Title
Contributing Factors to the Successful Completion of Online Courses at the Community College Level
Date of Award
Fall 10-24-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.
College
College of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
Belle Booker-Zorigian, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Keith Aldred, Ed.D.
Third Advisor
Ralph Spraker, Ph.D.
Abstract
This study sought to determine if the discrepancy between successful completion rates of online and face-to-face courses at the community college level is partially due to differences in the proportion of part-time students and the proportion of students without clear academic goals in each modality. In addition, this study looked to see if relationships exist between successful completion of online courses and the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term. An archival data set containing 20,119 student records for the fall of 2016 from a community college in the western United States was utilized for this study. The data supported that part-time students successfully complete their courses at a lower rate than full-time students (p<.01) and proportionally there are more part-time students in online courses than in face-to-face courses (p<.01), students without clear academic goals successfully complete their courses at a higher rate than students with clear academic goals (p<.01) and proportionally there are more students without clear academic goals in online courses than in face-to-face courses (p<.01), and successful completion of online courses is related to the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term for both full-time students (p<.01) and part-time students (p<.01). In addition, the evidence supported that the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term is related to successful completion of face-to-face courses for full-time students who take online courses (p<.01) and also for full-time students in general (p<.01). The same conclusions were not supported for part-time students.