Seeking Success for Online Students
Mona Ristovv-Reed
Louisiana
Qualifying Paper
University of Louisiana
Lafayette, LA
June 12, 2009
Abstract
Education has an ever-growing presence in virtual format via the Internet. The Internet is no longer just a digital mechanism; it has transmuted from a horizontal virtual culture into divisions of effervescing-neo groups with tangent spin-offs nano seconds away from a new transformed sub-group. American students- teenagers to young adults- have grown up with the permeating presence of the Internet, thus turning to the Internet for their education is a natural outcome. While the dynamics of the Internet have created a genre of cultural-social subdivisions within the youthful communities, the educational system has been adding courses and opportunity for online learning. Research indicates higher attrition from these courses than the traditional classes. There are limited assessments available for teachers/facilitators to evaluate the dynamics of online communities as they develop and personal characteristic of their students could predict attrition from online classes and enable instructors to circumvent potential drop-outs, thus raising retention within online classes. This current research assesses both student characteristics and their sense of community as a predictor for success in their online courses using the Discussion Board as a point of drawing students into community.
Seeking Success for Online Students
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1.1: Introduction
From high school through college, the adolescent social communities are undergoing an historical evolution of communication within society via the Internet. They do not know the world of the past. They are the children of technology who live with the means to transform their thoughts into an eruption of near-instant communication. The Internet embodies the media of distributed knowledge, diversity, shared...