| Adult online students often cite technology support as integral to their success. One large, online university, which serves the growing population of adult online learners, lacks structure for supporting students' technology and media needs. Lack of such support puts students at an increased risk for attrition or poor academic progress. Using the theory of transactional distance and the concept of computer literacy as an investigative lens, the mixed methods study addressed the correlation between student requests for technical assistance and grade point averages, retention, and time to degree completion. A grounded theory approach was then used to address how the need for technical help impact adult online learners' student experience. Quantitative data were analyzed using Pearson and Kendall's tau_b correlation analyses, and documents and transcripts were coded and themed using the constant comparative method. Findings showed a significant positive correlation, r(396) = .98, p<.03, between technical help requests and term-to-term retention and that students struggle to communicate their technology needs and staff members offer inconsistent support to students. The findings inspired a program proposal for improved tracking of student services and an integrated early alert system, staff training, and a proactive method for comperacy assessment and instruction to improve students' likelihood of success. Offering more comprehensive technical support for adult, online students will increase their likelihood retention, and improving literacy in digital technology will positively effect social change in this population by improving their self-efficacy for communicating and engaging in learning in diverse and emerging platforms. |
