Impact on retention through eLearning in a Consortium

1
Impact on retention through e-Learning in a
Consortium

• Jebar Ahmed
• University of Huddersfield

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Aims of the Research

• Reasons for withdrawal
• Reasons for withdrawal in the CPCET
• The link between e-Learning and Retention
  (loyalty)
• Recommendations
• Conclusions

3
The Consortium

• The Consortium for Post Compulsory Education and
  Training (CPCET)
• 30 centres delivering courses
• MLE Project
• Retention context

4
Reasons for withdrawal

• Choice of course
• Lack of information
• Selection process
• Part-time students
• The demands of employment/workload through
  studies
• Needs of dependants
• Financial problems
• Programme organisation
• Inadequate staff support outside timetable
• Timetabling did not suit
• Teaching did not suit me/ lacking quality
• Lack of personal support from staff
• Personal health problems
• Stress related to the programme (Yorke and
  Longden, 2004)

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Reasons for withdrawal (2)in e-learning

• Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors
• Lack of time
• IT skills
• Relevance of initial teacher training

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Recommendations

• Subject specifics
• Academic and Occupational relevance
• Communication regularised
• Key skills
• Engaging students using technologies (staying in
  touch)
• Institutional changes

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Methodology

• A review of existing research on retention with
  particular attention to the relative area
• Analysis of existing Consortium data relating to
  retention and withdrawal
• Analysis of VLE/e-learning usage across the
  centres
• Focus group discussions with students
• Semi structured interviews with Centre managers
  focusing on how retention could be improved
• One to one interviews with selected students on
  the use of e-learning
• Questionnaire/surveys with withdrawn students
• Students were interviewed from one centre that
  made good use of e-learning and one centre that
  did not use any form of e-learning.

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Factors

• Key factors which cause students to consider
  course withdrawal, are
• Employment workloads and pressure (84
  experiencing some pressure, 67 to a significant
  extent)
• Domestic or family (62 experiencing some issues,
  44 to a significant extent)
• Academic difficulty with the course (47
  experiencing some difficulty, 15 to a
  significant extent)

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Recommendations

• Flexibility of the programme
• Support for the programme to bridge gaps
• E-recommendations
• Already using VLEmost effective support
  mechanism
• Make more use of the VLE

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The e-ingredients

• 4 Centres selected
• 2 used VLE (blended)
• 2 used F2F
• Good Use of VLE includes -
• Support materials are made available in the VLE
  regularly
• Centre tutors regularly accessing the VLE
• Students regularly accessing the VLE
• Regular contributions made to the VLE discussion
  forums
• Tutors moderate the discussions.

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Retention in selected Centres
Centres 1 2 made use of e-Learning Centres 3
4 made no use of e-Learning
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Student Feedback
Centre 3 no.. cant get in to it Its not
organised at all. I couldnt find anything
weve had problems with students trying to get
in to it
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Student Feedback

• Centre 2
• peer support was the best thing about the VLE
• We used the VLE due to the lack of contact with
  other students I dont know how I would have
  survived without it
• Everything was where we wanted it to be and it
  was clearly titled

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Recommendations

• Early induction process and feed students into
  the VLE
• Provide reasonable short descriptions for content
  added to the VLE
• Organise content in an accessible format
• Use the VLE to add value and monitor students
• Pedagogical relationship
• Make effective use of the communication tools
  available in the VLE for peer-to-peer and
  tutor-to-peer communication
• Allocate responsibility to students for
  extracting materials from the VLE and making
  contributions to the VLE (e.g. Discussions)
• Institutional Responsibilities

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Conclusion

• Factors beyond control - Caution
• Positive effect on Retention in a Blended
  model?
• Which factors were affected
• Monitoring is important
• Must be pedagogically suitable for students
• Early robust adoption/integration/feed
• Further research required

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References

• Competition Commission, (2000) Background
  information on loyalty cards online
  http//www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/r
  eports/2000/fulltext/446a7.3.pdf
• Consortium for Post Compulsory Education and
  Training (2004) online
• http//consortium.hud.ac.uk/php/showpage.php?pagei
  d129
• Croft, N. B. (2001) Bachelors or Masters Degree
  The intelligent way to attend class, The New
  Corporate University, Virginia University of
  Phoenix
• Curtis, P. (2005), Guardian education becoming a
  business online
• http//education.guardian.co.uk/businessofresearch
  /story/0,,1408421,00.html
• Department for Education and Skills (2005)
  Recruitment and Retention in the Post-16 Learning
  and Skills Sector, Sheffield DfES
• FENTO (2000) A Functional Analysis of the
  Part-Time Lecturing Staff in Further Education
  Colleges in England and Wales, London Further
  Education National Training Organisation
• Hemsley-Brown, J. (2002) Managing Retention under
  the New Skills Agenda Research in Post-Compulsory
  Education Volume 7, number 3
• Higher Education Funding Council for England,
  (2001) House of Commons Sub-Committee Inquiry
  into Higher Education, Submission of additional
  evidence from the HEFCE, online
  http//www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2001/commons.htm
  
• Higher Education Funding Council for England,
  (2003) Supporting Higher Education in Further
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• Joint Information Systems Committee (2004a) When
  Worlds Collide Changing Cultures in 21st Century
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• Joint Information Systems Committee (2004b)
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• Noel, P. (2004) Retention and Achievement in
  CPCET Programmes, PCET Consortium, University of
  Huddersfield Unpublished
• Packham, G. Jones, P. Miller, C and Thomas B
  (2004) E-learning and retention key factors
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• Robbins, V. (1998) The Development on Information
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• Scott P. (2000) Higher Education Re-formed,
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