Enhancing Student Retention in Online Courses: Fact or Folly?

There is a thrust among universities to provide a flexible learning environment and diversify methods of teaching and delivery for students. The increasing popularity of online learning programs has generated much interest among both practitioners and researchers, particularly with regard to the predictors of learning outcomes. This study examines the effectiveness of various policy-related interventions aimed at increasing student retention in online programs. Data was gathered from a live online program to support an initial report on the effectiveness of these interventions. The analysis examines the trends of student non-completion in an online program following the implementation of policy interventions. The results indicate that many widely held "best practices " in student retention have very little support from the data. The discussion considers some explanations for why the data do not support the dominant theory about these "best practices"