Critical Success Factors and Methods to Increase Persistence for Non-Traditional Online Students

Introduction

In 2003, the Sloan Consortium for online learning reported that less than one-half of higher education institutions in the United States viewed online learning as necessary in regards to long-term strategic planning. However, in 2013, the Consortium reported that this number increased to approximately 70% (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Enrollment in online courses and degree programs continues to increase at a rate greater than that of classroom-based courses. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2019), overall enrollment in postsecondary learning decreased slightly from the fall of 2017 to the fall of 2018 from 19.7 million to 19.6 million, while enrollment in online learning increased from 6.6 million to 6.9 million (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). However, research shows that retention rates in online courses are lower compared to their face-to-face counterparts (Murphy & Stewart, 2017), even when the course is taught by the same professor (Hart et al., 2018), using the same lecture material (Roberts, 2015). What this means is that institutions of higher education must take the necessary steps to ensure that course design, supportive services, and training for faculty and staff is available and implemented in ways that will encourage and promote persistence amongst the nontraditional online student population.

In regard to postsecondary education, students can be considered traditional or nontraditional, with the definitions of these terms varying in the literature. In 2009, the Analytic Quality Glossary, an international glossary that provides definitions for terms and issues related to quality in higher education, detailed that college students in the United States between the ages of 18 and 22 who were not married and did not have physical or learning disabilities were considered traditional (Harvey, 2009). Nontraditional students, according to the current version of the site, are those whose characteristics are different than those normally associated with students entering higher education, such as social class, ethnic groups, or age group (Harvey, 2020). However, according to Rutgers University (2020), a nontraditional student is one who has been out of high school for 4 or more years, has had at least a 2-year interruption in their undergraduate studies, has dependents, is a veteran or active member of the military, is married or in domestic partnership, or who has nonacademic commitments, such as work or family, that may prevent them from pursuing a degree on a more traditional, full-time schedule. Additionally, both Cochran et al. (2014) and Robichaud (2016) have stated that nontraditional students are over the age of 24 years old. Depending on the literature, the characteristics of a nontraditional student may vary greatly also include ethnicity, being a learner of English as a second language, and veteran status.

This chapter discusses the results of a study focused on first-year students enrolled in an online introductory computer course at a proprietary college based in Western Pennsylvania offering degrees in the applied arts. Participants in the study only included online students, both traditional and nontraditional, and did not involve any students who were also taking campus-based classes. Additionally, this chapter provides solutions and recommendations for ways that higher education institutions can specifically support the learning of nontraditional online students through support services, technology, and course design.