The online learning landscape is changing, creating a unique arena where schools are competing for the prize of high enrollments. Universities allocate resources to enrollment growth and spend fewer resources on quality courses and experiences to retain students. Universities must move past growing online enrollment as a strategy for sustainability.
The online learning landscape is changing, creating a unique arena where schools are competing for the prize of high enrollments. University administrators have recognized online learning as a source for a revenue-generating, low cost strategy for increasing enrollment and long-term sustainability. However, research is showing that many institutions assign most of their resources to growing enrollment, particularly through online offerings, while allocating fewer resources to ensure a quality experience for those students that move past their first year (legon and Garrett, 2017). There is a strong emphasis on first year experience on campus, leaving online students feeling disconnected from the university. While increasing enrollments may sustain a university, it’s important to provide pathways to success for all students, including online, transfer, and nontraditional students. If growing online enrollment is a goal, then our priorities should include breaking down digital walls that students may come up against in their online learning environments. The processes of admission, registration, and preparation for class should be tailored to meet the needs of online students. Course design, quality, and delivery platform are just a few of those features that keep students coming back each semester, but how does a university determine whether or not they are taking their online learners in a direction they want to go? It is only by soliciting student input and feedback regarding improvement to processes and procedures that we can set institutional priorities for growing and retaining our online enrollments and programs that will set us apart in an increasingly saturated market.
A 2016 Ruffalo Noel-Levitz (2016) report of online learners showed large gaps between student priorities and student satisfaction in areas of faculty engagement, non-academic services, and university complaint processes. The gaps expand even further when looking at course-level priorities and satisfaction. With competition for enrollments increasing, universities should be both alarmed and motivated by these gaps to a point of soliciting feedback from their students to create an environment that will retain them.
Student feedback provides institutions with insider information across all programs and services. The retention rate in 2015 (U.S. Department of Education) for full-time students at four-year universities was about 74%, while the retention rate for part-time students was only about 49%. Student feedback could provide institutions with the information they need to make the necessary changes to increase persistence to graduation.
This presentation will begin with a discussion of persistence in online undergraduate enrollments. The methodology from a 2016 online undergraduate student satisfaction survey will be shared with attendees. Results and recommendations will be outlined. Research questions and hypotheses for this study were:
- RQ1: What is the overall student satisfaction of the online courses at APSU?
- H1: The students at APSU are satisfied with their online courses.
- RQ2: What is the impact, if any, of the independent variables of gender, academic status, class rank, age, military status, income and ethnicity on the levels of satisfaction of course design in online courses at APSU?
- H2: There is no impact of the independent variables on the levels of satisfaction of course design in online courses at APSU.
- RQ3: What is the impact, if any, of the independent variables of gender, academic status, class rank, age, military status, income and ethnicity on the levels of satisfaction of course technology in online courses at APSU?
- H3: There is no impact of the independent variables on the levels of satisfaction on course technology in online courses at APSU.
- RQ4: What is the impact, if any, of the independent variables of gender, academic status, class rank, age, military status, income and ethnicity on the levels of satisfaction of faculty engagement in online courses at APSU?
- H4: There is no impact of the independent variables on the levels of satisfaction on faculty engagement in online courses at APSU.
- RQ5: How satisfied are undergraduate APSU students taking online courses with non-academic services offered to students?
- H5: Students taking online courses at APSU are satisfied with the non-academic student services.
References
Quality Matters and Eduventures. (2017). The changing landscape of online education (CHLOE).
Ruffalo Noel-Levitz. (2016). 2015-16 national online learners satisfaction and priorities report. Cedar Rapids, IA: Ruffalo Noel Levitz
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment component