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Online Learning News and Research
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Sunday, July 11, 2004
A Model for Sustainable Student Retention: A Holistic Perspective on the Student Dropout Problem - Zane L. Berge, DEOS
This article introduces a comprehensive model to assist institutions in planning for interventions to address student dropout and to increase student retention. The model is the result of an extensive review, analysis, and synthesis of research and theoretical studies. It is flexible and represents a comprehensive set of factors related to student retention, categorized in meaningful ways, and can be used at multiple levels: institutional, departmental or program, by individual faculty, or by students. The need for a model of this kind has long been recognized because, as Woodley and Parlet (1983, cited in Cookson 1989) stated, there is a systematic problem involving the institution as a whole. The problem involving retention of students is not due to an isolated factor that can be “fixed,” but rather imagination and care must be used to carefully select interventions that are needed at various points throughout the organization. Retention of students at the course, program, or degree level has been a timeless concern of educators. The lack of retention, or dropout, has historically challenged educational systems and seems to be especially acute in distance learning. Historically, the percentage of students who drop out of brick and mortar higher education has held constant at between 40-45% for the past 100 years (Tinto 1982). In the online learning context, dropout rates appear to be higher than for traditional courses. While there are no national statistics for completion rates of distance education students, dropout rates are believed by some to be 10 to 20 percentage points higher than for in-person learning (Carr 2000; Diaz 2002; Frankola 2001).
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