Impact on retention through e- Learning in a Consortium Jebar Ahmed University of Huddersfield

Aims of the Research Reasons for withdrawal Reasons for withdrawal in the CPCET The link between e-Learning and Retention (loyalty) Recommendations Conclusions

The Consortium The Consortium for Post Compulsory Education and Training (CPCET) 30+ centres delivering courses MLE Project Retention context

Reasons for withdrawal Choice of course –Lack of information –Selection process Part-time students –The demands of employment/workload through studies –Needs of dependants –Financial problems –Programme organisation –Inadequate staff support outside timetable –Timetabling did not suit –Teaching did not suit me/ lacking quality –Lack of personal support from staff –Personal health problems –Stress related to the programme (Yorke and Longden, 2004)

Reasons for withdrawal (2) in e-learning Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors Lack of time IT skills Relevance of initial teacher training

Recommendations Subject specifics Academic and Occupational relevance Communication regularised Key skills Engaging students using technologies (staying in touch) Institutional changes

Methodology A review of existing research on retention with particular attention to the relative area Analysis of existing Consortium data relating to retention and withdrawal Analysis of VLE/e-learning usage across the centres Focus group discussions with students Semi structured interviews with Centre managers focusing on ‘how’ retention could be improved One to one interviews with selected students on the use of e-learning Questionnaire/surveys with withdrawn students Students were interviewed from one centre that made good use of e-learning and one centre that did not use any form of e-learning.

Figure 1:Reasons for Suspension (Noel, 2004) Figure 2: Reasons for withdrawal (Noel, 2004)

Factors Key factors which cause students to consider course withdrawal, are: Employment workloads and pressure (84% experiencing some pressure, 67% to a significant extent) Domestic or family (62% experiencing some issues, 44% to a significant extent) Academic difficulty with the course (47% experiencing some difficulty, 15% to a significant extent)

Figure 3: Percentages of students within specific categories who have considered withdrawal (Noel, 2004)

Recommendations Flexibility of the programme Support for the programme to bridge gaps E-recommendations –“Already using VLE…most effective support mechanism” –“Make more use of the VLE”

The e-ingredients 4 Centres selected: –2 used VLE (blended) –2 used F2F Good Use of VLE includes: - –Support materials are made available in the VLE regularly –Centre tutors regularly accessing the VLE –Students regularly accessing the VLE –Regular contributions made to the VLE discussion forums –Tutors moderate the discussions.

Retention in selected Centres Centres 1 & 2 made use of e-Learning Centres 3 & 4 made no use of e-Learning

Student Feedback Centre 3 “no.. cant get in to it” “It’s not organised at all…. I couldn’t find anything” “we’ve had problems with students trying to get in to it”

Student Feedback Centre 2 “peer support was the best thing about the VLE” “We used the VLE due to the lack of contact with other students … I don’t know how I would have survived without it” “Everything was where we wanted it to be and it was clearly titled”

Recommendations Early induction process and feed students into the VLE Provide reasonable short descriptions for content added to the VLE Organise content in an accessible format Use the VLE to ‘add value’ and monitor students Pedagogical relationship Make effective use of the communication tools available in the VLE for peer-to-peer and tutor-to-peer communication Allocate responsibility to students for extracting materials from the VLE and making contributions to the VLE (e.g. Discussions) Institutional Responsibilities

Conclusion Factors beyond control - Caution Positive ‘e’ffect on Retention in a Blended model? Which factors were affected Monitoring is important Must be pedagogically suitable for students Early robust adoption/integration/feed Further research required

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