LIB 4900 – Social Informatics – Fall 2015

Title:

Comparing dropouts and persistence in E-learning courses

APA Citation:

Levy, Y. (2007). Comparing Dropouts and Persistence in E-learning. Computers & Education, 48(2), 185-204

Research Question:

Why do students attending e–learning courses dropout at substantially higher rates than their counterparts in on-campus courses?

Methodology:

Several studies were conducted in regard to dropouts from on-campus and “distance” education courses. The study proposes a clear and precise definition of dropout from academic courses in the context of e–learning courses. The researchers conducted various studies in the hopes to find an answer to the question of why students drop courses. The researchers found that students attending e–learning courses dropout at substantially higher rates than their counterparts in on-campus courses. Realizing there had to be a reason or flaw in the system they began to dig deeper. The study explores two main ideas: academic focus of control; & students’ satisfaction with e–learning. Their results prove that students’ satisfaction with e–learning is a key indicator in students’ decision to dropout from e–learning courses. I found it interesting that dropout students or “non-completers” reported to have significantly lower satisfaction with e–learning than students who successfully completed “completers” the same e–learning courses. This shows that students who finshed the entire course had better things to say in regard to the technologies.

Extent to which this article takes a social informatics approach to the research study:

Given that Social informatics is the study of communication and information tools in cultural or institutional concepts, this idea directly links to the journal article that i have chosen to blog about. The author, Yair Levy, has put together multiple pieces on learning enviroments and e learning atmospheres so the information he has came up with is deffinately a reputable resource. This study deffinately applies to the social informatics methods of studying E-Learning systems.