The Analysis Of The Challenges Online Students Face

Open admissions, affordability, and general accessibility has led to an increase in community college students (Crisp, Carales, & Núñez, 2016). As this population increases, so does the number of students engaging in distance education courses. This trend can be seen at Craven Community College (CCC) where the student population continues to grow and diversify at a rate that support services have been unable to keep up. CCC’s primarily online population has expanded rapidly over the last five years (Office of Institutional Effectiveness, 2017), but student services designed specifically for this population have yet to follow. While CCC’s general advising and support services are extended to primarily online students (POS), more can be done to support the burgeoning population.

Craven Community College

Craven Community College (CCC) is a two-year, public institution located in New Bern, North Carolina. Part of the NC Community College System, CCC’s 2017-2022 mission is to provide “education, training and retraining for the workforce, including basic skills and literacy education, occupational and pre-baccalaureate programs; support for economic development through services to and in partnership with business and industry; and services to communities and individuals which improve the quality of life” (“Craven’s Mission 2017-2022,” 2016).

The College’s Board of Trustees - a leadership body responsible for the development and governance of the College (“Board of Trustees”), adopted this mission. In accordance of the College’s Core Values of diversity, integrity, learning, quality, respect, and trust, the Board of Trustees and Executive Leadership Team faculty and staff developed the College’s 2017-2022 Strategic Goals

These Strategic Goals include improving the quality of teaching and learning, a renewed focus on a student-centered experience, enhancing the college environment, and a commitment to community service and engagement. To gauge the College’s current performance in these areas, the College’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) created the 2017-2018 Fact Book report.

Central to the OIE’s report is an examination of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) for curriculum students, more colloquially known as the enrollment number used to predict State funding and staff/faculty allotments. In the five years studied, “Seated courses comprised 55 percent of the FTE with online courses totaling 32 percent. However, all distance learning courses, online and hybrid, combined constitution nearly half of all FTE earnings.”

A closer examination of the numbers indicates that while overall FTE has declined by 5.2% over the past five years, distance and/or hybrid learning FTE is steadily increasing. As CCC works towards the NC Community College System’s (2018) excellence level goal of 51.9% curriculum completion, they must further study their online population to ensure they are adequately serving this growing community.

Comparison of CCC and Pitt Community College Services and Support

CCC offers many organizations and support services for the curriculum population, including academic advising by both staff advisors and faculty members, university-transfer advising, an Academic Skills Center, and federally funded TRiO and Connect 2 Success programs (“Current Students”). Although all CCC student organizations and support services are available to online students, none have been created to serve the unique needs of POS. A link on CCC’s main website titled “Distance Learning” seems to be the extent of tailored assistance provided to online students.

CCC Connect 2 Success advisor, Amanda Tusing, provides direct support to students identified as “at-risk”. Throughout her tenure in higher education, Tusing has noticed that online students struggle with time management and procrastination. She says that she frequently debunks the myth that online classes are “easier” than face-to-face classes. When working with primarily online students, Tusing tries to provide “increased accessibility and availability.”

While services aimed at POS are scant at CCC, it appears the institution is not alone. Comparatively, the services afforded to POS at Pitt Community College (PCC) are strikingly similar. Kimberly Riddick, an admissions counselor at PCC, says that when working with POS she has to “[modify] her counseling approach.” While PCC extends all their services to online students, to date, Riddick has not counseled an online student; however, she has held sessions with a hybrid student using a webcam or Skype.

Similar to CCC’s Amanda Tusing, Riddick believes the biggest challenge facing online students is the misconception that online classes are easier than face-to-face classes. Riddick added that PCC provides the same resources for online students as students on campus, including online and on-campus tutoring. While both institutions extend their existing services to online students, neither have tailored programming specifically for the population.

Primarily Online Students: A Unique Population

Pervasive among higher education is the misconception that POS are better-prepared students with the skills necessary to succeed in a self-regulated learning environment (Xu & Smith Jaggars, 2011; Smith Jaggars & Xu, 2010). Recent research indicates this is not the case. According to Shea and Bidijerano (2014), “online and distance students appear to be no better academically prepared and possibly somewhat less academic prepared and/or less likely to graduate than students who did not take distance or online courses”.

In developing a thorough understanding of the POS population, we interviewed four POS at East Carolina University. All interviewees are recent university-transfers who started their post-secondary experience at a community college. The concerns expressed by the POS interviewees can be broken into four overarching ideas: community, preparedness, and motivation.

Community

Of the students interviewed, all four said they do not feel like a part of the campus community. This lack of community is concerning because belonging and purpose are two psychosocial factors that contribute to retention (Luke, Redekop, & Burgin, 2014). According to Park and Jun Choi (2009), organizational support – including peer and campus support structures – is a “statistically significant [predictor] of learners’ decision to drop out or persist in online courseю [Implying] that learners are more likely to decide to drop out when they are not getting organizational support for their learning” (p. 216). While the POS population is considered at-risk in comparison to traditional students, neither the CCC nor the PCC advisors noted any specific differences in advising approach or services.

Preparedness

In general, both distance and traditional community college students often feel ill-prepared for the college workload (Goldrick-Rab, 2010). This feeling of unpreparedness contributes to community college completion rates that, on the national scale, are “historically lower than baccalaureate institutions” (Shea & Bidjerano, 2014). These feelings of inadequacy contribute to decreased motivation and self-perception – all characteristics outlined by Tinto’s Integration Model as predictors of student resiliency and success (Fong et. al, 2016). Both CCC and PCC’s advisors indicated that POS are often unaware of the amount of work presented in a distance course. Other unanticipated external factors often add to the workload.

According to Park and Jun Choi (2009), “external factors such as family issues, lack of organizational support, changing job, and workload are the main factors affecting the decision to drop out of online courses”. Student Interviewees 1 and 2 supported this idea. A first-year college student, Student 1 mentioned struggling to balance social life, work life, and school – all tasks common to the first-year experience (Degges-White & Borzumato).

Student 1 shared that they find it “difficult” to keep up with coursework and work schedule. Student 3, a student with experience as both a traditional and online learner, said she feels that she has more work as an online student. She struggles to work two jobs while enrolled in 15 credit hours. As a POS, she feels that the online work can be more extensive, and expressed that she was unprepared for the amount of work that accompanies online learning.

Motivation

When feeling perpetually unprepared or behind, a student’s motivation can be hampered. Research conducted by Fong et. al (2016) indicates that motivation is one of the most “influential predictors for both achievement and persistence outcomes”. Student 1 detailed struggling to find the motivation to keep up with her online coursework. Student 2, who alluded to previous issues with in-person attendance, said they struggle to keep up with their self-paced online work. Students 3 and 4 also mentioned motivation-connected concerns like time management and procrastination.

CCC offers in-person academic advising, workshops, and tutoring to combat motivation issues like time-management and procrastination, but no such services are available to POS who cannot make it to campus. These interventions and supports are uniquely important for community college students’ success given that community colleges disproportionally represent “disenfranchised” populations that tend to need additional support in developing self-efficacy.

Conclusions

It is important to note that all student interviewees were university-transfer students. Since these students successfully matriculated to a university, in the future, it may be more advantageous to interview a less successful population. We recommend involving a population of POS who withdrew or dropped out of their institution. Common throughout our research and interviews was one theme: distance education students need tailored support services. We recommend that CCC, and other institutions like CCC, create support tailored to the unique needs of online learners.

These interventions should consider the three primary concerns expressed by our student interviewees - community, preparedness, and motivation. While the practices of increasing availability and accessibility mentioned by Tusing and Riddick are good places to start, those alone do not suffice. Institutions serving online populations must adapt current services and actively seek new opportunities to serve the growing population of POS.