The model that we came up with for online learners was similar to Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs. We had the basic needs at the bottom to be a successful online student and unless these were met the further levels of student success were not going to be met. So for example, if a student was not handing in assignments (bottom level) there was no point in trying to address academic excellence until the student could hand in an assignment.
It was from this pyramid that we developed our PLC goal of trying to address the bottom level of student needs first. So we asked ourselves if we were setting our students up for success in the first place. How could we make sure that before a student even enters into an online course that we have set them up for success? To be honest, there have been times and students that I have felt that we set up for failure: online learning did not fit into their learning style, the student wasn’t an independent learner, no time in the school day was allotted for the course, etc.
As I dove further into the research I was surprised to see that I was not alone with the issue of student retention and success.
In Ivan L. Harell II’s article Increasing the Success of Online Students he addresses five issues: “student readiness, student orientation, student support, instructor preparation and support, and course structure”. The article goes on to give specific suggestions for the first three.
· Determine if students are ready to be online learners.
o Fast Track consulting would suggest that left brain, visual learners would learn best in an online environment.
o Dewar and Whittington would suggest that introverts would be more successful than their extroverted counterparts because they would not need the ‘social presence’.
o Manochehr’s research suggested that “Assimilator (these learn best through lecture, papers and analogies) and Converger (these learn best through laboratories, field work and observations) did better with the e-learning method…students with learning styles Accommodator (these learn best through simulations and case study) and Diverger (these learn best through brainstorming and logs) received better results with traditional instructor-based learning” (p. 13)
o Harrell suggested that “Institutions may consider the possibility of limiting enrolment to those who are not considered to be at-risk students and who have the characteristics that are needed to be successful in online courses”.
· Ensure that there is a student Orientation
o In Wojciechowski and Palmer’s (2005) study they found that “The second greatest factor (for online success) was that of having attended an orientation session for the class”, the greatest factor being GPA.
o Harrell quoted Bauman P. (2002) as saying “Bauman (2002) wrote that after offering a required, week-long online orientation “bootcamp,” students reported increased confidence levels, decreased experience with technical problems, and better preparation to take their first online course. The course also allowed faculty to focus more on course content, instead of spending class time educating students on how to properly navigate the online environment.”
· Provide Student Support
o Provide technical support
o “providing online opportunities for students to become involved in student government forums, learning communities, and study groups”
o Providing students with mentors to help them through the course
Our action plan for increasing student success at the Chinook Cyber School has three components:
Setting up our students for success
· Create a pre-course for online students to identify if they are good candidates for online learning.
· Create a database of tutorials for students, support people, and teachers to help with any technology issues and to create a unity between course expectations
· Create clear course descriptions for every course so that the students are clear about what time and skill requirements are necessary before they register in a course.
Supporting students who are not learning
· Create a plagiarism course for students.
· Setting up video conferences for student who are struggling
Building a team environment with other schools/ supporting the support people
· Visiting the support schools, support people, and students in person at least once in a semester.
Supporting our online teachers
· Create a CCS blog for online teachers that addresses the issues involved with online learning (supporting our online teachers to implement best teaching practices)
I think that perhaps we have set lofty goals for ourselves but we are so excited about moving forward and providing the best education possible for our students.
What are other strategies that you use to increase student retention or success in your school?
6 comments:
I really like how you took Mazlow's hierarchy and adapted it to student success. It makes a lot of sense to ensure certain baselines are covered and mastered before expecting success at the next level. I think providing meaningful support services and mechanisms is crucial to helping students succeed, both in online classes and in traditional f2f ones. This looks like it will help many students who might otherwise not achieve all that they are capable of. Very important work!
Great list of research and ideas for improving retention for online students. The e-toolkit might also provide some ideas.... http://etoolkit.ecampusalberta.ca/.
You might also consider web-conferencing as access to video conferencing facilities for online students may not be easy.
Early intervention - show instructors how to use tracking tools so they can "see" if students are logging into the course on a regular basis and referring them for intervention or support as needed. Communication is key - increase instructor presence and keep learners engaged with each other, the material and the instructor. Informal and formal communication can be used so students create rapport with the teacher as well as with each other.
Thanks for some great suggestion!
Raquel, Regina Catholic Schools is relatively new to on-line learning opportunities, but in the three years we have offered these courses, we encountered many of the difficulties you have outlined. We have implemented as you have in your action plan - a checklist/self assessment (are you a good online candidate). We have also in our school, tied on-line courses to tutorials so that students have time built in their day for these courses and a teacher mentor to motivate, encourage and assist. The fact that other students in the room are also working on on-line courses also serves to reduce their feelings of isolation. Finally, the online instructors not only attempt numerous group engagement opportunites (Adobe Connect and Blackboard Illuminate) they even pop by the school a couple times a semester to touch base with a face to face.
I would actually disagree with one of the statements of the researchers you quoted: "introverts would be more successful than their extroverted counterparts because they would not need the ‘social presence’." I think we strive to prepare grounds for individual self-learners who would contribute to other learners. I haven't yet seen (thought it definitely is there) a course that would not put a learner in a position of some interaction. I think that the main goal nowadays is getting the students to contribute and learn from each other and share knowledge. I know that all of my courses were highly interactive and immediately there were participants who would become more active, almost like group leaders. I think that the article you mentioned underestimates the fact that we all exist socially in the web nowadays. Or maybe I am wrong...?
thank you for your clear description, very clear and helpful
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