may not have been available to them.

But online courses come with a significant downside. Repeated studies across different types of universities, different kinds of programs, and different student populations all indicate a persistent and significant gap in retention. Students are more likely to fail and withdraw from online classes, compared to classes they take in person—about 10 to 35% more likely.

This is a dire situation for both universities and students. Students who are unable to graduate will find themselves saddled with unmanageable amounts of student loan debt and no greater earning potential with which to repay it. Universities will find themselves spending valuable limited resources to recruit students only to lose them to high online attrition rates. How can we reverse this negative trend and revive the promise of online higher education?

They key lies in identifying and adjusting for the fundamental difference between online and face-to-face classes: the distance between the instructor and the students. Research shows that if instructors can bridge that distance by building relationships—or rapport—with their students, the retention gap between online and face-to-face classes disappears.

This short course will introduce participants to the research on online rapport, teach them specific rapport-building strategies they can use in their online classes right away, and engage them in hands-on discussions and activities about ways to improve online retention. The four-hour course will focus on data-based strategies for connecting with students online, ways to write engaging course materials, and how to use email merge features to send personalized email messages to students.

Please fill out this brief form before attending the short course on Wednesday, September 9: https://forms.gle/P2t5r6KxL8rF2kncA. Your responses will help Rebecca illustrate some key methods for improving retention and better facilitate the course. Thank you!

About the Instructor: Rebecca Glazier is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has been teaching online for 10 years and has published research on online education in the Journal of Political Science Education and Teaching in Higher Education. This workshop is based on a longer workshop for faculty Rebecca teaches with Heidi Skurat Harris at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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