10 Best Practices for Student Retention in Online Courses

Student retention in an online course or program is absolutely vital. However, this continues to be a potent issue in many online programs. In the IDPT Program at Franklin University, we have recently focused on this topic.

To provide insight on this issue, a former coworker of mine, Kevin Shanley, recently reviewed the literature on the most important factors in retaining students in online courses. His focus was on general education courses at the undergraduate level, but I believe that most of the recommendations can and should be applied in in nearly all online courses. I provide a summary of his suggestions below, but I definitely recommend reviewing his entire publication. He provides some excellent ideas on improving student retention. (Here is a link to his review of literature.)

Summary of strategies for improving online student retention:

1. support services - provide students with technology and other support
2. early submission of work - allow students to get feedback on assignments before final submission
3. clear expectations - be clear about work and grading expectations
4. orientation - overview course and assignments at the beginning of each course
5. content relevancy and accuracy - be sure everything is up to date in your course
6. faculty preparedness - make sure faculty understand their expectations
7. student control - allow students to have some control over the learning process
8. age factors - be aware of age factors affecting student success
9. participation - encourage participation from all students
10. social integration - ensure plenty of relevant, positive social interaction

These strategies can be organized according to different levels within the university or college offering the course or program:

1. University Level
2. Program/Department Level
3. Course Design Level
4. Instructor Level

The difficult thing in implementing these and other strategies is that support must be provided at all levels. Without the necessary infrastructure and support from the university, student success is unlikely. Without support and resources from the program level, implementing effective course design and staffing with quality instructors is not possible. Without excellent course design, students are less likely to persist and succeed. And without great instructors, student success diminishes.

So, what are your best strategies for improving student retention in online courses?  I am definitely interested in hearing best practices that I can use in my own program and teaching.

4 Fundamental Ways to Engage Students in an Online Course

In my experience as over the last several years, an important part of providing a quality learning experience is engaging students- having them actively interact in meaningful learning experiences. This is particularly important in online courses where students may tend to feel isolated or removed from others. In this post I describe what I call the the 4 fundamental ways to engage students in an online course. 

Four Fundamental Ways to Engage Online Students.

There are 4 basic ways to engage students in an online course:

1. Have students engage in doing real world tasks and solving real-world problems. This provides concrete, meaningful experience for the students and is much more intrinsically motivating to the students than learning content that doesn't seem relevant to them. It means having students do relevant things that they will likely do in their careers or in their lives.
2. Engage students with the content in meaningful ways. this means having students use course content to solve problems or perform real-world tasks. It means providing students with well-designed multimedia. It means providing students with enough content that they can learn it and use it, but not so much content that they are overwhelmed.
3. Engage students with their peers. Students should interact with peers in the context of solving real-world problems. Students should present ideas, critique, give feedback, and collaborate together. This interaction builds a sense of community and there is a great deal of peer-to-peer teaching that can take place.
4. Engage students with the instructor. Students need guidance, support and feedback in the learning process. As one of my students wrote, instructors should "lead us through the fog." The teacher should make themselves available and provide feedback and guidance quickly so that students can progress in their learning.

As I have taught online courses at several universities, I have found that students continually ask for and appreciate these kinds of interaction. And when I design my course to include these kinds of interaction, students seem more satisfied with and excited about the online experience. Students seem to thrive and enjoy with successful, effective, satisfying learning experiences.

What do you think? Are these really the 4 fundamental ways to engage students in an online course? What else would you add? What are your experiences with engagement as a teacher or a student in online courses?