Student Retention in online Courses

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Methodology of this study is questionable since the 18 students interviewed might not be representative enough. For example, in the case of 51Talk, the majority of customers are undergraduate students and white-collar workers who are typically not in a stage with overwhelming family commitments but instead strong demand of self-development. Also, the flexibility in course design, lasting 25 minutes each and can be chose from 6 am to 12 pm every day, makes work commitments far from enough to be an excuse. Therefore, the research about situational factors such as personal issues tends to be irrelevant in this case.

Comparing the researches above, Moiler (1998)’s study is likely to be most helpful because a lack of community best fits the problem reflected by the student feedbacks. Challenges in adapting to a new study pattern in the absence of adequate group interaction was found to negatively affect the study experience of new online learners and could be expected to be addressed by the introduction of study forum. In conclusion, appropriate measures such as developing a website for the communication of learning results and designing a technical manual should be taken to help students succeed in online courses.

Reference

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Moller, L. (1998). Designing communities of learners for asynchronous distance education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 46(4), 115-122.

O'Brien, B. S., & Renner, A. L. (2002). Online Student Retention: Can It Be Done? Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93-107.

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