The College of Education, Health and

Human Sciences

Announces the Final Examination of

Jerry Anthony Hunnicutt

for the degree of

Doctor of Education

June 4, 2014 at 1:00 pm

301 Browning Hall, University of Memphis

Memphis, TN

Biographical Sketch

Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Master of Education, Secondary Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Master of Secondary Education, Business Education, University of Central Arkansas

Advisory Committee

Barbara Mullins-Nelson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Leadership, Committee Chair

Katrina A. Meyer, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Leadership

Jeffery L. Wilson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Leadership

James E. Selbe, Ed.D., Adjunct Member, Department of Leadership

Major Field of Study

Higher Education Administration

Period of Preparation:  2003 – 2014

Comprehensive Examination Passed: 2009

ONLINE COURSE ATTRITION IN ARKANSAS TWO-YEAR COLLEGES

Abstract

This study investigates the attrition in online courses at two-year colleges in the state of Arkansas.  For the purpose of the study, the Survey of Barriers for Online Learning was disseminated to a sample of 283 students from four two-year colleges in the central area of Arkansas during 2013.

Three research questions were the driving catalyst for the study: 1) What are the perceptions of students regarding the pedagogical, managerial, social, and technical barriers to online learning?   2)  Do all student respondents and respondent subgroups perceive the four kinds of barriers to online learning (pedagogical, managerial, social, and technical) to be equally difficult?   3) To what extent do the demographic characteristics of students, student status variables, and student perceptions of four types of barrier predict attrition rate?

This study utilized a combination of repeated measures analysis of variance, hiearchical regression, and step-wise regression on demographic, student success, and student barrier variables to predict online course attrition rate.

Results indicated that as a student’s grade point average increases, the attrition in online classes decreases.  Technical barriers were not significant for the purpose of this study; however it was found that pedagogical and mangerial barriers were more signficant. Conclusions were made that students possessed the technological skills to be successful in an online course and were more concerned with the navigation and curriculum delivery style within the individual courses.