Thursday, December 16, 1999

Instructor Cuts Dropout Rate by Giving Extra Attention to On-Line Students By DAN CARNEVALE Suba Subbarao was concerned when she noticed that students in her on-line courses had a higher dropout rate than those she taught in person. But when she dug a little deeper, she found that the students who were having trouble were also struggling in on-site courses. That insight has helped her halve the dropout rate in the courses she teaches on line. Ms. Subbarao, an English instructor at the Auburn Hills, Mich., campus of Oakland Community College, discovered that the same students who dropped out of her on-line courses typically completed zero to 20 per cent of their classroom courses. The problem didn't appear to be the method of instruction as much as the student. Ms. Subbarao became convinced that the typical reasons cited for high student-dropout rates in on-line courses weren't sound. "Normally people give reasons like 'The technology is difficult for students,' or 'The students are lonely,'" she says. Although she can't say for certain, Ms. Subbarao fears that students may gravitate toward on-line courses because they believe that the courses will bring them easy A's. "I don't want to give them the impression that because it's convenient, it's also easy," she says. So Ms. Subbarao decided to take some steps to reduce attrition in her on-line courses. She now starts out the semester with on-line orientation sessions in which she warns about the rigor of her courses and her high expectations for the students' performance. She also provides Web sites that give tips for succeeding in an on-line environment. During the semester, Ms. Subbarao keeps close tabs on students' progress. Anyone who is late with an assignment gets an immediate personal e-mail message from the instructor. She also takes the time to work with students who are in danger of failing her courses, something she says isn't always done in the traditional classroom. Instead of posting announcements to an electronic bulletin board, she sends each student an e-mail message anytime she has an announcement. This comes across as more personal, she says. Students in her on-line courses have responded positively to the personal attention, Ms. Subbarao says. She was able to bring down the dropout rate for her on-line courses from 36 per cent in the winter of 1997 to 18.5 per cent in the winter of 1998. For on-campus courses, by comparison, attrition was 11 per cent in 1997 and 15.6 per cent in 1998. In some cases students commented that they interact more with Ms. Subbarao in her on-line courses than they do with their instructors in traditional classrooms. "I just found out that, from the fact that I'm reaching out, I've seen improvement," she says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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