Online continuing education courses show lower persistence than comparable onground courses (79% vs 84%) over eight quarters¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · 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is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on a source with no registered publication record (a web page, book or unpublished report).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 3 design pages cite it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Over eight quarters at UC Irvine Extension, the persistence rate was 79 percent in online courses and 84 percent in similar onground courses, a statistically significant difference in attrition (21% vs 15%). → 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

Comparative observational analysis of two years of enrollment and withdrawal records (Spring 2004–Winter 2006) from UC Irvine Extension, covering 1,847 online of 27,815 total enrollments. The article reports "a marked difference in the percentage attrition" of 15% onground versus 21% online, statistically significant per Table 4.

"However, there is a marked difference in th e percentage attrition between the large onground program (15%) and the smaller online program (2 1%). Table 4 shows that this difference is statistically significant."

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
• After instruction has begun, drop rates are essentially the same in online and onground continuing education classes — related
• Self-reported withdrawal reasons are largely similar online and onground, led by no/other reason, transfer, and schedule conflict — related
• Online attrition during Orientation Week is twice that of onground classes' first week — related
• A single Tipping Point explains dropout patterns in only about a quarter of online courses, so lesson-level dropout behavior is more complex than one critical lesson — related
• First-semester transfer students taking one general education course persisted at rates 15-20% lower than similar non-takers, an effect absent when the course was taken in a later term — related
• Longitudinal subject attrition produces systematic baseline differences among continuing, dropout, and non-participating students — related
• Expressed dissatisfaction with online technology, instruction, or content is not the primary reason for dropping — related
• Differential attrition may explain the reported reduction in achievement gaps under daily online testing — related