Views from Nashville
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 2 (March)
“I think we have reached a point in the development of online learning where there is a broader acceptance of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” he said at the outset of the discussion. “Much of this relates to the work that’s going on in serving the military. But there is a new challenge that has been lurking in higher education for several years, and that has to do with degree completion and retention.”
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
After citing the 2009 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, which revealed that online enrollment rose by nearly 17 percent from 2008, Chaloux commended higher education institutions for their recruiting abilities but acknowledged that retention rates were far less positive.
“Are we really meeting servicemembers’ needs?” asked Ileen Rogers, director of the Army Continuing Education System. “Are we there when they need us and are we providing the right programs and services that they’re looking for?”
According to Navy Voluntary Education Service Chief Anne Hunter, retention is a complex equation and needs to be weighed against competing circumstances and practical concerns relating to budgets, readiness and timing.
“We do try to look at the needs of each individual sailor, but we also balance that with what we can afford to do and try to temper it with some form of reality,” she said. “We want all of our sailors to be successful in the courses that they take, but the fact is that not everyone wants to go to college and college is not for everyone.”
Timing and course selection contribute greatly to student satisfaction. “From a Navy leadership perspective, what we’re really looking at is trying to get the right sailor in the right course at the right time,” added Hunter. “And the right sailor is someone who knows what it takes to be a sailor. This is not someone who walks in just out of boot camp and says, ‘I’m going to take five courses,’ without knowing the everyday demands of the Navy. We support aggressive goals and want them to be successful, but let’s make them sailors first.”
METRICS AND PERSPECTIVES
According to a study conducted last year by ACT, a not-forprofit assessment and research organization, 65.7 percent of first year students returned to their colleges as sophomores during the 2007–2008 academic year. The number of students who did not return reflects a low point for five of the eight categories of institutions measured: two-year private colleges (55.5 percent), four-year private baccalaureate colleges (69.6 percent), private master’s institutions (72.3 percent) and private and public doctoral granting universities (80.4 and 72.9 percent, respectively). ACT also found that the overall retention rate at U.S. community colleges for the 2007–2008 academic year increased to 53.7 percent, up from a low of 51.3 percent in 2004.
It’s important to recognize that ACT’s retention data does not measure the number of students who transferred to another college, or took a year off and then returned; the study only indicates whether or not students returned to their own institutions for a second year. ACT has been collecting this data for some 25 years now, and over this time the number of undergraduate students attending U.S. colleges has increased substantially. This has had a significant impact on academic readiness and the overall quality of American education.
“Measuring student returns on investment is something that higher education has never been very good at,” admitted Dick Merriman, the president of Southwestern College. “The premise has been that somehow something amazing happens while students earn their degree, but when you try and quantify beyond that it becomes very difficult.”
FOLLOWING THROUGH
Merriman noted that Southwestern College participates in several national surveys to gauge what kind of experience students and faculty are having, but was quick to add that the absence of clear national standards and a definitive measuring stick makes assessment challenging.
“One of our most important informal measures is the kind of word of mouth we have in our regional market and among our learners,” he added. “Knowing how many of our new learners come to us as referrals—that’s a very critical measure for us. The overall satisfaction of our alumni, how well prepared they felt they were when they left, is also a key measurement. Persistence in graduation rates ends up being very important as well, because getting the degree is the name of the game, even if it takes a long time to earn it."
About 40 percent of first-time freshmen enter community college, according to the U.S. Department of Education (DoE). Although nearly 80 percent of these students plan to attain a bachelor's degree, only 23 percent do so within six years. High levels of academic intensity in the first year of higher education have been found to be an important contributor in attaining a bachelor's degree. Students who enter with and maintain full, or close to full, course load in their first year of college have degree completion rates that are nearly one third higher than their counterparts who do not. Research from the DoE has also found that U.S. college degree attainment rates have been relatively steady for two decades; remaining at about 20–28 percent for males and 24–30 percent for females, with an overall average of about 29 percent in 2008.
“Just like every higher education institution, the Coast Guard also wants its servicemembers to be successful in school and graduate,” remarked Lieutenant Commander Kevin McCormack, the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Institute in Oklahoma City. “We have public service officers who serve as our doctors and we get our chaplains from the Navy, but everybody else is a line officer. It’s been very beneficial for us to have servicemembers taking classes that relate to the particular jobs they occupy.” ♦