Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Robert Rose
Committee Member
Fatima Mansur
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
academic persistence, course completion, course retention, EDUC 2500, graduation rates, mentors, online learning, part-time enrollment, pre-enrollment seminar, pre-service teachers, student persistence, student support services, supportive learning environment, teacher education, transitional programs, undergraduate students, university students
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide additional support services to online undergraduate teacher education students. The students who were enrolled in EDUC 2500 Pre-Enrollment Seminar did not have a supportive learning environment previously. This study was conducted to determine whether adding a mentoring and supportive learning environment leads to student persistence in the course. This research shows that mentoring and supportive learning environments lead to increased graduation rates for the university in the teacher education program and qualified teachers in the school districts if students persist in the first semester online course.
The course assessment survey was sent to 119 students who were enrolled in Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011, and Fall 2011 EDUC 2500 online course and their feedback based on their experiences. There were 22 students who responded to the survey. Fall 2011 was the mentoring group and the other semesters were the non-mentor group. The mentor group responded positively to the course due to the mentoring and support they received in the course in comparison to the non-mentor groups. They were able to retain the knowledge and resources that they needed from the course.
The researcher then analyzed the pass, fail, and drop rates between each semester. The mentor group, Fall 2011, had a 65% passing rate. This was highest pass percentage of all the groups in the study. Summer 2011 had a 10% fail rate and Fall 2011 had a 6% fail rate, which leads to the highest fail rates. Lastly, the mentor group had the lowest drop percentage of 29% in comparison to the non-mentor groups. This concludes that the mentoring component leads to students not dropping the course and successfully completing the course overall.
A limited number of students responded to question 33, which asked they report their current enrollment status. Fifteen (55%) indicated they were currently enrolled full-time with the remaining 45% stating they were maintaining a part-time status. Care should be taken in interpreting these results due to the low response rate and the effect of history (e.g., graduation) that may have affected student status.