Project RITE
Recipients
An Assessment of Factors Affecting Dropout of Students Enrolled in the University of Tennessee Online New College Bachelor's Degree Program
launch blog |Jeff Hoyer
Department of Communications, UT MartinThe purpose of the proposed research is to assess factors influencing the drop out rate of students who have enrolled for the University of Tennessee "New College" bachelor's program during the Fall Semester of 2005.
"New College" is the online program leading to a bachelor's degree through the University of Tennessee. As a University of Tennessee system-wide program, it currently offers 90 courses taken by students within the United States and overseas. As the program has matured, care has been taken to ensure quality of design and content through guidelines established by the program's online committee. However, an item of concern which faces not only New College, but any online degree program is retention of students. Related studies show that noncompletion rates can commonly fall in the 40-50% range. There have been no quantitative studies done to determine the obstacles the students encounter in completing the courses within the New College Program. Related research completed by this author on Department of Energy Online training programs reveals that obstacles to completion of online education can be categorized into four areas: environment, design, technology, and learner motivation. A systematic analysis of factors influencing completion rates within the New College Program would provide information essential to improving the program and enhancing student learning. With the resulting data and analysis of that data, Program administrators could make corrections to those elements affecting completion rates and improve retention. Additionally, students would benefit by having a mechanism to provide input and feedback which would enhance their learning opportunities. Quantified and verified data regarding causes for dropout of online students would be invaluable in making changes needed to improve student performance, enhance their interest not only in a single course, but in multiple courses in the program, improve the quality of the learning experience and further the involvement of students in appreciating and using the avenue of online