After instruction has begun, drop rates are essentially the same in online and onground continuing education classes¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr1·q2
Currency · newest study 2007 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on a source with no registered publication record (a web page, book or unpublished report). It is kept because 2 design pages cite it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Once instruction had begun and students had encountered the instructor, the percentage dropping out was essentially the same online and onground, with no significant difference. → Jia Frydenberg 2007
Evidence¶
Jia Frydenberg 2007¶
Jia Frydenberg. (2007). Persistence in University Continuing Education Online Classes. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3). https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/1492-3831
q2 · i? · associational · r1
Secondary analysis regrouping the two-year drop data: online drops before course start (108) were combined with Orientation Week drops (185) as pre-instruction, while onground week-one drops were grouped with later drops as post-instruction. The article reports the post-instruction percentages "essentially the same" and, in the abstract, no significant difference.
"By aggregating the data this way, an interes ting pattern emerges. The percentage of people dropping out of classes after instruction has begun is essentially the same in online and onground classes."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- For college students who can choose between online and in-person sections, taking a course online lowers grades both in that course and in future courses — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
- Expressed dissatisfaction with online technology, instruction, or content is not the primary reason for dropping — related
- Online attrition during Orientation Week is twice that of onground classes' first week — related
- Online continuing education courses show lower persistence than comparable onground courses (79% vs 84%) over eight quarters — related
- Self-reported withdrawal reasons are largely similar online and onground, led by no/other reason, transfer, and schedule conflict — related
- Attrition did not differ significantly between cognitive apprenticeship and control sections, and withdrawing students did not cite the instructional method — related
- Course modality moderated student experience: instructor responsiveness was more prevalent in face-to-face classes and online students reported more frustration — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
no-drop-rate-difference-after-instruction-starts |
title |
After instruction has begun, drop rates are essentially the same in online and onground continuing education classes |
description |
After instruction has begun, drop rates are essentially the same in online and onground continuing education classes |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2007 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-27 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — jia-frydenberg-2007 |
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