TY - GEN
T1 - Role of Course and Individual Characteristics in the Course-level Persistence Intentions of Online Undergraduate Engineering Students
T2 - 9th Research in Engineering Education Symposium and 32nd Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference: Engineering Education Research Capability Development, REES AAEE 2021
AU - Kittur, Javeed
AU - Brunhaver, Samantha
AU - Bekki, Jennifer
AU - Lee, Eunsil
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is based on research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award Number 1825732. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the students who participated in the study.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Javeed Kittur, Samantha Brunhaver, Jennifer Bekki, and Eunsil Lee, 2021.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Online learning is increasing in both enrollment and importance within engineering education. Online courses also continue to confront comparatively higher course dropout levels than face-to-face courses. This research paper thus aims to better understand the factors that contribute to students' choices to remain in or drop out of their online undergraduate engineering courses. Path analysis was used to examine the impact of course perceptions and individual characteristics on students' course-level persistence intentions. Specifically, whether students' course perceptions influenced their persistence intentions directly or indirectly, through their expectancies of course success, was tested. Data for this study were collected from three ABET-accredited online undergraduate engineering programs at a large public university in the Southwestern United States: electrical engineering, engineering management, and software engineering. A total of 138 students participated in the study during the fall 2019 (n=85) and spring 2020 (n=53) semesters. Participants responded to surveys twice weekly during their 7.5-week online course. The survey asked students about their course perceptions related to instructor practices, peer support, and course difficulty level, their expectancies in completing the course, and their course persistence intentions. This work is part of a larger National Science Foundation-funded research project dedicated to studying online student course-level persistence based on both students' self-report data and course learning management system (LMS) activity. The survey sample was consistent with reports indicating that online learners tend to be more diverse than face-to-face learners. Findings from the path analysis revealed that students' perceptions of course LMS fit, perceived course difficulty, and expectancies of course success positively and significantly predicted persistence intentions, making them the most important influences. Expectancies of course success had a direct effect on persistence intentions. The findings underscore needs to elucidate further the mechanisms through which expectancies of success influence persistence.
AB - Online learning is increasing in both enrollment and importance within engineering education. Online courses also continue to confront comparatively higher course dropout levels than face-to-face courses. This research paper thus aims to better understand the factors that contribute to students' choices to remain in or drop out of their online undergraduate engineering courses. Path analysis was used to examine the impact of course perceptions and individual characteristics on students' course-level persistence intentions. Specifically, whether students' course perceptions influenced their persistence intentions directly or indirectly, through their expectancies of course success, was tested. Data for this study were collected from three ABET-accredited online undergraduate engineering programs at a large public university in the Southwestern United States: electrical engineering, engineering management, and software engineering. A total of 138 students participated in the study during the fall 2019 (n=85) and spring 2020 (n=53) semesters. Participants responded to surveys twice weekly during their 7.5-week online course. The survey asked students about their course perceptions related to instructor practices, peer support, and course difficulty level, their expectancies in completing the course, and their course persistence intentions. This work is part of a larger National Science Foundation-funded research project dedicated to studying online student course-level persistence based on both students' self-report data and course learning management system (LMS) activity. The survey sample was consistent with reports indicating that online learners tend to be more diverse than face-to-face learners. Findings from the path analysis revealed that students' perceptions of course LMS fit, perceived course difficulty, and expectancies of course success positively and significantly predicted persistence intentions, making them the most important influences. Expectancies of course success had a direct effect on persistence intentions. The findings underscore needs to elucidate further the mechanisms through which expectancies of success influence persistence.
KW - course perceptions
KW - Online learning
KW - persistence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146148053&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85146148053&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.52202/066488-0036
DO - 10.52202/066488-0036
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85146148053
T3 - 9th Research in Engineering Education Symposium and 32nd Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, REES AAEE 2021: Engineering Education Research Capability Development
SP - 316
EP - 324
BT - 9th Research in Engineering Education Symposium and 32nd Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, REES AAEE 2021
A2 - Male, Sally
A2 - Male, Sally
A2 - Guzzomi, Andrew
PB - Research in Engineering Education Network
Y2 - 5 December 2021 through 8 December 2021
ER -