Date of Award
Spring 4-21-2023
Document Type
Dissertation (799 registration)
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
Department
Graduate Studies
Committee Chair
Ximena P. Suarez-Sousa, Ph.D.
Keywords
online education, perceived quality, student retention, nontraditional college student, diverse college student
Abstract
Online learning for undergraduate college students has significantly grown in demand and allows for more diverse and nontraditional students (e.g., 24 years old or older, attend part-time, work fulltime, have dependents) to pursue a college education. Although research studies indicate that online education is just as effective and robust as traditional, face-to-face delivery, students in online courses have lower retention rates (Bawa, 2016). Understanding the students’ perceived quality of online programming, along with demographic variables, will provide insight to understand retention of undergraduate students within online programs. This post-positivists, correlational research study examined two research questions including the relationship between perceived quality of online instruction to perceived estimated retention of nontraditional, undergraduate online college students and the role demographic factors play in online student retention. Through a convenience sample using a Qualtrics survey, 163 students in the Professional Management Department at a small, midwestern university completed a four-part questionnaire consisting of demographic questions, SLS-OLE, API, and open-ended questions. Both descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were used to find the relationships. Participants indicated overall high satisfaction (76.4%) and high intention of retention (96.9%). The results using Spearman rank order correlation indicated that there was no correlation between overall student satisfaction and estimated retention. Although overall student satisfaction could not predict students’ intention to persist, it does provide that the elements creating high levels of student satisfaction also contributed to the decision of intended program completion. Implications for practice include faculty getting to know their audience, provide a social presence within the online courses, and keep online learning management course design similar among degree program courses.
Recommended Citation
Axness, Rachel, "CORRELATION OF PERCEIVED QUALITY OF PROGRAM AND RETENTION AMONG ONLINE NON-TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT COLLEGE STUDENTS" (2023). Dissertations, Theses, and Projects. 818.
https://red.mnstate.edu/thesis/818
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Higher Education Commons