Strategies and Quality Measures for Online Student Retention
At the Academic Development Department of National University College – Online Division, we have taken great measures in assuring student retention by developing and implementing strategies that guarantee satisfactory experiences in online learning. Our current student satisfaction rate is 83.3%. Our Department develops courses for four institutions; NUC, IBC, FTC, and DAVE School. Each institution has a specific course design based on the needs presented by the institution.
Here are a few of our practices:
• Student Success courses
• Introduction to Online Learning courses
• Course navigation guides and tutorials
• Appealing graphic design
• Animated videos
• Integrated tools: Big Blue Button, Lynda.com, Bookshelf
• Online Library
• Center for Teaching and Learning
• Canvas guides and tutorials
• Others
Technologies
Our courses are offered through Canvas learning management system. Our platforms include access to various applications including Bookshelf, Big Blue Button, Lynda.com and Turnitin. To develop tutorials and graphic elements, we implement tools from the Adobe Suite. A multimedia recording room is also utilized to create videos and incorporate audio into tutorials.
Explain project results
The course design implemented for each institution has followed the needs and student characteristics presented by academic coordinators. Hence, each institution has a unique design according to its student population, academic offerings and institutional colors. Also, best practices in the development of online courses were considered: intuitive navigation, access to information resources, use of icons, several access routes to sections of the course, clear instructions, consistency in all courses.
Why it should be considered best practice?
In distance education, the strategies implemented for the use of technology can greatly affect the student’s experience. Bawa (2016) discusses that a factor in the loss of student retention in online education is based on how the course is created; student satisfaction with the course design is determinant in retention. In addition, overestimating the knowledge of students in technology can induce those students who do not dominate such platforms to dropout. Therefore, these topics should be taken into consideration when developing the learning environment for online education programs.
We maintain and implement high levels of detail into the creation of our courses by incurring in continuous processes of quality assurance in order to provide students with content, instructions, activities and tools that best serve their learning experience.
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