The Winter edition of OJDLA, the Online Journal of Distance learning Administration, is now available.    But it is, alas, of little interest; much of it the usual “how to get faculty to go online”.    Only one paper seemed to be of interest: "Course Completion Rates among Distance Learners".

It's hardly definitive.    It looks at the experience of one US community college, asking why some students dropped out, and some stayed the course but failed.

The study concentrates on two types of intervention which might improve matters, at least according to the literature: orientation sessions before the course starts, and additional tutoring during the course.

The results are mixed.    They found that "students who dropped or failed a course were more likely to believe DL courses were easier than campus-based classes"; an argument in favour of orientation.

But, "while students who have failed are particularly interested in orientations, students who have dropped are less enthusiastic."    Perhaps they are too busy to bother with orientation; perhaps they would have dropped out anyway.

Their conclusions over additional tutoring are equally murky.    Most students "seem willing to try [tutoring] to improve their success.    But . . . drop and fail students were somewhat less favorable to the idea.    This is disconcerting given that these students probably need tutoring services more than others.”    Quite.

Source:   OJDLA Winter 2005/6