Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

In recent years, several studies have been carried out into the reasons why students drop out of online higher education, following the rise in the relative weight of this form of education. However, more effort has gone into analyzing the causes of this phenomenon than into trying to characterize s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Grau-Valldosera, Josep, Minguillón, Julià
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/123526
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10609/123526
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:dropout
early dropout
higher education
online university
distance education
learning analytics
abandono
educación a distancia
abandono temprano
educación superior
universidad virtual
análisis de aprendizaje
abandonament
educació a distància
abandonament prematur
educació superior
universitat virtual
anàlisi d'aprenentatge
Distance education
Ensenyament a distància
Educación a distancia
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spelling Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de CatalunyaGrau-Valldosera, JosepMinguillón, Juliàdropoutearly dropouthigher educationonline universitydistance educationlearning analyticsabandonoeducación a distanciaabandono tempranoeducación superioruniversidad virtualanálisis de aprendizajeabandonamenteducació a distànciaabandonament prematureducació superioruniversitat virtualanàlisi d'aprenentatgeDistance educationEnsenyament a distànciaEducación a distanciaIn recent years, several studies have been carried out into the reasons why students drop out of online higher education, following the rise in the relative weight of this form of education. However, more effort has gone into analyzing the causes of this phenomenon than into trying to characterize students who drop out, that is defining what a dropout student is. But obtaining a proper definition of dropout is just as important as describing its causes. It also appears that the definition of dropout is very sensitive to context. As one of the main findings of this article, we reach a pure empirical definition, at a programme level, of students who drop out of an online higher education context with non-mandatory enrollment. This definition is based on the probability of students not continuing a specific academic programme following several consecutive semesters of 'theoretical break', and is highly adaptable to institutions offering distance education with no permanence requirements, that is ones offering the possibility of taking breaks. Our findings show that there are differences regarding the number of consecutive semesters that define dropout depending on whether the programme requires previous experience or not. Additionally, we observe significant differences in the dropout rate between specific programmes, as well as a higher level of dropout in the first semesters. Analyzing the reasons behind these facts should help higher education institutions to make more sound and efficient decisions.International Review of Research in Open and Distance LearningUniversitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)202020202014info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10609/123526reponame:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOCinstname:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)InglésInternational Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 2014, 15(1)https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i1.1628info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/TIN2010-21715-C02//CC BYhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/1235262026-05-28T12:42:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
title Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
spellingShingle Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Grau-Valldosera, Josep
dropout
early dropout
higher education
online university
distance education
learning analytics
abandono
educación a distancia
abandono temprano
educación superior
universidad virtual
análisis de aprendizaje
abandonament
educació a distància
abandonament prematur
educació superior
universitat virtual
anàlisi d'aprenentatge
Distance education
Ensenyament a distància
Educación a distancia
title_short Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
title_full Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
title_fullStr Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
title_full_unstemmed Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
title_sort Rethinking dropout in online higher education: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Grau-Valldosera, Josep
Minguillón, Julià
author Grau-Valldosera, Josep
author_facet Grau-Valldosera, Josep
Minguillón, Julià
author_role author
author2 Minguillón, Julià
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv dropout
early dropout
higher education
online university
distance education
learning analytics
abandono
educación a distancia
abandono temprano
educación superior
universidad virtual
análisis de aprendizaje
abandonament
educació a distància
abandonament prematur
educació superior
universitat virtual
anàlisi d'aprenentatge
Distance education
Ensenyament a distància
Educación a distancia
topic dropout
early dropout
higher education
online university
distance education
learning analytics
abandono
educación a distancia
abandono temprano
educación superior
universidad virtual
análisis de aprendizaje
abandonament
educació a distància
abandonament prematur
educació superior
universitat virtual
anàlisi d'aprenentatge
Distance education
Ensenyament a distància
Educación a distancia
description In recent years, several studies have been carried out into the reasons why students drop out of online higher education, following the rise in the relative weight of this form of education. However, more effort has gone into analyzing the causes of this phenomenon than into trying to characterize students who drop out, that is defining what a dropout student is. But obtaining a proper definition of dropout is just as important as describing its causes. It also appears that the definition of dropout is very sensitive to context. As one of the main findings of this article, we reach a pure empirical definition, at a programme level, of students who drop out of an online higher education context with non-mandatory enrollment. This definition is based on the probability of students not continuing a specific academic programme following several consecutive semesters of 'theoretical break', and is highly adaptable to institutions offering distance education with no permanence requirements, that is ones offering the possibility of taking breaks. Our findings show that there are differences regarding the number of consecutive semesters that define dropout depending on whether the programme requires previous experience or not. Additionally, we observe significant differences in the dropout rate between specific programmes, as well as a higher level of dropout in the first semesters. Analyzing the reasons behind these facts should help higher education institutions to make more sound and efficient decisions.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2014
2020
2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10609/123526
url https://hdl.handle.net/10609/123526
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 2014, 15(1)
https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i1.1628
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/TIN2010-21715-C02//
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv CC BY
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
publisher.none.fl_str_mv International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
instname:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
instname_str Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
reponame_str O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
collection O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300724

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