| This paper explores student retention in online education as compared to student retention in the traditional face-to-face format of the coursework at a suburban community college. A quantitative study of 5,185 students engaged in online coursework and the corresponding face-to-face version of the coursework provides the empirical data for this study. Students withdraw from online education at higher rates than those student engaged in the traditional face-to-face format of the coursework. From the available models of student retention, the variables of gender, age, ethnicity, GPA, and subject matter are compared in order to determine any further effects of these factors on student retention in the two formats of the coursework. Being a male student, a younger student (28 years of age or less), an ethnic minority, or a student with a higher GPA (2.34 and higher) is found to be the highest risk of withdraw from the online format of the coursework. Humanities courses such as criminal justice and psychology experience the highest rates of withdraw in the online versions of the coursework as compared to those courses requiring less interpretation such as accounting, business, early childhood education, economics, history, and reading. Recognizing these demographic characteristics and instructional design issues has important implications in the retention of students in online education at the community college. |
