IMPROVING STUDENT RETENTION WITH BLACKBOARD Lori Vargo Director

IMPROVING STUDENT RETENTION WITH BLACKBOARD Lori Vargo Director of e-Learning

Online Students: Most important factor… • Institutional support to students • Increased faculty instruction • Last grade received in an online course • Maintaining an adequate GPA • Meaningful feedback given to students • No transfer credit received by student • Quality of faculty and student interactions • Student self-discipline • Transfer credit received by students

Online Faculty: Most important factor… • Institutional support to students • Increased faculty instruction • Last grade received in an online course • Maintaining an adequate GPA • Meaningful feedback given to students • No transfer credit received by student • Quality of faculty and student interactions • Student self-discipline • Transfer credit received by students

Top 3 factors that affect student retention in online courses are: According to Faculty According to Students 1. Student self-discipline 1. Increased faculty 2. Quality of faculty and 2. Meaningful feedback student interactions 3. Institutional support to students instruction given to students 3. Transfer credit received by students Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions Regarding Factors The Affect Student Retention in Online Education Jorge Gaytan, North Carolina A&T State University, 2015

Top Ten Reasons for Non-Success 1. I got behind and it was too hard to catch up (19. 7%) 2. I had personal problems (health, job, child care) (14. 2%) 3. I couldn’t handle combined study plus work or family responsibilities (13. 7%) 4. I didn’t like the online format (7. 3%) 5. I didn’t like the instructor’s teaching style (7. 3%) 6. I experienced too many technical difficulties (6. 8%) 7. The course was taking too much time (6. 2%) 8. I lacked motivation (5%) 9. I signed up for too many courses and had to cut down on my course load (4. 3%) 10. The course was too difficult (3%) What do unsuccessful online students want us to know? Marie Fetzer, Monroe Community College, 2013

Bb’s Retention Center 1. Utilize Retention Center information to monitor student engagement 2. View and modify rules for alerts 3. Create new rules

How to Find Retention Center

1. USCB student 3. 2.

1 USCB student USCB student

2 Risk Table USCB Student USCB Student

Contacting Students at Risk USCB Student USCB Student

Contacting Students at Risk USCB Student Course Title

3 Monitoring Students USCB Student

Customizing Rules

USCB Student

Monitoring Your Engagement

Review • Retention Center shows you • Students at risk • Specific people or rules you are monitoring • Your course activity • Easy to notify students at risk • Create, delete, and edit rules

Advice to potential students from UNSUCCESSFUL online students 1. Stay up with course activities – don’t get behind 2. Use good time management skills 3. Use good organization skills 4. Set aside specific time during each week for your online class 5. Know how to get technical help 6. A lot of writing is required

Advice to potential students from UNSUCCESSFUL online students 7. There is a lot of reading in the textbook and in online discussion – be prepared 8. Regular online communications are needed 9. Ask the professor if you have questions 10. Carefully read the course syllabus 11. Be sure you understand the requirements of the online course discussions 12. Understand how much each online activity is worth toward your grade

What do Faculty Developers recommend to faculty for IMPROVING retention… 1. Open portions of your course site before the starts. 2. Set the tone for engaging the class in a community of purpose 3. KISS: Keep the course operations simple 4. Make the structure of the course and expectations for overall flow explicit. The Road to Retention: A Closer Look at Institutions That Achieve High Course Completion Rates Janet Moore, Sloane Consortium Marie Fetzner, Monroe Community College

What do Faculty Developers recommend to faculty for IMPROVING retention… 5. Link to student services and resources from within the course. 6. Provide a detailed timeline 7. Encourage students to support each other 8. Provide frequent and regular checkpoints

What do Faculty Developers recommend to faculty for IMPROVING retention… 9. Present learning tasks in terms of problem-solving 10. Flexibility in communication and delivery requires underlying structure and predictability 11. Give your students the opportunity to publish work

Bibliography • Fetzner, M. (2013). What do unsuccessful online students want us to know? ” Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 17(1). • Gaytan J. (2015). Comparing faculty and student perceptions regarding factors that affect student retention in online education. American Journal of Distance Education 29, 56– 66. • James, S. Swan, K. & Daston, C. (2016). Retention, progression, and the taking of online courses. Online Learning Journal 20(2). • Meyer, K. , Bruwellheide, & K. Poulin, R. (2009). Why they stayed: near-perfect retention in an online certification program in library media. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 13 (3). • Moore, J. & Fetzer, M. (2009). The road to retention: a closer look at institutions that achieve high course completion rates. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13 (3).

IMPROVING STUDENT RETENTION WITH BLACKBOARD Lori Vargo, Director of e-Learning vargolj@uscb. edu Ext. 8272