Where Did All My Students Go

1
Where Did All My Students Go?

• Improving Retention Rates for Online Courses

2
Why Students Drop Out

• Variables under our control
• the degree of interaction
• student support during the course
• technical problems
• learner characteristics
• instructor preparedness and involvement
• (Roblyer, 2003, Hardy Boaz, 1997).

3
Teaching online is a little like gardening. Like
plants, students need a healthy and fertile
environment if they are going to mature and
thrive in their online courses. It takes
planning, preparation, hard work, and enough
knowledge to know what to do (and what not to do)
for -your labor to yield an abundant harvest.
-Kaye Shelton and George Saltsman
4
Elements for Successful Online Gardening

• Quality Students (Plants)
• Quality Course Design (Soil)
• Quality Facilitators (Nutrition)
• Quality Support (Water)

5
Quality Students

• Able to communicate effectively in writing
• Flexible
• Committed to success
• Able to use technology appropriately
• Open to ideas of others
• Reflective
• (Palloff and Pratt, 2003)

6
Finding Quality Students

• Readiness Surveys
• http//www.readi.info/index.cfm?fuseactionhome
• http//vcampus.mccvlc.org/index.asp?content27Tec
  hOrientation.htm27
• http//www.pcc.edu/about/distance/orientation/
• Pre-course Interviews
• One-on-one conversations
• Post Course Expectations
• Access to course Syllabus before registration
• Course Prerequisites

7
Quality Course Design

• Learner focused
• Interactive
• Predictable
• Limits class size
• Addresses different learning styles
• Collaborative
• Relevant

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What is Learner Focused?

• According to Maryellen Weimer (2002),there are 5
  key elements of change
• The balance of power changes
• The function of the content changes
• The role of the teacher changes
• The responsibility for learning changes
• The purpose and process of evaluation changes

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Interactive

• involves interaction between
• the learner and the instructor,
• the learner and other learners,
• and the learner and the instructional content
  (Palloff Pratt, 2005).

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How to Increase Interactivity

• Learner and the instructor
• Email
• Announcements
• Any type of frequent contact
• Learner and other learners
• Discussion Boards
• Chat opportunities
• Group projects
• Learner and the instructional content
• Substitute multimedia for plain text
• Simulations
• Games

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Predictable
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Activities that Address Learning Styles

• One-Alone Activities
• Internet research
• Online journals
• One-to-One Activities
• Independent Studies
• One to Many Activities
• Online Lectures
• Whiteboard sessions
• Audio or video produced materials
• Many-to-Many Activities
• Discussion groups
• Simulations
• Role plays
• Collaborative group projects

13
Quality Facilitators

• Flexible
• Available
• Empowering
• Respectful
• Involved

Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes The Roles of
E-Learning Facilitators http//www.learningcircui
ts.org/2002/oct2002/elearn.htm Pedagogical
Roles http//www.sloan-c.org/publications/magazine
/v3n2/funaro.asp
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What DO Students Expect?

• Reassurance
• Clear instructions/expectations
• Ability to express dissatisfaction without fear
• Reasonable course load
• Prompt feedback
• Understanding of technology required
• Technical support
• (Hara and Kling, 2000)

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Quality support

• Technical support for faculty and students
• Faculty and student training
• Online academic support
• Consider student needs

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Quality Students
Quality Course Design
Quality Facilitators
Quality Support
An Abundant Harvest
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Reference

• Hara, N. And Kling, K. Students Distress with
  a Web-Based Distance Learning Course An
  Ethnographic Study of Participants Experiences.
  Spring 2000. Retrieved February 26, 2007.
  http//rkcsi.indiana.edu/archive/CSI/WP/wp00-01B.
  html
• Hardy, D. W., Boaz, M. H. (1997). Learner
  development Beyond the technology. In T.E. Cyers
  (Ed.), Teaching and learning at a distance What
  it takes to effectively design, deliver, and
  evaluate programs (p. ). San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Palloff, R. M., Pratt, K. (2003). The virtual
  student A profile and guide to working with
  online learners. San Francisco Josey-Bass.
• Palloff, R. M., Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating
  online Learning together in community. San
  Francisco Josey-Bass.
• Roblyer, M. D. (2003). Integrating the internet
  and other distance resources. In D. Stollenwerk
  (Ed.), Integrating educational technology into
  teaching (3rd ed., pp. 189-219). Columbus, Ohio
  Merrill Prentice Hall.
• Weimer, M. Learner Centered Teaching. San
  Francisco Jossey-Bass, 2002.

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Resources

• Course Design
• http//www.xroadservices.com/home/downloads.html
  Palloff and Pratts Crossroads Consulting Group
  Web Site
• http//www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching/ Examples of
  online courses
• http//web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/ More course
  examples
• http//www.ibritt.com/resources/dc_instructionalde
  sign.htm Links to course design help
• Support for Students and Faculty
• http//www.internet101.org/ How the Internet
  works ready-to-use tutorials
• http//www.pcc.edu/about/distance/orientation/
  Sample Online Orientation
• http//vcampus.mccvlc.org/index.asp?content27Tec
  hOrientation.htm27 Computer Skills assessment
• Faculty Roles
• http//www.learningcircuits.org/2002/oct2002/elear
  n.htm Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes The Roles of
  E-Learning Facilitators
• http//www.sloan-c.org/publications/magazine/v3n2/
  funaro.asp Pedagogical Roles

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Contact informationDena FaustDistance
Education CoordinatorAlvin Community
Collegedfaust_at_alvincollege.edu281-756-3728