Exploring a Quality Assurance Tool on Remote Academic Advising for Higher Education Traditionally Underrepresented Students in Distance Education

The purpose of this research is to fill the gap in the literature by examining organizational stakeholders\u27 perceptions of access to remote academic advising. Over the past years, traditionally underrepresented student enrollments in distance education at community colleges have increased, yet the retention rate of online students compared to on-campus students have decreased (Breit & Schreyer, 2018). The gap between ideal and reality serves as a powerful blind spot toward the lack of access to remote student support services in higher education. Remote access to technology and student support services (e.g. academic advising) negatively influence student persistence, retention and graduation from distance education programs (Britto & Rush, 2013;Lapadula, 2003). When unchecked, gaps of access to remote technology and academic advising, perpetuates the marginalization of traditionally underrepresented students in distance education. Evaluating an institutions\u27 access to remote academic advising and access to technology is possible by using a quality assurance tool (e.g. Quality Matters Annotated Program Criteria). User’s expectations and perceptions of the experienced service is realized through the use of a quality assurance tool. Using a quality assurance tool will serve as a solution to shrink the gap of persistence and retention rates between traditionally underrepresented students and their white counterparts. This qualitative research will utilize virtual interviews, participant observations and archival documents to examine organizational stakeholders (e.g. administrators) perceptions of an institutions access to remote academic advising and how remote academic advising is utilized