5.6 Assignment Critical Reflection Journal – Blog
Student Services for Online Learners: A Framework for Student Success
Write a reflective blog post on this week’s readings, Roundtable dialogue, and/or action research learnings. The blog writing may be your choice, but it must be substantive, including outside scholarly works.
Student Services for Online Learners: A Framework for Student Success
Providing students with adequate support is one of the fundamental elements of online students’ success. Successful learning for online learners requires students to possess specific skills and attributes. Brindley (2014) states, “Online learners require a certain level of maturity, a high level of motivation, the capacity to multi-task, goal-directedness, and the ability to work independently and cooperatively.” Students are more likely to succeed when connected to an encouraging, all-encompassing, academically rigorous learning environment. This is especially true for students in an online environment who do not benefit from a physical campus community environment.
Student support for online students has evolved since the invention of the Internet. The internet facilitated the emergence of customized and automated services that technology, rather than humans, can deliver. The internet has enabled online learners to access social elements, such as online interactions via discussion boards, synchronous Zoom meetings, and engagement with online support resources such as online writing centers, tutoring, and academic advising. The online world in 21st-century education affords new tools for communication, knowledge and skill acquisition, and peer and group support that were unavailable to earlier generations of online students.
Students have many options when it comes to online learning. To remain competitive and retain students, institutions must provide students with an online learning experience that meets and exceeds their expectations and is effective, efficient, and enriching; they must create and develop a virtual campus community that includes student support services that encourage success throughout the student’s educational journey – beginning with the student’s initial inquiry, through the enrollment process, to graduation and beyond. While students have the convenience of online learning, to be successful, online education must be combined with proactive and interactive support from faculty, staff, and the administration, which encourages student success.
One of the challenges in online learning when it comes to student success is the identification of students at risk (Gibbs et al., 2006). Online learners tend to be at a greater risk of facing challenges when adjusting to the online learning environment than face-to-face learners in an on-campus learning environment. Online learners typically have distinctive characteristics such as a lack of motivation, impractical time management expectations, and hesitation to seek assistance from their instructors.
Many institutions that lack adequate resources due to budget cuts from a decline in enrollment often need help to provide additional resources for their online population. However, Simpson (2008) argued that in a situation of limited resources, the most effective way to improve student retention, particularly with those at-risk students, is to focus on those students who require support and are most likely to benefit the most. What makes a difference for at-risk student retention is the time between the student identification and the time of support intervention is implemented.
Tait (2004) asserts that there are multiple ways in which support can be offered. Research by Floyd and Casey-Powell, (2004) emphasized the importance of advising and counseling, the development of a sense of community, and support with academic skills are all vital elements of support. In an online learning environment, peer support and mentoring positively impacted online students when implemented as a retention strategy for online students. Boyle et al. (2010) state that the critical success factors consistently identified include appropriate training of mentors for online students and the inclusion of peer mentoring as part of the formal curriculum for online students.
Institutions need to have a strategic plan for student success that includes a comprehensive set of online student support interventions across the different phases of the learning cycle. This strategic plan for student success also includes various support interventions designed to support students at various stages. It should also take a holistic approach to student-centered support. In conclusion, student support activities must begin when a student applies to the institution until graduation. Often, student support occurs too late in the course to be effective or after students have already decided to withdraw.
References
Boyle, F., Kwon, J., Ross, C., & Simpson, O. (2010). Student–student mentoring for retention
and engagement in distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance
and e-Learning, 25(2), 115–130.
Brindley, J. E. (2014). Learner support in online distance education: Essential and evolving. In
O. Zawacki-Richter & A. Terry (Eds.), Online distance education. Towards a research
agenda (pp. 287–310). AU Press.
Floyd, D. L., & Casey-Powell, D. (2004). New roles for student support services in distance
learning. New Directions for Community Colleges, 128, 55–64.
Gibbs, G., Regan, P., & Simpson, O. (2006). Improving student retention through evidence-based
proactive systems at the Open University (UK). Journal of College Student Retention:
Research, Theory & Practice, 8(3), 359–376.
Simpson, O. (2004). The impact on retention of interventions to support distance learning
students. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance, and e-Learning, 19(1), 79–95.
Tait, A. (2004). On institutional models and concepts of student support services: The case of the
Open University, UK, 3rd EDEN Research Workshop. Retrieved from
http://www.c3l.unioldenburg.de/cde/support/fa04/Vol.%209%20chapters/KeynoteTait.pdf
