Date of Award

5-31-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

John Kuykendall

Abstract

The continued disparities that exist in achievement in higher education are becoming increasingly more complex yet are of paramount importance to understand and solve. Scholarly research focusing on things like persistence, attainment, attrition, engagement, and other factors that are major facets of student success have been studied for several decades by leading scholars in the field, however, these studies typically focus on the traditional face-to-face course environment. With the proliferation and exponential growth of online courses in the past decade, it is important to understand how students fare in what is becoming the primary mode of instruction for many college students. It is not enough for students to simply enroll in higher education-the goal is to graduate and obtain knowledge and a credential to progress as an individual. While online courses, in theory, provide greater access to higher education, there is no definitive answer as to whether they provide greater access to the likelihood of graduation-the desired result. In addition, there is little information that provides enough insight as to what gaps exist, in this case about persistence, in the fully online environment versus the face-to-face environment and what, if any factors contribute to the success or lack thereof, in online courses. This study was conducted to determine how persistence was affected by course delivery method and other factors. Logistic regression was conducted on data from the Beginning Postsecondary Survey 2012/2014 (BPS:12/14). The dependent variable in this study was persistence and the independent variables were age, race/ethnicity, Estimated Family Contribution (EFC), gender, and attendance intensity (full-time or part-time). The analysis indicated that all of the independent variables were significant. Students who enrolled in more online courses, were older, and were male were less likely to persist. Students who were enrolled full-time and had a higher EFC were more likely to persist.

Download

Share

COinS