1 / 12

Gary J. Burkholder, PhD Senior Research Scholar Center for Research Quality Jim Lenio, MS

Revisiting Retention: A Four Phase Retention Research Initiative 2012 SLOAN Conference October 10 th , 2012. Gary J. Burkholder, PhD Senior Research Scholar Center for Research Quality Jim Lenio, MS Interim Executive Director Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

feng
Download Presentation

Gary J. Burkholder, PhD Senior Research Scholar Center for Research Quality Jim Lenio, MS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Revisiting Retention: A Four Phase Retention Research Initiative2012 SLOAN ConferenceOctober 10th, 2012 Gary J. Burkholder, PhD Senior Research Scholar Center for Research Quality Jim Lenio, MS Interim Executive Director Office of Institutional Research and Assessment Nicole Holland Senior Research Analyst Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

  2. Walden University General Information Student Demographics • Accredited by HLC • Private, For-Profit Institution • Primarily Online • Undergrad & Grad Programs in: • Education • Social & Behavioral Sciences • Health Sciences & Nursing • Management & Technology • Fall 2011 Enrollment = 50,285 • 17.5% Undergraduate • 82.5% Graduate • 74.8% Female • 46.8% Minority • Average Age = 39 years Mission Statement “Walden University provides a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can effect positive social change.”

  3. Literature Review College student retention continues to be a national priority. Tinto (1993) developed models primarily describing students in traditional university settings. Lovitts (2001) examined in detail factors associated with doctoral student attrition; again, her analysis focused on qualitative data from students in traditional doctoral programs. Drouin (2008) found mixed results regarding the role of sense of community for online students. More research is needed to understand what predicts success in online programs, particularly those that attract non-traditional students.

  4. Four Phase Retention Initiative

  5. Possible Retention Predictors Cognitive Institutional Economic Social Demographic • Geographic Location • Age • Ethnicity • Gender • Amount of Transfer Credit • Feelings of Closeness • Number of Children • Lives with Spouse / Partner • Commitment to Walden • Prior Online Experience • Understanding Program Req. • Expectations re: Instruction • Expectations re: Performance • Expectations re: Time • Time Spent Studying • Parent’s Education • First Term GPA • Skills Assessment • Balancing Studies with Work • Balancing Studies with Family • Employment Status • Financial Aid • Satisfaction with instructors • Satisfaction with Course Design • Satisfaction with Orientation • Satisfaction with Acad. Advising • Overall Satisfaction • Likelihood to Recommend • Number of Referrals

  6. Method & Sample Sample Criteria Students who started during the Summer or Fall 2009 term AND completed the 2009 Student Satisfaction Survey. Method • Identify significant predictors of retention. • Create database of retention & predictor data integrating student satisfaction and Banner data • Impute missing data using MVA in SPSS. • This procedure is an accepted procedure to handle item and unit non-response and results in less bias in parameter estimates. • Run six month and one year retention models using logistic regression.

  7. Graduate Retention Models

  8. Undergraduate Retention Models Measures of Model Fit *Pseudo R ^ 2 Nagelkerke Six Month Model = .364 One Year Model = .454

  9. Key Ideas • First term GPA  strongest predictor of retention at six months and one year. • For Undergraduatestudents, long term retention is associated with: (when accounting for first term GPA) • Work-Family Balance, Commitment to University Education, more transfer credits, being female, and being minority. • For Graduatestudents, long term retention is associated with: (when accounting for first term GPA) • Instructor satisfaction, course satisfaction, work-life balance, being minority ethnicity.

  10. Key Ideas Cont’d • Demonstrates the importance of modeling retention by sub-populations. • We are also looking at retention models by program. • Work-life balance appears to be unique with online students. • This has not been seen much in the literature and requires further examination.

  11. Next Steps • Begin Phase Two: Survival Analysis Models. • Pilot retention initiatives (focus on first year). • Vantage Writing Assessment • Face to Face Orientation • Faculty Intro Videos • Design research to focus on significant retention predictors.

  12. Questions…Comments…Contact Info Thank You! Gary Burkholder gary.burkholder@waldenu.edu Jim Lenio james.lenio@waldenu.edu Nicole Holland nicole.holland@waldenu.edu

More Related